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Putting on a New Employee

NPDI | 01 Jun 2021

When taking on a new employee it is best to make sure that everything is prepared before your employee starts work.

Contract of employment

A written contract of employment should reflect the employment relationship between yourself and the employee you wish to engage.

Without a written employment contract an arrangement is open ended and increases that chances of potential claims and possible disputes.

What should the agreement include?

At a minimum, an employment contract should include:

  • the employees employment status, such as full-time, part-time or casual,
  • the relevant modern award, for example the Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020
  • the employees working hours and conditions, and
  • a non-exhaustive list of duties that the employee will be expected to do.

Fair Work Information Statement (FWIS)

The FWIS must be given to every new employee.

Failure to give an employee a FWIS, is a breach of the Fair Work Act.

It is also a requirement to give every new casual employee a Casual Employment Information Statement. Copies of these statements can be downloaded from the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website.

Policies and procedures

Your employee should be made explicitly aware of all policies and procedures that they will be expected to follow at your workplace. This includes (but is not limited to) workplace health and safety, anti-discrimination polices and absenteeism policies.

Tax

You should ask the employee to fill out the TFN Declaration Form which can be downloaded from the Australian Taxation Office website.

Superannuation

Ask your prospective employee what their superannuation fund is. If they do not elect a fund you can choose which fund to pay their compulsory superannuation into so long as it is a MySuper compliant fund.

WorkCover

Make sure your employee is covered under your relevant WorkCover insurance policy.

Portable Long Service Leave

In Queensland QLeave administers the building and construction industry portable long service leave scheme. In Victoria this is handled by Incolink.

Employers in the QLD building and construction industry must register with QLeave and advise when they start and end a worker’s employment. You can register for QLeave online by visiting QLeave’s website. Workers can sign themselves up to QLeave, however, this does not alleviate an employer’s responsibilities to keep QLeave up-to-date.

You have responsibilities to employees under both state and federal legislation. Being on-top of your paperwork will help ensure that engaging an employee proves to be a successful decision for your business.

Want more help? Complete the Painters Institute Business Management Course and get mentored by industry experts to run your business professionally.


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