FEATURE INSIGHT
Lisa Gillespie, Moorepay’s HR services director, explains the legal position Is it safe and lawful to use electronic payslips?
T he entitlement to an itemised payslip is enshrined in the Employment Rights Act 1996, but does it allow employers to issue electronic payslips – and who is responsible for keeping the content secure? It makes sound economic sense for most employers to send as much as they can electronically, saving the cost of printing, posting, and all the paper and ink that goes along with it. However, moving to electronic payslips has caused a headache for some businesses who’ve met staff resistance or concerns from management teams that digital documents are somehow less secure. So, to clear up the legal bit, section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, which sets out the rights of the employee, provides that: “An employee has the right to be given by his employer, at or before the time at which any payment of wages or salary is made to him, a written itemised pay statement.” It’s helpful that the wording of the Act doesn’t define the means by which the payslip is given (somewhat more foresighted than some of its contemporaries I could name). In a nutshell, it is perfectly acceptable to use PDFs or any other electronic means to provide payslips, and you will not be breaching any law or security requirements if you do. With that out of the way, let’s look at the more disputable question: are e-payslips more or less secure than paper? Envelopes, the post and other documents are as easily intercepted as electronic data – the security of any item is always susceptible to the determination of those with nefarious intent, regardless of the format. In the same way that bike locks are useful only as a deterrent (it takes
approximately 3–30 seconds to cut through a standard issue D-lock) if someone is intent on getting the information, then the security you use is there to make life difficult and slow them down. ...HM Revenue & Customs, banks and most other institutions readily accept electronic submissions as proof of earnings etc I have heard of people (no names!) rifling through their spouse’s pockets looking for information on their wages. And as a student many years ago my fellow barmen/maids and I were the victims of an inside job when weekly wages and payslips, all made up in envelopes ready for distribution, were cleaned out of the manager’s office. By comparison digital technology offers a number of advantages, including password authentication and encryption, providing more control if managed in a secure manner. That said, I always advise certain measures to ensure the responsibility to maintain the correct access rests with the recipient as far as possible. Recently, a professional colleague received an earful from an employee whose soon-to-be-ex- wife had gleefully told him he needed to declare a pay rise in their divorce proceedings, having opened his e-payslip in an email account they shared.
When my colleague called me in a panic I asked who was responsible for maintaining personal email addresses for payslips. She checked their policy and sighed with relief – it clearly stated it was the employee’s responsibility to ensure their details were up to date. Nonetheless if email (rather than a secure portal) is used, I would always recommend a company-wide reminder every six months as accounts are regularly hacked these days. Similarly, it’s important to discourage employees from using a work email account to receive pay and other personal information, as the content may be accessed by IT security, or inadvertently accessed and forwarded during absences. If you do come up against resistance to introducing e-payslips it is useful to make the point that HM Revenue & Customs, banks and most other institutions readily accept electronic submissions as proof of earnings etc. However, employers should, by exception, provide hard copies if the employee genuinely needs these (and there will always be certain circumstances which merit this, so use common sense). One final point on payslips: I’m often surprised to discover people do not understand their tax codes, deductions and other itemised content. It is worth placing a small glossary in your induction packs for employees, particularly if you recruit apprentices, students or other first-time/early career workers, who may be having their first experience earning a salary. It can save a lot of time otherwise spent explaining how net figures have been arrived at and so on, and serves a second purpose in encouraging employees to take ownership for ensuring their information is accurate and correct payments and deductions are being made. n
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | December 2016/January 2017 | Issue 26 40
Made with FlippingBook Online document