• Name of the employee.
• Name of the employer.
• Date of birth of the employee.
• Name of any instrument under which the employee derives entitlements of employment.
• Classification of the employee under such instrument.
• Whether the employee is full-time, part-time, permanent, temporary or casual.
• Date employment commenced.

• Basis on which the employee's rate of pay is determined.
• Gross rate of pay expressed as an hourly rate.
• Details of any incentive based payments, loadings or penalty rates.
• Period to which the payment relates.
• Total net and gross remuneration received during the period.
• Date on which the employee was paid.
• Deductions (if any) made from that remuneration.

• Rate of accrual of annual and personal leave.
• Number of nominal hours worked.
• Date on which the employee was credited with annual and personal leave.
• Amount of annual and personal leave taken by the employee.
• Amount paid to the employee for annual and personal leave.
• Details of the accruals and taking of any other form of leave.

• Amount of any contributions made.
• Period over which the contributions were made.
• Dates on which the contributions were made.
• Name of any fund to which contributions were made.
• Basis on which the employer became liable to make contributions including the keeping of any record of election made by the employee.

The requirement to keep details of hours worked has certainly been the most contentious aspect relating to record keeping. The initial onerous requirement for keeping records for all employees has, however, been watered down significantly. The regulations now require the following:

• Details of daily starting and finishing times (but only if an employee is entitled to an overtime loading pursuant to a workplace agreement, award, AWA, employment contract or other industrial instrument).
• Details of the total number of hours worked each day by employees who earn less than $55,000 (not inclusive of superannuation and other forms of additional remuneration), being hours that the employee was requested or required to work by the employer.

Apart from requiring that the records be kept in a legible form in the English language and in a form readily accessible by a Workplace Inspector, the legislation provides little guidance. Much of the information employers are required to keep will already be contained on payslips and copies of payslips that employers keep. Pursuant to the legislation, employers must provide payslips that contain the following information:

• Name of employer.
• Name of employee.
• Classification of the employee under each instrument under which the employee derives entitlements of employment.
• Date on which the payment to which the payslip relates was made.
• Period to which that payslip relates.
• If the employee is paid at an hourly rate:
  • the ordinary hourly rate;
  • the number of hours for that period for which the employee was employed at that rate;
  • the amount of the payments made at that rate.
• If the employee is not paid at an hourly rate of pay - that rate as of the latest date to which the payment relates expressed as an hourly rate.
• The gross amount of the payment.
• The net amount of the payment.
• Any amount paid that is an incentive based payment, bonus, loading, monetary allowance, penalty rate or other separately identifiable entitlement the employee has.
• The details of any deductions from the gross amount of the payment including but not limited to superannuation deductions.

Any additional information should be kept in either hard copy or electronic specific employee files.

Many employers are struggling with the concept of having to keep detailed records of the start and finish times and total amount of hours worked by employees. In our experience employers are taking two approaches to this issue.

• Employers of employees who have an entitlement to paid overtime are requiring employees to complete a daily time sheet of start and finishing times, including unpaid breaks.
  
• If employers have employees earning less than $55,000 who are not entitled to paid overtime, they only require such employees to complete a timesheet when the employee is required or requested by the employer to work outside their ordinary hours as set out in their contract of employment. As long as the contract of employment specifies their ordinary hours of work or daily start/finish times the employee should be directed to keep records of times the employer requires or requests they work outside of those hours.

In our view, either approach meets the requirements of the legislative provisions.