As the end of the year draws ever closer, the Fair Work Ombudsman has reminded businesses of some key workplace rules and obligations they should be aware of during the end-of-year period.

Here’s a checklist to help you stay across them:

• Provide the required notice if directing employees to take annual leave during a shutdown period.
• Get familiar with the rules relating to annual leave requests. Remember, annual leave requests can only be refused if it’s reasonable to do so.
• Ensure your payroll system accounts for public holidays that fall during employee leave, so that leave is not incorrectly deducted.
• Check that any upcoming or planned overtime requests are reasonable and what overtime rates apply (if any).
• Communicate to employees if pay day will be impacted by a public holiday.

Get more info about rules and entitlements during the end-of-year period.