It is that time of the year to review all employee entitlements, review excessive accumulations of accrued annual leave and in lieu entitlements, to ensure that registers of employee entitlements are mutually acknowledged.
When an employee leaves their employment, there are numerous occasions when a dispute arises over an employee’s accrued leave, other entitlements and the final termination payment. An employee may contact the FairWork Ombudsman, allege that they have not been paid their full entitlements upon termination and cause a FairWork investigation and possibly an audit.
As part of a hoteliers risk management process it is recommended that an annual reconciliation of employee’s entitlements should be undertaken by all AHA (Vic) members, preferably around the end of May each year so that any adjustments can be made during the month of June and before the end of your financial year.
This annual reconciliation process results in an agreement, in writing, between the employer and the employee in relation to the employee’s accrued personal leave, annual leave and days in lieu as at a specific date.
The reconciliation also mutually agrees an employee’s commencement date with the employer – an issue which regularly arises when there may be a need for a long service leave or pro rata long service leave calculation.
A template reconciliation letter is provided to members (available in the member section of the website) to assist in annual employee entitlement reconciliation and we encourage members/employers to consider and adopt this annual reconciliation process.
Best regards,
John Sweetman
Workplace Relations Advisor