Australia : At the Senate hearing earlier today, peak industry body the Australian Retailers Association rejected the notion of retailers acting as ‘paymasters’ for Government-funded parental leave payments from January next year.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said retailers welcomed the 18 week Government funded paid parental leave scheme but saw no sense in retailers acting as the conduit to transfer money between Centrelink and the employee.

“This is a costly and time consuming administrative nightmare for employers that could be eliminated by parental leave payments coming directly from Government agencies rather than taking a round about route from Government to employer to employee.

“For a small retailer, administering Government parental leave payments means upgrading payroll systems, seeking professional advice from accountants and employment relations specialists, managing wages without normal benefits likes superannuation and work cover. All these operational changes create more red tape for retailers who are already dealing with major industrial relations changes.

“Under the current proposed paid parental leave initiative Government agencies will make payments direct to eligible employees for the first six months of the scheme before employers take over the role of ‘paymaster’’.

“The only reason the Government is handing over its paymaster task seems to be the conceptual idea that the scheme will be viewed as a ‘Government hand-out’ rather than ‘paid parental leave’ if payments don’t come directly from employers.

“Retailers burdened by these operational changes aren’t comfortable spending time and money upgrading payroll software and seeking professional advice about their new obligations for the sake of semantics.

“Retailers support any paid parental leave scheme as a community benefit that provides security to parents and families but it shouldn’t come at a cost to employers,” Zimmerman said.

A copy of ARA’s submission to the Paid Parental Leave Senate Inquiry and/or the ARA’s opening statement at today’s hearing are available on request.

Source: http://www.retail.org.au/index.php/news/Retailers_reject_%E2%80%98paymaster%E2%80%99_function_of_paid_parental_leave_%E2%80%93_ARA_represents_retailers_at_Senate_hearing_TODAY

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