Is an employer able to ‘dock’ an employee’s pay when they come into work late for an unauthorised reason?
An employee is not normally entitled to be paid their salary for the period that they did not attend work for an unauthorised reason (although it is important to check the content of any industrial instruments that apply).
Despite this, the legislative obligation under the Fair Work Act to pay an employee for time that they have worked means that an employer cannot fail to pay an employee for anything other than the exact period of time that the employee was absent.
It is also important to be clear about the fact that an employer is not ‘deducting’ an amount from an employee’s salary when they fail to pay them for not attending work as described. This is because the law generally prohibits deductions from employee monies, except in certain circumstances. (For more information about deductions from employee monies, please see Deductions from pay and Deducting overpayments from an employees pay). Rather, the employer is merely not paying the employee for the time that they have not worked.
In a circumstance where an employee is running late, they should be encouraged to notify the business. This may result in the manager and employee reaching an agreement for the employee to make up the time if the relevant instrument provides.
Repeated lateness may become the subject of disciplinary action. If so, it will undergo the same disciplinary procedures as other forms of misconduct. To learn more, please see our article Investigating allegations of misconduct.
To discuss issues with lateness or other disciplinary matters further, please call the Ai Group Workplace Advice Line on
1300 55 66 77.
