With the commencement of a new financial year, it brings with it important changes and new rates which will apply from 1 July 2019.

NEW! High Income Threshold (HIT)

With the HIT:

• it increases to $148,700

• it impacts:

(a) who can make a claim for unfair dismissal (for those not covered by a Modern Award or to whom an enterprise agreement does not apply)

(b) the maximum amount of compensation payable in an unfair dismissal claim

(c) those on a 'guarantee of annual earnings' (a Modern Award does not apply to an employee whenever this guarantee is in place provided it continues to meet the relevant legislative requirements)

NEW! Modern Award Increases

With Modern Awards (including enterprise awards):

• minimum wages increase by 3% (starting on the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2019)

• absorption of wage increases into over-award payments is permissible (subject to the terms of the relevant employment agreement and what other amounts are being absorbed into any annualised salary)

• increases to the minimum wages of junior workers, apprentices, trainees, piece workers and employees on the supported wage system will occur

• expense-related allowances in Modern Awards will increase as set out in the Modern Award (eg, by the applicable CPI index figure)

• annualised salaries will need to be checked to ensure they can still properly absorb/include all relevant minimum Modern Award amounts and that they continue to meet the technical requirements of the relevant Modern Award

NEW! National Minimum Wage (NMW)

With the NMW:

• this is applicable to employees to whom neither a Modern Award or enterprise agreement applies

• the NMW increases by 3% to become $740.80 per week or $19.49 per hour

• in addition:

(a) special NMW rates apply to employees with disabilities, junior employees, apprentices, and those on training arrangements

(b) the minimum casual loading remains unchanged at 25%

NEW! Impact on Enterprise Agreements

With enterprise agreements:

• they must always meet or exceed the minimum wage of:

(a) the relevant Modern Award (ie, the Modern Award that would have applied had the enterprise agreement not been in existence)

(b) the NMW (ie, where a Modern Award would not apply even if the enterprise agreement was not in existence)

• thus, pay rates in enterprise agreements may need to be increased (even if the enterprise agreement has its own wage increase regime)

NEW! The Sting

Be mindful that wage increases may have flow-on effects such as increasing:

• the value of leave loading, penalty rates, overtime and superannuation contributions

• the value of accrued leave entitlements

• the cost of wage related expenses such as payroll tax and workers compensation premiums

NEW! Redundancy

The tax-free component of a genuine redundancy payment increases to be:

• a base amount of $10,638

• an additional amount of $5,320 for each completed year of service

NEW! Superannuation Contributions Base

With superannuation:

• the maximum superannuation contribution base increases to $55,270 per quarter ($221,080 per annum)

• an employer is not required to make superannuation contributions on behalf of employees on earnings in excess of that maximum contribution base

Questions/Assistance

If you have any questions in respect of the above or would like any employment related assistance, please contact a member of our Matthews Folbigg Workplace Solutions employment law team on (02) 9635 7966 or at julianac@matthewsfolbigg.com.au

DISCLAIMER: This article is provided to clients and readers for their general information and on a complimentary basis. It contains a brief summary only and should not be relied upon or used as definitive or complete statement of the relevant law.

Join Western Sydney University for the launch of their Tax Clinic:

Date: Tuesday, 25 June 2019

Time: 2:30pm - 4:30pm

Venue: Parramatta City Campus

169 Macquarie Street

Level 9, Conference room 3

RSVP: Friday, 21 June 2019 by clicking here

The Western Sydney University Tax Clinic is a Tax Office federal initiative that provides advice and support for unrepresented, lower income or vulnerable taxpayers and small businesses while also assisting in developing practical experience for Western Sydney University accounting students as the future of the tax profession.

For more information about the Tax Clinic visit westernsydney.edu.au/tax-clinic.html

There has never been a better time to get your business digitally ready. Search engines want to know about your business. Clients are looking for your business. Media platforms are fighting for your business. The world is waiting for you to tell your story.

This month we interviewed Brilliant Digital’s CEO and Founder Deb Croucher on her 20 years of experience in building high-traffic websites through content marketing.

Deb talks candidly about the trends that have changed and those that are here to stay.

We look at which media platforms give you the best bang for your buck, and: 

Tech vs human behaviour – which is more important in getting your business to rise through the search engine rankings.

We break down what Deb has learned about using SEO to build sustainable businesses that generate traffic for themselves.

Hall & Wilcox is hosting a free employment and privacy law update in Parramatta on Thursday 4 July, from 5pm – 6.30pm. The update will focus on:

• Employment and industrial relations landscape: post the Federal election
• New whistleblower legislation: what is it and how it will impact your business
• Privacy law update: managing cyber security and data protection risks

RSVP HERE

Employment and industrial relations landscape

With the current hot topics of casual employees, labour-hire workers and employee wages and rights, Hall & Wilcox will discuss the likely post-election impact on the employment and industrial relations landscape.

New whistleblower legislation

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Bill 2017 (whistleblower legislation) will apply from 1 July 2019.

The aim of the whistleblower legislation is to create a single, strengthened whistleblower protection regime covering the corporate, financial and tax sectors. It also aims to encourage ethical whistleblowing and discourage white collar crime.

The new changes are intended to increase protections for the people who make disclosures and expand the subject of disclosures.

Public companies and large proprietary companies will need to have a whistleblower policy in place within six months of the commencement of the regime. Employers should begin to formulate whistleblower policies and processes now to ensure that they are in compliance with the new laws.

Please join members of the Hall & Wilcox Employment team to learn more about the new legislation, how it will impact on your organisation, and importantly how to ensure your business is compliant with these new laws.

Privacy law update

In the context of cybersecurity risks being one of the biggest threats facing business today, Hall & Wilcox will also provide an update on privacy laws, including the notifiable data breach regime. They will discuss steps you can take to protect your business against the serious financial, legal and reputational risks arising from a privacy breach.

A Q&A session will follow the presentation.

Date: Thursday 4 July 2019

Time: 5:00pm – 6:30pm

Venue: PARKROYAL Parramatta, Rose Room

30 Phillip Street, Parramatta, NSW

RSVP HERE

Hold your event before July 31 and save!

Day Delegate Package includes:

• Complimentary room hire of the main plenary room from 9:00am to 5:00pm
• Notepads, pens, mints and water
• Standard audio visual: data projector screen, flipchart, whiteboard and markers
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• Arrival tea and coffee with whole fruit bowl and fresh juice
• Morning tea with two gourmet food items
• Gourmet lunch with hot and cold platters, dessert, tea and coffee
• Afternoon tea with two gourmet food items (Full Day Delegate Package only)

To request a quote or site visit, please speak with the PARKROYAL Parramatta team today:

P: 02 9685 0309 

E: events.prsyp@parkroyalhotels.com

Terms and Conditions

• Valid for meetings held before 31 July 2019 for meetings with a minimum of 20 delegates

• Subject to availability

• Not valid for existing bookings and cannot be combined with any other promotions

• Prices are subject to prevailing taxes and service charges

As part of the NSW Advanced Manufacturing Industry Development Strategy, the NSW Government is partnering with the NSW Smart Sensing Network and the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre to deliver the ‘Successfully Adopting Smart Sensing Technologies’ series.

The series will focus on how manufacturing businesses can successfully partner with universities to adopt advanced manufacturing technologies that enhance their competitiveness and resilience.

The first event will be hosted by Western Sydney University and will provide an opportunity to learn more about:

• essentials of smart sensing – what you need to know
• unlocking university and research know-how
• identifying government support
• how to start on the journey
• recent successful experiences navigating the academic-industry interface from industry and academic perspectives.

The event will include a tour of the Western Sydney University Launch Pad facility.

Event details

• Date: Monday 8 July 2019
• Time: 10 am – 12 noon
• Cost: Free
• Venue: Western Sydney University Launch Pad – Werrington Park Corporate Centre, Great Western Highway, Kingswood NSW

RSVP

Please RSVP by 1 July 2019 by clicking here

In the seventh edition of their Building the Lucky Country series, Deloitte’s ground-breaking research reveals what the changing nature of work really means for businesses and government.

The future of work isn’t scary, but it is misunderstood. Deloitte's research shows how human skills are hugely under supplied and as a result – skills, rather than occupations or qualifications – are the job currency of the future. These trends in job markets aren’t alarming, they’re liberating, as the boring, repetitive work will be done by robots, leaving the more challenging and interesting work for humans.

Explore The path to prosperity: Why the future of work is human to find out:

• What myths about the future of work have been busted

• What the job currency of the future will be. Tip – it’s not qualifications or occupations

• Why today’s jobs require us to use our heads, rather than our hands, and how something new is happening…

• Which human skills are hugely under supplied and which ones will be most in demand

• How businesses and governments can make better choices about our work, our workers, and our workplaces.

Your event is guaranteed to succeed when you choose to work with Events by ATC. With a number of unique and iconic indoor/outdoor spaces, combined with exceptional and plentiful cuisine, your event is destined to be a winner. Led by an elite team that delivers year-round high profile events and world-class carnivals, we have the experience and champion mentality to ensure your meeting, conference or gala dinner is simply unmatched.

Premium Race Day Hospitality

Every qualifying event will go into the draw to win a Premium Race Day Hospitality experience with Naming Rights to a race on the day. This includes a dining experience for four, ATC beverage package, on table TV monitors, private bookmaking facilities and priceless national brand exposure on TV, radio and racing publications and websites. Plus, every booker will also receive a Magnum of Moet and Chandon… it’s just ATC's way of saying thanks*. (*Subject to T&C’s under NSW permit LYPS/19/34677).

https://www.eventsbyatc.com.au/champions/

By Michael Page

A company with a strong learning culture is one where everything from the structure to the processes to the culture are all geared towards allowing but also encouraging employees at all levels to continue their education in skills, knowledge, and performance. Importantly, this culture allows for insights and facts to inform growth across the entirety of a company.

Try these tips to instil a learning culture in the workplace, and reap the benefits of a workforce that is constantly improving and growing:

Implement formal training

On-the-job training is commonplace throughout organisations but at times can be informal and more on the relaxed side. For some employees, this can create an atmosphere where the training isn’t taken as seriously as it should be, and those skills may not be implemented as a result.

It’s vital to put training at the forefront of your culture by creating a formal process for upskilling, no matter the employee level.

Reward learning

As much as most managers understand the value for learning, there’s also the very common problem that nobody has spare time especially when business deadlines, priorities and problems need immediate attention. It’s therefore easy for learning to fall by the wayside.

Creating a formal structure for rewarding learning will encourage employees to bump training up their list of priorities, and to show learning is just as valuable as meeting targets. In many companies, often a full day of intensive learning on a Friday means an early mark as a reward.

RELATED: Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian’s co-founder, says lifelong learning is key to the future of work

Create time for learning

To truly show your commitment to creating a learning culture in the workplace, it’s essential to carve out time for employees purely dedicated for learning. An example could be pausing an employee’s projects one day of the month to allow for learning time, or setting aside a company-wide time slot to watch and discuss a presentation or similar.

Lead by example

Set the standard as a manager by bettering yourself through learning. Whether it’s through courses, conferences, or even simply sitting down with employees with different skill sets of your own, showing others in your team you are committed to learning demonstrates: you value their development, you lead by example and you follow through.

When others see you taking the time and genuinely enjoying the process, they may be more inspired to commit to learning themselves. After all, the responsibility of defining and setting the example of the business’s learning culture often comes from the top and filters its way down.

Ensure new skills are applied

To highlight both the importance of learning and then ensuring those new skills aren’t wasted or forgotten you must find ways to test, utilise and review what your employees have learned. You might consider incorporating their new skills into their tasks, or create a brief test or exercise to double-check that the new knowledge has become ingrained.

Hire the right people

Another fantastic way to create a learning culture is by planning ahead and hiring those who show a genuine interest in improving their skills and knowledge. They can help take ownership of your initiatives and may have some new approaches, since knowledge and further development comes naturally to them.

Incorporate questions into your interview process that will allow those with curious minds to shine, and include a penchant for learning as a bonus factor when making your hiring decisions. Eventually, this should lead to a workplace filled with staff who proactively seek learning opportunities, strengthening your business and its culture as a result.

New JAWS Open For Business

Western Sydney’s popular home-grown jobs website, Jobs Available Western Sydney (JAWS) has undergone a major upgrade.

Exciting new features have been added to enable an easier journey matching job seekers and candidates.

Job seekers and employers in Western Sydney now have a specialised platform that delivers the region’s most advanced online employment matching service.

JAWS has posted thousands of jobs since its inception in 2013. The popular portal focuses on Western Sydney job opportunities and has a Facebook following exceeding 45,000.

The new look state-of-the-art website enables job seekers to create and post their resumes with the resume builder feature.

Employers can source applicants from among the bank of resumes. Employers can now post their opportunity with greater confidence.

JAWS director Rick Swaleh said the new portal is ideal for employers looking for the best talent in the region and for job seekers who want to join some of Western Sydney’s top organisations. Benefits include:

For employers:

• Post advertisements with greater confidence direct through the JAWS site.
• Increased chances of securing the best talent through the JAWS online resume builder. Scan live resumes.
• Easily track and receive job applicants through the JAWS interactive portal.
• Tap into a social media network that inlcudes Linkedin and Facebook (45,000 followers).

For job seekers:

• Apply for positions direct through the JAWS website.
• Build an online resume through the JAWS resume builder tool so that employers can scan resumes at their leisure.
• See the latest employment tips and news 24/7.

Visit:

www.jobswesternsydney.com.au

This article supplied by WSBC Media Regional Partner: