WageSafe Blog

An enterprise agreement doesn't automatically get re-tested against the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT) every time award rates move. The BOOT is applied once, at a specific "test time" - when the application for approval (or variation) is made. At that point, the Fair Work Commission checks whether every award-covered employee, and every reasonably foreseeable employee, would be better off overall under the agreement than under the relevant modern award (Fair Work Act, 2009) But the award doesn't stand still. So an agreement's original margin over the award can quietly narrow, even though the agreement itself hasn't changed a word.

Wage compliance is no longer a payroll team problem. It is a CFO problem. One with criminal penalties, multi-million dollar remediation bills, and hidden EBIT erosion that won't appear on your risk register until it's too late.

What 760,000 Payroll Audits Reveal About the Future of Wage Compliance 2 minute read In early 2025, we set out to audit 260,000 payrolls. By FY26, that figure will exceed 500,000. The message is clear: the era of assuming payroll compliance is over.

Payroll compliance reviews play a critical role in protecting Australian businesses from legal, financial, and reputational risk. With ongoing changes to workplace laws, awards, and entitlements, maintaining accurate payroll processes has become both a compliance requirement and a strategic necessity.

In the complex landscape of payroll management, opting to ignore compliance might seem like a shortcut to reduce operational costs...