PHARMACY owners are being urged to review employees' contracts annually to ensure they are up to date in the event of an employee taking legal action against them.
Meridian Lawyers Principal, Sharlene Wellard, told delegates at the Pharmacy Guild of Australia's Pharmacy Connect earlier this month that they could not "set-and-forget" employment contracts.
"We're about to see a change - I'm sure the Guild will get some information out to you - in the annualised salary space," she said.
"Under the Pharmacy Industry Award it allows you to put both your retail managers and your pharmacists on annualised salaries and that's a bit of a set-and-forget, they're covered by the Award, they do duties under the Award so you put them on a salary.
"The [Fair Work] Commission has decided that there's too much risk that they're not getting paid the right overtime, penalty rates and those sorts of things, so the Commission has decided that you're going to have to keep hours records, even for your salaried employees and that will come into effect from Mar next year.
"That's going to require you to review [them] annually to make sure they're being paid the right amount.
"Often there'll be changes in the Award and that's a good time to review [employment contracts]... we know the Award rates move on 01 Jul, we know typically the Commission tells us about that in May, so some time between May and Jul is a good time."
Wellard added that pharmacy owners and managers should consider taking out employment practices liability insurance, which can cover legal costs in the event of an employee taking action against them in many instances.
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