Legal impact
Privacy
The aim of the sample forms
Storage of forms
Guidelines for using forms on this website
The main purpose of having appropriate forms in a business is to ensure consistency and to manage your employees (and contractors) more efficiently.
Once you have decided which of the forms on this website will be of use to you, ensure that you retain control of them. Confusion can be created if there are multiple copies of a form in circulation. The HR department, or a designated manager, should ensure that the most current document is the only one in use.
The forms provided here are sample documents which have been designed to apply as widely as possible to any business.
You may use these forms for comparative purposes – where you already have forms in use - or you can use these forms to assist you to draft your own. You should identify exactly your need for a particular form, then choose the relevant document from the list provided. Save the document(s) to your computer and customise to suit your requirements.
Your draft forms should be checked by experienced advisers familiar with the legal aspects if you have any concerns. Your attention is drawn to the disclaimer included in the user agreement where it is noted that this website does not provide legal advice.
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Which form?
You have to decide which form is needed for your business.
Look at each of the major categories under ‘Forms’ (Recruitment, EEO, OHS etc) and select the appropriate form as the occasion requires.
Legal impact
Forms and records are very important because every employer is required to keep time and wage records for each employee and also to ensure certain details are kept in these records.
The federal Workplace Relations Act specifies that an employee may have access to his/her personal records, including:
- his/her time and wages records, including overtime (if applicable) and remuneration;
- his/her records of leave, including leave taken and available entitlement;
- his/her records of superannuation contributions; and
- workers compensation records if an employee has had an accident.
Retention of general payroll records may be necessary not only for income tax and superannuation guarantee purposes but also for the purposes of other State and Federal legislation such as industrial relations, workers' compensation and payroll tax.
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Privacy
Privacy issues may also be relevant to information contained on employment-related forms. The Privacy Act exempts employment records where information about employees is only used for employment purposes, however it applies if the information is to be passed on to another party for any other purpose.
A sensible approach is to apply a privacy policy to all employee (and contractor) forms and records, by:
- telling people you collect personal information and what you will do with it;
- only using personal information about people in ways that they might expect;
- not passing personal information on without telling people;
- giving people the chance to see any information you hold about them if they ask;
- keeping personal information safe; and
- if people ask, telling them how you handle personal information in your business.
The aim of the sample forms
The aim of the sample forms is to assist employers and managers in the administration of HR issues. The forms can assist with processing pay and entitlements; complying with legislative reporting requirements; day-to-day administration; correspondence; and statistical analysis.
The sample forms contained on this website cannot cover the whole range of circumstances and issues that will arise between employers and employees. However, the samples aim to give employers and managers a practical compilation of forms.
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Storage of forms
The employer should keep a file for each employee, and retain all forms relevant to the employee in that file, as well as other documents, eg correspondence.
As legal proceedings can in some circumstances be commenced up to six years (and sometimes longer) from the date of the action in question, it is a good idea to retain all employee files for at least that period of time. If the issues involve insurance (like workers compensation) then the file should be kept as advised by your insurer.
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