Holiday Pay Calculations

Posted: September 29, 2011 by paularetallick in Payroll, Payroll Stuff
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Holiday pay calculations have been a grey area in some employers eyes, however the Holidays Act has always specified that bonus and commission payments etc. paid on a regular basis need to be added to the holiday pay calculation.

This article appeared in the Sunday Times over the weekend and may be of interest to you.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/business/5675710/Firms-face-back-pay-nightmare

Please do not hesitate to call if you have any questions regarding your leave calculations.

 

 

 

Child Support Changes to go ahead ……

Posted: August 26, 2011 by paularetallick in Payroll, Payroll Stuff
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The following  has been taken from the IRD’s website and will be of interest to some of your employees.

Minister of Revenue Peter Dunne has announced that changes to the way the child support scheme is administered will proceed, with legislation likely to be introduced in the next few months.

For more information see the Minister’s media statement at the link below.

http://beehive.govt.nz/release/dunne-outlines-key-child-support-law-changes

Ezypay makes it into The Press

Posted: August 22, 2011 by SpaceBug in Ezy Speak
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Last week we had a wee bit of a mention in The Press.  You can read the article HERE!

LAST POST RE THE SNOW IN CANTERBURY

Posted: August 15, 2011 by paularetallick in Uncategorized

One of our clients kindly advised us that when they went into our blog there was a message saying ” Congratulations, Your IP was chosen as a candidate to win ” Click here to win !

This  did not show on my blog when I sent it , so sorry – I suggest you ignore it !

Just looking out the window and it is snowing furiously again.  Roll on home time !

 

 

 

 

 

SNOW IN CANTERBURY

Posted: August 15, 2011 by paularetallick in Uncategorized

We woke this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow again here  in Christchurch.  The city looks very pretty with the snow hanging from the trees and shrubs.  The forecast is for similar weather over the next couple of days so if your payroll is due today or tomorrow we would appreciate  it if you could get your payroll to us as soon as possible.

Keep warm !!

Harvey has a sticky moment…..

Posted: July 29, 2011 by paularetallick in Staff Ramblings
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A Darfield hobby beekeeper is questioning if a tub of United States honey slipping past authorities is one of many breaks in border security.

Harvey Polglase: ‘‘It appears the system, which I thought was foolproof, has not quite worked that wayand there are holes in our biosecurity.’’Harvey Polglase, a payroll administrator, was approached by a work colleague who had received 1.1 kilograms of honey in a package this month from Utah and wondered if it had breached biosecurity rules about honey imports.

Polglase confirmed her suspicions, and biosecurity inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry collected and destroyed the honey. He said it was a stroke of luck his colleague knew the gift was illegal.

Had left-over honey in the container been thrown out, it could have come in contact with bees to spread disease.

‘‘It appears the system, which I thought was foolproof, has not quite worked that way and there are holes in our biosecurity. I am concerned the risk of imported exotic diseases is quite real.’’

Polglase said it appeared the prevention of honey entering the country relied on the honesty of people sending or receiving similar packages.

‘‘That depends on people knowing our biosecurity rules in the first place – and how is an American supposed to know about our import rules?’’

The honey arrived with packaged sweets and was labelled as containing food, yet slipped through.

MAF officials responded quickly to the callout and admitted they were worried about holes in the system and relied on the screening of mail-delivery services, he said.

MAF Border Operations Central manager Geoff Gwyn said the reporting of the honey to MAF and its subsequent destruction was a good demonstration of the biosecurity system working.

‘‘The system is based on layers of protection that start offshore with exporters assuring that risk has been eliminated, including border inspection, and finish with onshore response activities.’’

Occasionally, risk goods slip past the off-shore requirements and the border controls – for example, food products may not always be declared as such on parcel documentation, Gwyn said.

Thirty-seven million mail items cross the border each year. All items are screened in some manner – either by inspection where risk is flagged on documentation, or by X-ray, detector dogs or random survey.

‘‘It is, however, simply not feasible to physically inspect every item, which is why the system includes an 0800 reporting number to report such incidents to MAF.’’

He said everyone had a role to play in biosecurity protection.

New Zealand beekeepers are dealing with varroa disease, with treatment costs of about $30 a hive. New Zealand has American foulbrood but not European foulbrood, which exists along with other unwanted diseases in the United States. Polglase said the only way United States beekeepers could treat their hives for European foulbrood was with antibiotics, and traces in the honey would negate New Zealand’s clean and green reputation. Beekeepers still felt let down that varroa had entered the South Island from the north despite efforts to slow its expansion.

Julia’s Last Day Today

Posted: July 28, 2011 by paularetallick in Staff Ramblings
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Julia  has been part of the Ezypay team for over a year,  and today is her last day here at Ezypay.  We will all be sorry to see her go and at the same time we are all very envious.  Julia is about to set off on an adventure tripping back to her homeland Germany to visit family and friends and then ending up in Thailand volunteering for Lanta Animal Welfare – see the website below.

http://www.lantaanimalwelfare.com/

 Julia will be back in Christchurch for Christmas – All the best Julia and safe travels.

This extract is from the Chamber of Commerce,  it will  help answer your question on whether or not to pay your employee  if they were unable to come to work on Monday due to the snow.

Paying staff during snow disruption
Many businesses will be experiencing disruption to their normal staffing levels due to the recent snow.  We have received many calls from employers asking for guidance which we have summarised below.  In these tough conditions, both employers and employees need to use their common sense, be flexible and work within the current constraints we all face.  Safety of all team members should be first and foremost. 

The rules regarding whether to pay staff who can’t or won’t work because of disruption due to snow are the same as applied in the aftermath of the earthquake.  Basically, the position is as follows:

  1. If the employee is ready and willing to work but the employer is unable to provide work, the employee must be paid, unless the employment agreement expressly provides that the employer need not do so under such circumstances.  Such a provision would be unusual, although the latest version of the Employment Agreement issued by the Employer’s Chamber does envisage situations where payment can be suspended due to unforeseen circumstances.  See our Members Area at www.cecc.org.nz for a sample employment agreement with such a clause.
  2. If the employer has work available, but the employee does not show up for work, citing snow or ice as the reason, we suggest you explore ways of enabling the employee to contribute in some other way.  Many employees can now work remotely, for example.  If that is not possible, and the employee says he or she cannot make it into work, it is recommended that you explore ways with the employee of continuing to pay wages, such as treating the absence as paid annual leave.
  3. If you suspect the employee of being dishonest, then you must institute a formal disciplinary investigation before taking any action, such as a warning or dismissal.  Don’t just assume that the employee is being dishonest or not trying hard enough just because someone else has made it in from the same area.  Everyone has their own individual challenges. 
  4. Where possible, if staff can work remotely from home avoiding the icy roads early in the morning, this would be a good suggestion versus putting pressure on employees to drive in unsafe conditions.