Claiming pay and salary as an employee
To meet minimum nomination pathway requirements and to claim priority attributes related to pay or salary and the priority income level, an applicant must provide supporting evidence when lodging their application.
- Pay or salary can only be claimed from eligible employment.
- Pay and salary claims will not be accepted where the employment falls within the excluded employment categories, or the employment is under 20 hours per week (or nine hours per week during study periods in the Tasmanian Skilled Graduate pathways).
- Supporting evidence must demonstrate the amount claimed for a minimum of the last three months.
- Your nomination application may be declined if you claim a higher amount than your actual earnings.
Unless otherwise specified by the minimum requirement or priority attribute criteria, applicants must have earned the stated amount for a minimum of 12 weeks.
Where the requirement refers to "currently earning", you must provide evidence to show that you have received that amount for at least the last three months.
You cannot claim “pay or salary” attributes if you are earning salary as sole business owner. Business owners can only claim attributes that refer to personal income from business.
Pay, conditions, and local market salary rate
Pay and conditions must be at least the same as other workers doing the same job at the same level and, must comply with the Fair Work Ombudsman’s National Employment Standards.
To show this, your payslips or contract should include the relevant award or agreement and your job classification level.
For example, if you are a motor mechanic or automotive tradesperson, your payslips must show that you are paid at or above the rate in the Vehicle Repair, Services and Retail Award 2020 for a tradesperson at Level I (or a higher level if it applies to your job).
If your payslips or contract do not include this information, you must provide a written statement from your employer confirming:
- which award or enterprise agreement applies to your job
- your classification level under that award or agreement
- that your pay rate meets or is higher than the required rate for that level
We may check your pay rate against the current Fair Work Commission pay guide. If we cannot confirm that your pay matches the correct award rate for a qualified tradesperson, your application may be refused.
What should you include in total pay
Salary claims must be consistent with the amounts shown in an applicant’s employment contract, payslips, and salary deposits.
Salary claims include:
- base wages
- amounts deducted in a salary packaging arrangement.
Salary claims do not include:
- mandatory employer superannuation contributions
- allowances
- bonuses (including sign-on bonus)
- backpay
- overtime
- commissions
- penalties for weekends, public holidays or work outside regular hours
- scholarships
- reimbursements.
Annual salary amounts must be based on a maximum 38-hour week and be clearly stated in your contract. If your standard working week exceeds 38 hours, only the base hourly rate will be considered.
Casual employment
Casual employees use the base hourly rate before casual loading. This is the hourly rate before the 25 per cent casual loading is applied.
Part-time and multiple jobs
If you work multiple jobs:
- You can combine hours across jobs to meet any minimum hours requirement.
- However, you cannot combine income across jobs.
- You must nominate the hourly rate from one job only, (the highest-paying job).
Importantly, where jobs are combined to meet the minimum hours requirement, each job must meet any relevant income threshold requirement individually.
This means that lower‑paid jobs cannot be combined with a higher‑paid job to meet an income-based attribute or requirement.
Example:
An applicant works three jobs totalling 20 hours per week:
- Job 1: 10 hours per week at $27/hour
- Job 2: 5 hours per week at $27/hour
- Job 3: 5 hours per week at $52/hour
Although the applicant meets the 20-hour minimum by combining jobs, they do not meet the income threshold requirement, because two of the jobs fall below the required income level. All jobs used to meet the minimum hours must independently meet the relevant income threshold.
Part-time work
Income cannot be combined from multiple part-time jobs. The payrate claimed should be from the highest paying job.
Casual employment
Casual employees use the base hourly rate before casual loading. This is the hourly rate before the 25 per cent casual loading is applied.