Payroll Compliance: Hospitality Industry

Cloud-based payroll software for a simplified and automated approach to Hospitality Industry compliance.
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The Importance of Modern Award Compliance

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In addition to highlighting specific terms and conditions surrounding employment in various industries, modern awards serve as essential compliance documents for all industries across Australia It’s important to understand how these regulations create an onus on business owners to comprehend whether an award is relevant to each employee in their workforce.

In the Hospitality Industry, this is no exception, making it crucial that you – as a business – know where your responsibilities sit.

If you fail to comply with your industry’s modern award, as laid out by the Fair Work Act 2009 – such as incorrectly paying wages or specific penalty rates and entitlements – you will be in breach of workplace laws and could face heavy fines.

On top of this risk, continuing to contravene the Hospitality Industry Award can lead to severe consequences for your business, including potentially having to pay back any lost wages and rates to the employee(s). For most organisations, this can be seriously detrimental, with additional penalties often ranging from:

  • Fines of up to $12,600 as an individual for each breach
  • Fines of up to $63,000 as a company for each breach.

Biggest Pitfalls in the Hospitality Industry

Each award highlights minimum entitlements and conditions that employees must receive as part of their agreement with an organisation. Awards differ from industry to industry to ensure fairness, consistency and cohesiveness.
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The Hospitality Award is one of the more complex awards in the Australian employment landscape due to its broad coverage of one of the country’s biggest industries. And, unfortunately, while business owners have access to the Hospitality Award on the Fair Work website, it can be tricky to understand as they’re jammed full of legal jargon.

Combined with the nature of work within the Restaurant industry, it can be difficult for business owners to stay on top of their compliance.

For example, the nature of the work covered by the Hospitality Award requires the majority of the industry support workers to work at different locations (in other words, client sites) during the day.
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For example, working in hospitality, breakages are quite common.

However, as an employer, you can’t deduct anything from an employee’s wages for breakages (unless it was deliberate) - a condition that we find hospitality business owners often unaware of.

Another big pitfall for employers in the hospitality industry is the award allowances.

The Hospitality Award proposes specific allowances when employees have a particular skill or perform certain tasks. The hospitality allowances also apply when employees use their own tools or work in unpleasant or dangerous conditions.
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Employers often think they can add an extra chunk of money to their employee’s salary or wage. But that’s not how it works. You have to pay them according to each and every allowance relevant to their line of work. And if you don’t, you could face some pretty hefty penalties.

Unfortunately, there’s not much guidance from the Fair Work Commission regarding staying compliant with all its regulations.

So, what is the solution? Cloud payroll software and automated time and attendance software.
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Roubler Hospitality
Workforce Management

Roubler provides hospitality employers with a seamless software system
for all your payroll and workforce management needs.

With Roubler’s built-in compliance features, retailers can gain confidence knowing that they’re remaining legal compliant with Hospitality Award and complex EBAs.

Recruit, onboard, manage and pay your hospitality staff with one software solution.

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NoahFace Time &
Attendance Software

NoahFace offers an app-based time and attendance software called NoahFace Go which automates scheduling, time tracking and attendance records for site workers. 

In addition, the timekeeping records will automatically integrate with your Employment Hero cloud payroll software. 

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Employment Hero

Go paperless and automate the employee onboarding process with Employment Hero’s employee HR software - an end-to-end people management platform that covers every aspect of the employee lifecycle.

By incorporating everything you need to recruit, onboard, roster, and manage your aged care team, Employment Hero increases efficiency and drives productivity across every aspect of your workforce.

How Pay Cat Can Help

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Pay Cat streamlines your HR and payroll management process through an all-in-one system that makes running your business a breeze.

With varying modern awards and industry regulations to get your head around, we understand that working out your obligations as an employee can be overwhelming.
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Let our implementation specialists ensure your business remains compliant and in line with relevant regulations, awards and employee entitlements. Keep your company out of the danger zone and on track with a team that knows how these standards differ from one sector to the next.

Never get it wrong. No back pay calculations. No inefficient manual interpretation. No data re-entry.

If you’re interested in moving from a manual payroll system to an automated cloud payroll system, get in touch with us today for a free demo.