Record Keeping

What happens if an employer doesn’t keep accurate records

If an employer doesn’t keep all the accurate wage and time, holiday and leave records as required by the Employment Relations Act 2000 and the Holidays Act 2003:

·         the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) or a Labour Inspector may give them a penalty. This could be up to $50,000 for an individual; or for a company, the greater of $100,000 or three times the amount of the financial gain made, or

·         a Labour Inspector can issue an infringement notice for breach of the record keeping requirements (an infringement offence).

Records that employers must keep for each employee

·         Name, postal address, age (if under 20 years) and the date they started working.

·         If they’re on an individual employment agreement or a collective agreement (and the title and expiry date of the agreement and the employee’s classification) and a copy of the agreement.

·         The kind of work they are employed for.

·         The number of hours worked each day in a pay period and the pay for those hours. If these are agreed and they work them as usual hours then a statement of those usual hours and pay will be enough. This can be recorded in:

o    the wages and time record

o    employment agreement

o    a roster, or

o    any other document or record normally used during employment.

For an employee on a salary, usual hours include any additional hours worked that are consistent with the employment agreement. However, an employer must record additional hours if they’re required, to have records in enough detail to show that they’re complying with minimum entitlements.

·         The wages paid in each pay period and how these have been calculated.

·         The dates they last became entitled to annual holidays and sick leave and their current entitlement to annual holidays and sick leave.

·         The dates of leave taken, including annual holidays, sick leave and bereavement, and payment received for each.

·         Any annual leave cashed up as well as the date and amount paid for each entitlement year.

·         The dates and number of hours worked on public holidays and the payment for these; the date (or 24-hour period) the public holiday or any part of it has been transferred to, and the date the employee became entitled to any alternative holiday (day-in-lieu).

·         The dates of, and payments for, any public holidays or alternative holidays they didn’t work but were entitled to holiday pay.

·         The cash value of any alternative holidays they gave up for payment.

·         The cash value for any board and lodgings provided.

·         The date when employment ended, and the amount of holiday pay they received at the end of employment.

·         A copy of their tax code declaration (IR330).

·         Details of any employment relations education leave taken.

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