It’s nearly that time of year!!!  The silly season is nearly upon us – the time of year that all employees love and all employers dread!  On the opposite end of the scale that this time of year produces an awful lot of happiness and frenzied productivity there are the issues that everyone employer faces (eg: absences & managing skeleton staff).

What are the common issues for employers and what can you do?

  1. Absence before/after a public holiday: many employment contracts state that attendance before/after a public holiday is a condition of being paid for that day, but be careful of the changes made under WorkChoices, which states entitlement of pay if the holiday falls on a ‘normal’ work day.
  2. Increased Annual Leave requests: employers should expect that many employees would like to take advantage of the Christmas and New Years public holidays at take the time in-between  – leading to a longer break.  In advance employers should decide how many staff they require to keep essential operations running.  Some employers also ask staff to nominate preferences so they can plan for this in advance – be careful though that you are not showing bias when choosing whose requests will be granted and whose won’t.
  3. Closing down: many businesses choose to close in the quiet period and direct an employee to take forced annual leave.  Again this requires some management in advance to ensure staff are aware of the need to accrue sufficient leave.  Employers may also choose to allow their staff to use some of their upcoming holiday leave in advance, NB: the arrears may not be collected back from staff should they leave before their accruals have built up again.
  4. Additional award holiday: employers and staff may agree to transfer the ‘holiday’ to another date – PLEASE GAIN THE CORRECT ADVICE before implementing this idea (usually most suited to retail environments).
  5. Rostered days off (RDOs): RDO’s may be transferred to best suit the employer and employee!
  6. Time off in lieu of overtime: this method is a preferred one of many employers allowing an employee to accrue overtime and then redeem that overtime at a time suitable to all parties.  Employers should be aware that overtime can attract higher rates and some employees would prefer the rate of pay than the time in lieu – it is recommended that this should be discussed before decisions are dictated to employees as overtime taken as time off in lieu during ordinary hours is usually at the employee’s ordinary rate of pay, ie. an hour for each hour worked, although the employer should check this by referring to the applicable industrial instrument.?
  7. Refusal to work on a public holiday An employer may require their staff to work on a public holiday, due to the nature of the business.  However if the employees refusal is reasonable (eg: it is not a normal work day for them, they have family commitments and/or additional remuneration or benefits is entitled, the amount of notice given AND many other factors) the employer may have to recognise this right.

In all elements of these issues, keeping the lines of communication open is usually the best way to ensure that things don’t escalate out of control.  Please be aware that it is the employers obligation to ensure compliance with the correct legislation in all of these matters.  Obtain advice from an HR specialist or your local chamber of commerce or compliance expert!

Christmas is a time of year that everyone should be able to enjoy – with a bit of pre-planning and thought, it can be for employers too!