Employment records for non-award employees

The Industrial Relations Act 1999 (PDF, 1.9MB) requires employers to keep:

time and wages records and
give written statements of wages paid (e.g. pay slips/envelopes) to all employees.

The Act sets out the details which must be included in the records and pay slips/envelopes.

Experience has shown that complaints or disputes about payment of wages are more easily resolved if accurate and detailed records and pay slips/envelopes are maintained by the employer. Information such as this protects the interests of both the employee and the employer.

Time and wages records

The Act requires that all time and wages records must be kept:

for 6 years after the date to which the record refers. For example, all records which relate to a period of employment terminated in June 1998 must be kept until June 2004. If the period of employment was 8 years then 8 years of records must be kept for at least 6 years after the date of termination;
in the English language; and
at a workplace of the employer in Queensland.

Employees not covered by an award or agreement

The records required to be kept for employees not covered by an award or agreement are as follows:

the employee's full name, address and date of birth
for each pay period:
- the employee's designation;
- the number of hours worked by the employee each day and each week
- the employee's wage rate;
- the gross and net wages paid to the employee;
- details of any deductions made from the wages; and
the total ordinary hours worked by each casual employee since the start of a period to which a long service leave entitlement relates, calculated up to 30 June in each year.

The time and wages records must also clearly state the employer's full name.

Records of the employee's date of birth and number of hours worked are not required to be kept for employees excluded from the operation of the Queensland minimum wage general ruling (e.g. employees paid on piece rates or wholly by commission).

Access to time and wages records

The Act provides for employees to have access to the time and wages records of their own employment. Employees are permitted to inspect time and wages records pertaining to their own employment for the 12 months prior to their inspection. At the employer's discretion, the particulars may be supplied to the employees in writing. Unless the employer otherwise consents, the inspection is limited to once every 12 months and may only be carried out during the employer's business hours and outside the employee's working time.

The Act requires that employers make time and wages records available to inspectors employed by the Department of Justice and Attorney-General. Inspectors are authorised under the Act to inspect and copy time and wages records.

The Act also requires that employers make time and wages records available to authorised industrial officers. These are officers of a union who are issued an authority by the industrial registrar. During the employer's business hours, an authorised industrial officer may enter a workplace at which work covered by the officers union is carried on. Employers must allow authorised industrial officers to inspect and make copies of the time and wages records of employees who are or were members or who are eligible to be members of that officer's union.

Pay slips/envelopes

Each time wages are paid to an employee the employer must give the employee a written statement showing how the payment is made up. The information on the pay slip or pay envelope should be sufficient to allow the employee to independently calculate their own entitlements for the pay period.

The information required to be given to an employee may be written on a pay envelope or pay advice slip and must include certain specific details as follows:

the date of payment;
the period covered by the payment;
the number of hours covered by the payment at the ordinary wage rate and at the overtime wage rate;
the ordinary hourly rate and the amount paid at that rate;
the overtime hourly rate and the amount paid at that rate;
the gross wages paid;
the net wages paid;
details of any deduction made from the wages; and
the amount of contribution paid to a superannuation fund.

All pay slips or pay advice statements must also clearly state the employer's full name.

Certificate of employment on termination

If requested by an employee, an employer must provide a certificate of employment at the time of termination. The certificate is quite important to those employees whose wage rates are determined by years of experience.

This certificate must include:

the full name and address of the employee,
a description of the trade or occupation in which the employee was engaged,
the dates on which the employee commenced and ceased employment in each of the trades or occupations, and
the address of the workplace at which the employee was engaged.

The certificate must be signed and dated by the employer.

Last updated:

Employment conditions