Everyone
Pay periods and paydays
When and how often an employee is paid, for example, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, varies between workplaces. The employment agreement or a workplace policy should say when payday is.
Employee rights
The law does not say how often or what day an employee should be paid – this information should be in their Employment agreements contain the terms and conditions of employment. Every employee must have a written employment agreement outlining the terms and conditions of employment. ‘Employment agreement’ has a broader meaning that includes all other documents and other agreements forming part of the contractual agreement between the employee and employer.
Employees must be paid in money and employers must not tell employees how to spend their pay.
Employees must be paid for:
- annual holidays — before the holiday starts, unless they agree to be paid in their normal pay cycle
- sick, bereavement or family violence leave — in the pay period when the leave is taken
- a public holiday — in the pay period when the public holiday falls
- an alternative holiday — in the pay period when the alternative holiday is taken.
Pay period
The pay period is the length of time an employee gets paid for each payday. If they’re paid fortnightly, their pay period is 2 weeks.
If they're paid:
- wages (by the hour), they will usually be paid after the pay period. For example, Mike is paid on Monday for the pay period from Monday to Sunday last week.
- a salary, they may be paid before the end of the pay period. For example, Shanti is paid fortnightly, in the middle of her pay period. This means Shanti is paid 1 week in advance (before she does the work) and 1 week in arrears (after she has done the work).
Payday
Employees are usually paid on a regular day each week, fortnight or month. For example, payday may be every Thursday or every second Wednesday.
If an employment agreement does not say when payday is, the employee should:
- ask their employer how often, and when, they will be paid before they sign the employment agreement, and
- ask for this to be included in the agreement so that there is no confusion.
Employers must consider their Good faith means dealing with each other honestly, openly, and without misleading each other. It requires parties to raise issues in a fair and timely manner, treat the other party with respect, and give the other party information which may be referred to in any future discussions.
When payday changes
In some situations, payday might move to a different day. For example:
- payday is usually the 15th of the month, but this month the 15th is a Sunday
- payday falls on a public holiday.
If employees are going to be paid on a different day to usual, the employer should tell them when they will be paid:
- when the employee first starts work — for example, by including a process for what happens when payday moves in the employment agreement, or
- at the time, if the change to payday was unexpected.