Private ruling: Superannuation Guarantee Obligations
Published: July 2014

Ruling: Q5: Do earnings in respect of the uniform and laundry allowance paid to employees under a clause of an Enterprise Agreement form part of the employee's OTE for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the SGAA? Advice No. Refer to 'Reasons for decision'.

Relevant facts and circumstances: • The employer is seeking advice in relation to if the following payments form part of the employees OTE in respect to their superannuation guarantee (SG) obligations: • Public holiday equitable payments • Telephone on-call allowance • General on-call allowance • Recall-overtime allowance • Continuing education allowance • Uniform and laundry allowance • In relation to the types of payments, the employer provides the following information from the Agreement in their application: • Employees work on a seven-day week rotating roster basis. • Where a public holiday falls on a day that an employee is not rostered to work employees shall receive an 'equitable payment'. • Employees may be required to be 'on-call' outside of rostered duty hours of work. Employees required to be on-call while not at work will receive an on-call allowance. • Employees may be recalled to work when off duty. If employees handle recall to work via telephone (without returning to the workplace) they will be paid a recall-telephone allowance. If employees are physically recalled to the workplace, they will be paid a recall-overtime allowance. • Employees are paid a continuing education allowance to reimburse costs associated with such conferences, such as costs of registration. It is the employer's expectation that the allowance is fully expended on such education costs. • Employees are generally not provided with a work uniform. They are paid a uniform and laundry allowance to compensate for the costs of purchasing and laundering a work uniform.

Relevant legislative provisions: Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 Subsection 6(1) Superannuation Guarantee Ruling SGR 2009/2 Superannuation guarantee: meaning of the terms 'ordinary time earnings' and 'salary or wages '. | Summary | The earnings of employees who are engaged under the Agreement in respect of: | • public holidays occurring on rostered days off | • telephone on-call allowance | • general on-call allowance | • recall/overtime allowance | • continuing education allowance | • uniform and laundry allowance | do not form part of the employees ordinary time earnings as the earnings paid in respect of these clauses are not in relation to the employees' ordinary hours of work. | Detailed reasoning | All employers are required to provide a minimum level of superannuation support for their eligible employees by the SG period due date. From 1 July 2008, employers must use OTE as the earning base to calculate the minimum SG contributions required for employees. | Ordinary time earnings | OTE, in relation to an employee, is defined in subsection 6(1) of the SGAA and is the lesser of: | (a) the total of the employee's earnings in respect of ordinary hours of work and earnings consisting of over award payments, shift loading or commission, but does not include lump sum payments made on termination of employment in lieu of unused sick leave, unused annual leave and unused long service leave; or | (b) the maximum contribution base for the quarter - the maximum contribution base, which is the maximum limit on the amount of superannuation support that an employer is expected to provide for the benefit of an employee. The maximum contribution base for the 2013-14 year of income is $48,040 per quarter. This amount is indexed annually according to the indexation factor. | Superannuation Guarantee Ruling SGR 2009/2 Superannuation guarantee: meaning of the terms 'ordinary time earnings' and 'salary or wages ' (SGR 2009/2) sets out the Commissioner's views on the meaning of OTE. | Paragraphs 13 to 15 and 18 of SGR 2009/2 address the meaning of 'ordinary hours of work' and state: | Meaning of 'ordinary hours of work' | 13. An employee's 'ordinary hours of work' are the hours specified in his or her ordinary hours of work under the relevant award or agreement, or under a combination of such documents, that governs the employee's conditions of employment. | 14. The document need not use the exact expression 'ordinary hours of work', but it needs to draw a genuine distinction, for the purposes of the award or agreement, between ordinary hours and other hours. In particular, it would be expected that the other hours are remunerated at a higher rate (typically described as overtime) than the ordinary hours, or otherwise identifiable as a separate component of the total pay in respect of non-ordinary hours. | 15. Any hours worked in excess of, or outside the span (if any) of, those specified ordinary hours of work are not part of the employee's 'ordinary hours of work'. | 16. If the ordinary hours of work are not specified in a relevant award or agreement, the 'ordinary hours of work' are the normal, regular, usual or customary hours worked by the employee, as determined in all the circumstances of the case. This is not necessarily the minimum or maximum number of hours worked or required to be worked. | 17. In such cases, it may often not be possible or practicable to determine the normal, regular, usual or customary hours of an employee's work. If so, the actual hours worked should be taken to be the ordinary hours of work. | 18. 'Ordinary hours of work' are not necessarily limited to hours to be worked between 9.am and 5pm. Monday to Friday. They may (depending on the provision in the relevant award or agreement, if any) and include hours to be worked at other times, including at night, on weekends or on public holidays. | In your case, the majority of employees are employed as shift workers and are rostered on a rotating roster basis, where their full time or part time hours are rostered over the seven days of the week. | The Agreement provides that the ordinary hours of duty of full-time and part-time employees shall be worked according to a roster or rosters. | Therefore, in accordance with paragraph 17 of SGR 2009/2, the rostered duty hours should be taken to be the employee's ordinary hours of work. | Question 1 | Public Holidays occurring on rostered days off | The Agreement provides that where a public holiday falls on an employee's rostered day off, he or she shall be entitled to receive an amount equal to one day's ordinary pay. | Paragraph 25 of SGR 2009/2 provides that all amounts of employment earnings are in respect of an employee's of ordinary hours of work, unless they are remuneration for overtime hours or other hours that are not ordinary hours of work. | Paragraph 227 of SGR 2009/2 discusses an example of public holiday payments and ordinary working hours: | For example, during public holidays an employee does not provide services or attend work, and the entitlement to the payment for the holiday has not accrued during ordinary hours actually worked. However, the payment the employee receives is 'in respect of 'ordinary hours of work' because it is salary or wages received at their ordinary rate of pay paid for a period which would normally be their ordinary working hours. | On the facts you have provided, employees receive a payment in lieu for public holidays which occur on their rostered days off. As the employees work on a rotating roster basis and do not have regular or usual working hours, the concept of 'ordinary hours of work' is defined by their actual hours of work. An employee's rostered day off would therefore be excluded from an employee's ordinary hours of work. | Therefore a payment in lieu made to employees for public holidays occurring on their rostered day off is not paid in respect of their ordinary working hours. This is distinguishable from the example detailed in paragraph 227 of SGR 2009/2; where the public holiday payment described is in respect of a period which would normally be the employee's ordinary working hours. | As the payment is made in respect of a period which would not form part of the employee's ordinary working hours, due to the employee not being rostered to attend work on that day, the payment does not form part of OTE for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the SGAA. Therefore, the Employer does not have an obligation to make SG payments in respect of the public holiday equitable payment. | Question 2 | Telephone on-call and general on-call allowances | Employees may be required to provide on-call services by being available to return to work if required, or by handling recall to work situations via telephone (without physically returning to the workplace). | The Agreement provides that the Employer shall pay an on-call allowance to employees who are required to be on-call. | For each on-call period where an employee provides advice by telephone, the Agreement states that the employee must be paid a telephone on-call allowance. For each on-call period where an employee does not provide any advice by telephone, the Agreement states that the employee must be paid the general on-call allowance. | Paragraph 27 of SGR 2009/2 provides that additional payments made to employees to recognise or compensate employees for certain conditions relating to their employment are OTE, except to the extent that they relate solely to hours of work other than ordinary hours of work. | Paragraph 41 of SGR 2009/2 specifies that payments for work undertaken during hours outside an employee's ordinary hours of work are not OTE. | Paragraph 44 of SGR 2009/2 explains the general relationship between on-call allowances and OTE: | An on-call or availability allowance is a payment to an employee for making himself or herself available at certain times to be called in to work if needed. This entitlement is separate from the salary or wages he or she will receive if actually called in. If paid in respect of hours that the employee is not otherwise working, these payments are not OTE. | Paragraph 45 of SGR 2009/2 explains that in some cases an on-call allowance may be paid as a loading on the salary of an employee received for ordinary hours of work. For example, doctors may be paid an extra hourly allowance, while carrying out routine duties in ordinary hours of work, to make themselves available to perform urgent surgery if required. Payments of that kind would be considered OTE because they relate to ordinary hours of work (except to the extent that they are paid in respect of overtime hours). | In your case, the general on-call allowance is paid to employees where they make themselves available to be called in to work if needed. The on-call allowance is not paid as a loading on ordinary salary and wages and is therefore distinguishable from the example provided in paragraph 45 of SGR 2009/2. The allowance is separate from any salary or wages paid if the employee is actually called in to work. Therefore the principles explained in paragraph 44 of SGR 2009/2 apply and payment of the general on-call allowance is not considered OTE. | The telephone on-call allowance is paid to employees who deal with recalls to work via telephone without physically returning to the workplace. The allowance is paid to employees for being recalled to work for hours outside their normal rostered working hours. The allowance relates solely to hours other than ordinary hours of work and is therefore not OTE. | As the telephone on-call and general on-call allowances paid to employees under the Agreement relate to hours that are outside of the employees' ordinary hours of work, being outside their rostered duty hours, the allowances do not form part of OTE for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the SGAA. Therefore, the Employer does not have an obligation to make SG payments in respect of the on-call and recall-telephone allowances. | Question 3 | Recall-overtime allowance | The Agreement provides that an employee is recalled to duty outside rostered hours of duty must be paid for their actual time worked at a rate higher than the ordinary rate of pay. | Paragraph 25 of SGR 2009/2 provides that all employment earnings are in respect of an employee's of ordinary hours of work unless they are remuneration for overtime hours or other hours that are not ordinary hours of work. Paragraph 41 of SGR 2009/2 states that payments for overtime work performed during hours outside an employee's ordinary hours of work are not OTE. | The overtime-recall allowance relates to overtime hours outside an employee's ordinary hours of work, as it applies solely to situations where an employee is recalled to work outside their rostered duty hours. Applying paragraph 41 of SGR 2009/2, as the payment relates to overtime work performed the allowance does not form part of OTE for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the SGAA. Therefore the Employer does not have an obligation to make SG payments in respect of the on-call and recall telephone allowances. | Question 4 | Continuing education allowance | The Agreement provides that employees shall receive a continuing education allowance. The Agreement states that in a year of service an employee will receive one week of paid conference leave. | The continuing medical allowance is paid to reimburse costs associated with attending educational conferences. There is an expectation that the allowance will be fully expended on education costs associated with attending these conferences. | Paragraph 72 of SGR 2009/2 states that 'expense allowances' will not form part of an employee's salary and wages. Expense allowances are those which are paid to an employee with a reasonable expectation that the employee will fully expend the money in the course of providing services. | Paragraph 73 of SGR 2009/2 states that a reimbursement that compensates an employee for an expense they have incurred on behalf of the employer will also not form part of an employee's salary or wages. | In your case, the continuing education allowance is paid with the expectation that employees will fully expend the amount on professional development and education expenses related to their employment services. | Applying paragraphs 72 and 73 of SGR 2009/2, the continuing education allowance is paid as a reimbursement of costs necessarily incurred in relation to continuing medical education activities or purposes directly relevant to employment. There is an expectation that employees will fully expend the amount on professional development and education expenses related to their employment services. This payment therefore does not form part of OTE for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the SGAA. Therefore the Employer does not have an obligation to make SG payments in respect of the continuing education allowance. | Question 5 | Uniform and laundry allowance | Employees are generally not provided with uniforms and bear the cost of both purchasing uniforms and laundering them. They are paid a uniform and laundry allowance to compensate for these costs. | The Agreement provides that an employee must either be supplied with suitable uniforms that are laundered at the expense of the Employer, or be paid uniform and laundry allowance. The amount of the uniform and laundry allowance is set out in the Agreement. | Paragraph 27 of SGR 2009/2 provides that additional payments made to employees to recognise or compensate employees for certain conditions relating to their employment are OTE except to the extent that they relate solely to hours of work other than ordinary hours of work. | Paragraphs 72 of SGR 2009/2 states that certain 'expense allowances' will not form part of an employee's salary and wages. Expense allowances are those which are paid to an employee with a reasonable expectation that the employee will fully expend the money in the course of providing services. | The uniform and laundry allowance is paid to employees to compensate for the costs of providing and maintaining clean work uniforms. The allowance payment relates to the ordinary hours worked by employees. | As there would be a reasonable expectation by the employer that the allowance amount would be fully expended on uniform and laundry costs; it is considered that the uniform and laundry allowance is an expense allowance and therefore does not form part of OTE for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the SGAA. Therefore the Employer does not have an obligation to make SG payments in respect of this allowance. | Conclusion | The payments made to employees in respect of the public holiday equitable payments, telephone on-call allowance, general on-call allowance, recall-overtime allowance, continuing education allowance and uniform and laundry allowance do not form part of the employees OTE.


Do earnings in respect of public holidays occurring on rostered days off paid to employees under a clause of an Enterprise Agreement form part of the employee's ordinary time earnings (OTE) for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (SGAA)? | Do earnings in respect of the telephone on-call allowance and general on-call allowance paid to employees under a clause of an Enterprise Agreement form part of the employee's OTE for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the SGAA? | Do earnings in respect of the recall-overtime allowance paid to employees under a clause of an Enterprise Agreement form part of the employee's OTE for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the SGAA? | Do earnings in respect of the continuing education allowance paid to employees under a clause of an Enterprise Agreement form part of the employee's OTE for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the SGAA?