Employee Records – what is required?
Maintaining employment records and providing employees with a pay slip, for example, is a legal requirement for employers.
There is a range of information that must be kept for each employee and these requirements are prescribed by the Fair Work Act and Fair Work Regulations 2009.
Employee records must:
- • be in a form that is readily accessible to a Fair Work Inspector
- • be in a legible form and in English (preferably in plain, simple English)
- • be kept for seven years
- • not be altered unless for the purposes of correcting an error
- • not be false or misleading to the employer’s knowledge.
Fair Work Inspectors may issue an employer with an infringement notice for failing to meet their record‑keeping and pay slip obligations under the Fair Work Act 2009.
The maximum fines payable from an infringement notice are:
- • $510 per contravention – for an individual
- • $2,550 per contravention – for a body corporate.
