Let’s say you’ve just hired a new worker. As an employer, you have payment obligations.

An employee works their ordinary hours and you pay them an amount of money for each hour they work. You may also pay commissions, shift loading or allowances for those ordinary hours. This is called their ordinary time earnings.

Sometimes you may ask an employee to work overtime. You pay that at a different rate per hour and there may be loading, commissions or allowances related to those overtime hours.

The ordinary time earnings and overtime earnings make up the employee’s gross pay. Let’s consider the legal requirements you must meet and the products you can use, when paying employee salaries and wages.