Payroll Compliance: Disability Support Services Industry

Cloud-based payroll software for a simplified and automated approach to Disability Support Services Industry compliance.
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The Importance of Pay Condition Compliance

As essential documents, individual or collective agreements outline specific terms and conditions surrounding employment in various industries as essential documents. In New Zealand, 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 Disability Support 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 pay conditions – such as incorrectly paying wages or specific penalty rates and entitlements – you will be deemed as breaching workplace laws, with the risk of facing heavy fines.
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On top of this risk, continuing to contravene an 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 $10,000 as an individual for each breach
  • Fines of up to $20,000 as a company for each breach.

Biggest Pitfalls in the Disability Support Industry

Due to the varied nature of the industry, many agreements can become complex an onerous to calculate, with a mixture of penalties, shiftwork and allowances. 
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For example, the nature of the work covered by the SCHADS Industry Award requires the majority of the industry support workers to work at different locations (in other words, client sites) during the day.

As a result, we find that one of the biggest struggles we’ve seen from our SCHADS clients has been job tracking.

More often than not, they end up relying on manual timesheets captured by employees while at their client sites. But, unfortunately, there’s no way of monitoring that the manual timesheets accurately reflect their staff’s work. This opens up the doors to a whole host of payroll compliance risks.

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

The SCHADS Award proposes specific allowances when employees have a particular skill or perform certain tasks. The SCHADS allowances also apply when employees use their own tools or work in unpleasant or dangerous conditions.
For example, the nature of the work covered by the SCHADS Industry Award requires the majority of the industry support workers to work at different locations (in other words, client sites) during the day.

As a result, we find that one of the biggest struggles we’ve seen from our SCHADS clients has been job tracking.

More often than not, they end up relying on manual timesheets captured by employees while at their client sites. But, unfortunately, there’s no way of monitoring that the manual timesheets accurately reflect their staff’s work. This opens up the doors to a whole host of payroll compliance risks.

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

The SCHADS Award proposes specific allowances when employees have a particular skill or perform certain tasks. The SCHADS allowances also apply when employees use their own tools or work in unpleasant or dangerous conditions.
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Employment Hero Payroll

Employment Hero’s cloud payroll software automatically applies modern award or enterprise agreement rules to ensure your business remains compliant year-round. 

Beyond that, you can automate your entire payroll process from importing timesheet data, gross to net reporting and leave accruals for all scenarios to super calculations and ATO reporting.

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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.

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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.
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Know Where You Stand 

Not sure what category your business falls into or what awards your employees come under? 

Download our free eBooks to see how relevant modern awards could impact your business. Best of all, these guides are entirely jargon-free so that you can understand your rights and obligations in plain English.