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tubefeed
25-04-2011, 06:00 PM
If a perm emp does not submit a timesheet in time can we legally withhold pay until the following week?
I have been advised yes, but i think this is quite harsh and may disadv some emps quite a lot (some live from week to week on their pay).
My gut feel is to pay their 40hrs and make an adjustment the following week.
Anyone know what the correct procedure is here?

Qld IR Consultant
26-04-2011, 09:09 AM
You will find it gives you more heartache to withhold wages then it is to pay the base hours and fix it up next week. Is the time sheet purely to do with overtime or allowance claims or do you use them for ordinary hours?

tubefeed
26-04-2011, 11:13 AM
They are for ordinary hours. This is something I want to standardise as sometimes it is 40 hrs, 41, 40.5 and so on. I would like to be able to say 'look do a 40 hr standard week' and that is it, then payroll is straight forward each week. On the other hand, one emp in particular will do 37 or 38 hrs sometimes, so if we pay 40 as a base, he will quite like that as he will be overpaid!
In addition we do also require the timesheet for costing time to jobs, and for some project, the client is directly billed for time on their project. The client is billed at the end of the month. Therefore if we miss a billing we have to wait another month to charge for the emps time.
They also have a weekly fuel allowance.

Qld IR Consultant
26-04-2011, 12:41 PM
Ok this is messy. Is there a workplace agreement in place or do you use the award provisions? First suggestion would be to get an agreement in place, modernised awards are a debacle. Secondly once you have locked in place what ordinary hours are, then you have to ensure that all employees who are FT work the required hours. Anything above and beyond that is overtime and dealt with accordingly. Anything below that then thats a different, and easier to deal with, issue. Timesheets and payroll systems should fall easily into line, dependant on your system and the competency of the users. I can assist with the agreement and implementation if need be.

Cottoneyes
27-04-2011, 08:56 AM
Been in a similar situation once before, agree with needing to check on the award or EBA or other industrial tool in place. From what you are saying about paying 41 standard hours and other variables, sounds as though the employees may be getting paid above award rates signifigantly to avoid the overtime rates (which is pretty standard after 40 hours maximum in most cases).


However, who gave you the advice you could withhold the pay? If it is legal advice and you have it in writing, go ahead and test it but be prepared to do an 'out of cycle' payment a few days after the regular pay date.

Before you do this though, make sure the following procedures are in place to protect yourself:

1. Make it known what the payroll cut off is, and make sure it is communicated to all staff and managers. Most office based environments this could be a quick email each pay cycle. Advise in the communication what the consequences are if the cut off is missed, ie will be held over for payment in the following week. (this is also useful for when you need to bring the cut off forward, to meet processing requirements due to public holidays etc)
2. Set you cut off time to leave you half an hour or so to follow up on any missing timesheets with managers and employees if required. Very important as I have had a case where the employee was in hospital and the manager failed to notify HR or payroll. To aid in this, ensure your system can run a simple report showing all active employees on that particular payroll, and check the timesheets received off against the list.
3. Process the pays for all timesheets received.
4. Anyone complains about not getting a pay, direct them back to the previous communication. Ensure the managers are aware of this as well as they will usually try to get you to reverse time and get the paid ASAP.

End of the day, you work in HR, not a creche. People need to be responsible for their own actions.

Hrins
15-09-2011, 10:21 AM
I think you are correct in assuming that this is harsh. For most larger corporations, it automatically pays every employee for 40 hours unless told otherwise. For example, time is docked or there is overtime. However, I think that this is a policy point more than a decision to pay or not to pay. This might be a good time to write policy pertaining to this situation.

jackstone
13-02-2012, 12:26 PM
In this case, I think it is best to already use an automated time tracking software for your employees.

That way you won't ever have to ask them again to submit timesheets and the likes. All of their time is automatically recorded on the web server and you could have access to the information immediately, even the moment they are working.

That is what most modern workplaces use already. It's very convenient, powerful and most of all encourages productivity.

HeyPete
20-02-2012, 10:17 AM
In this case, I think it is best to already use an automated time tracking software for your employees.

That way you won't ever have to ask them again to submit timesheets and the likes. All of their time is automatically recorded on the web server and you could have access to the information immediately, even the moment they are working.

That is what most modern workplaces use already. It's very convenient, powerful and most of all encourages productivity.


Firstly, your post sounds like an advertisement more like an opinion.

This system should be called BigBrother instead of TimeDoctor, and I haven't seen one "Modern Workplace" using it already.

Moz
20-02-2012, 10:29 AM
How does a TimeDoctor "encourage productivity" ?

All time and attendance systems I have ever seen are viewed as a necessary evil by most employees and there will always be some who work out ways to abuse the system.

jackstone
20-02-2012, 10:31 AM
Firstly, your post sounds like an advertisement more like an opinion.

This system should be called BigBrother instead of TimeDoctor, and I haven't seen one "Modern Workplace" using it already.

It was a mere suggestion or recommendation.

And, you probably have heard of remote workplaces. The type of work environment freelance online workers set up. You will find it necessary when you've been on one. It's not like a big brother setup. It's more like just monitoring your employees when you don't have the means to physically supervise them.

jackstone
20-02-2012, 10:53 AM
How does a TimeDoctor "encourage productivity" ?

All time and attendance systems I have ever seen are viewed as a necessary evil by most employees and there will always be some who work out ways to abuse the system.

Depends on how you view it.

If you are the type of person who make a list of things to do and set a specific time to do each of them, you can use this to your advantage. It could aid in monitoring your work hours.

Plus, it has this aggregate info on what sites you visit and how much time you spend on them. That should help you evaluate your work day and improve for the next.