What wages and time records do employers need to keep?

Under our employment laws, employers are required to keep up to date and accurate wages and time records for their employees.

The information which needs to be recorded includes:

•         Employee name, postal address, and age (if they are under 20 years old)
•         The type of employment agreement (individual or collective)

                     o   If it is a collective agreement, then the title and expiry date of the agreement and the employee’s                                   classification under it

•          The kind of work the employee is usually employed in
•          The number of hours worked each day in a pay period and the pay for those hours
•          The wages paid each pay period and the method of calculating those wages
•          Details of any employment relations education leave
•          Any other particular information as may be prescribed

These records must be kept in a written form or in a form which allows it to be easily accessed and converted into a written form. They should be kept for a period of six years.

Employees have a right to access their wage and time records on request from their employer. The employer must immediately provide the employee with their record or a copy of it for the preceding six years that the employer was obliged to keep records.

Failure to keep wage and time records and to provide employees with access to their records can incur a penalty imposed by the Employment Relations Authority and those can be many thousands of dollars.

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Alan Knowsley