Reduction of accrued liabilities
Any employer who employees fifteen (15) or more employees, is required to provide their employees with a redundancy payment in the event they are made redundant after a minimum of 12 months employment. Depending on the length of service, and the number of employees within the company, this liability can accrue to significant levels.
By contributing to a worker entitlement fund such as CIRT, this liability can be contained. Funds contributed to CIRT are held in trust until such time as an employee is made redundant and the employee claims the benefit from CIRT. These contributions are deducted from any redundancy entitlement the employee is owed. In many cases, depending on the contribution rates and length of services, the redundancy entitlement may be completely offset.
The full value of the CIRT contribution is held to offset the future redundancy entitlement. All administration and associated costs are funded through investment returns.
Cashflow and Taxation benefits
By providing employers with a facility to make progressive redundancy payments, the employers may be better able to manage cash flow whilst also more accurately allocating staffing costs to each project or job. As an approved worker entitlement fund, an employer is also able to claim a tax deduction for these contributions as they are paid to CIRT.
Member Assistance Programs
Like employers, CIRT values the welfare of our employee members and provides members access to appropriate counselling services 24-hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. This is provided through a personalised answering service via a toll-free number at no cost to either the employee or employer members.
To provide these services to members, CIRT supports the “MATES in Construction” program and counselling services provided by Converge International.
For more information on this service, please visit the Member Assistance Program page.
Training Assistance and Subsidies (JETCO)
Maintaining and upgrading the skills of their workforce continues to be a significant expense for employers. The Joint Electrical Training Council (JETCO) is CIRT’s associated training fund and provides both employees and employers with subsidies for training related to the electrical contracting industry.
Employers are reminded that weekly contributions to the JETCO fund are not a taxable supply and therefore do not attract GST. Please note that under the Trust Deed, contributions can only be paid to JETCO members also in receipt of CIRT contributions. For more information on the eligibility rules and subsidies available to employers, please see the JETCO Training for employers page.
With subsides also available to employees, the burden to provide employees with this training is reduced. CIRT and JETCO encourage employers to inform their workforce of the subsidies available to them and the requirements for obtaining these subsidies. More information on employee subsidies is available on the JETCO Training for employee page.