Paid Parental Leave how do i prove the casual hours i worked between 2 jobs?

[meeks84]

Hi guys,

Just a question on this new paid parental leave. I am a casual with a company I have worked for over 5 years now (lets say Employer 1), but work very sporadically for them. As in maybe 20 hrs every 3 months all in one go. In early September 2010 I was hired as a casual with a second company (Employer 2), and about 2 weeks later they made me part time, 2 days a week (15hrs a week). I have worked for both companies ever since, so i'll definitely have the 330hrs required to get the paid parental leave, but i'm wondering about the needing to have worked 10 of the 13 months catch, without 8 week gap in work. My part time position with Employer 2 was a contact position and it ends at the end of April 2010. So I will only have been with them for 8 months, although i've worked over 450hrs with them during that time. Now I guess I have to proove how many hours I worked for Employer 1 for June and July 2010 in order to get up the 10 month rule. Thing is I had an operation in June which required me to take 6 weeks off, meaning I bloody didn't work that time.

SO I guess i'm asking 2 things. 1. Am I going to get paid parental leave?

2. How much do I need to proove in the application? I mean I get pay slips for both work's and the regular 2 days a week one is easy to hunt up some sort of proof for since I can email HR for it. But the casual Employer 1 is so random, do I need to go through all my files and print out copies of every pay slip for 2010? Or do I just estimate, and leave a contact person for centrelink to call to verify what i've said?

How did everyone else that's casual figure out their hours and dates worked? I'm worried perhaps I may have a 8 week or more gap between work days around my operation time and therefore would miss out, which is REALLY unfair!

[spideysmummy]

Hi Meeks84,

By no means am I an expert but I have done the online application for PPL.

They just ask you afew questions - as in 'have you worked ** hours a week for ** months?' I answered no as it has been casual work and the hours vary and I also had some time off; then I think the next question was 'have you worked 550 hours since **' (whatever month) to which I answered yes (I have worked well beyond that!)

I also answered no to granting my employer permission to pay my PPL. (He pays monthly and I want it fortnightly!)

At the very end it gives you a list of any documents you have to supply and it didn't ask for anything to verify income at all. I mean I suppose FAO could always look into it, but they didn't ask for employer details / exact hours worked etc. They do take your TFN though so may also reconcile records that way?? No idea...

But work out at home the hours you have worked, if you meet the requirements do the application and you probably won't be required to provide evidence anyway.
(Remember that if you had sick leave etc it still counts as being employed)

It's confusing I know, but good luck!

[meeks84]

Thanks for the reply! Do you know how much the payment ends up being after tax? I used an online tax calculator to figure out approx tax, it told me of the $10260 paid parental leave ($570 pw x 18 weeks) you should pay $639 in tax over the 12 months (assuming I don't work this coming year). That's $534.50 per week for 18 weeks by my calc. Is that right?

[missie_mack]

I used the ATO calculator and got the same figure :yes: Bearing in mind the minimum adult wage could well increase by then, that usually happens around June/July

I'm probably not the same as not casual but my employer will not process any of the payments until next tax year so didn't give them permission to pay and still was not asked to provide documentation to verify. I guess worst case scenerio they can access your records via ATO or ask you to provide payslips.
HTH

[spideysmummy]

The fao automatically tax the payment at 15%!! I assume then that well get most (or all depending on your income!) of that back at tax time.... Fingers crossed!!!

[spideysmummy]

Which takes the payment down to just under $500.. I think $480 - $490ish off the top of my head.

Not an easy process hey!!

[del79]

Centrelink told me it's taxed at 15% but my accountant told me it's 31%. I guessed it's dependent on the total income for the next financial year..

[Kadorite]

TBH I was quite surprised that Centrelink didn't request payslips or some other proof of hours worked. I ran around like a headless chicken trying to get payslips from an old employer before a friend told me it was a simple question of 'did you work the required amount of time' on the form :rolleyes: Though, being Centrelink I'm sure they'll want proof eventually, they usually want to know everything including what you had for breakfast!

[spideysmummy]

Fao website states 15% unless you request otherwise. But yeah I guess it might be different if your employer is making the payments?? Who knows! And will be interesting when it comes to tax time.

[pumpernickel]

If bubs arrives on due date I'll be 8 days short of the 10 months. Are they going to be that strict about the 10 months? I will have worked many more than the 330 hours as I do two days a week.

Also, what if bub comes early? This scenario is more likely as I probably won't be allowed to go over my due date.

Would you guys just recommend ticking all the yes boxes and seeing what they see? I noticed one line on the CL website which says something about making allowances for prem babies.

[spideysmummy]

Yup I'd say still do the application, you can't predict if bub will come early so just go by edd. There are exceptions to the rule and if you've worked more than the minimum hours I'd think you'd be okay... Just a guess though!

[BEAUTIFULBUTTERFLY]

Great thread