Parish Handbook

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6. Employees and volunteers ​

Introduction ​

The employment of staff is one of the most important administrative tasks a parish undertakes. Parishes are required to follow applicable civil laws and pay a just and honest wage to staff.

Parish finance committees (PFCs) should consider carefully the financial position of the parish before recommending to the parish priest any recruitment. Alternatives should be considered, including the use of volunteers or contractors.

Australian law requires those undertaking paid work for the parish to be either:

  • an employee who is subject to pay as you go (PAYG) withholding tax provisions, or
  • an independent contractor or an employee of a registered business, each of whom are subject to Australian business number (ABN) and goods and services tax (GST) provisions.

Parishes or parish priests should not be paying parish workers or businesses for services provided outside of the above arrangements where the parish does not hold a tax file number or ABN for the employee or supplier.

Note that while priests and clergy are not employees, they are subject to the Australian Taxation Office’s PAYG withholding tax requirements. The Parish Payroll Service provided by the Archdiocese’s Human Resources (HR) Office can assist in meeting the PAYG withholding and reporting obligations for payments to clergy.

A rare exception to the above advice is where an honorarium is paid as a token honorary reward for voluntary services. In such cases, parishes may still be subject to employment law and WorkCover obligations. Recipients of honorariums resulting from voluntarily offering services in line with their profession may be required to disclose payments received as assessable income for tax purposes. Parishes are advised to seek appropriate advice before considering payment of honorariums.

To access further HR resources click here.

Archdiocesan Parish Payroll Service ​

The Parish Payroll Service helps ensure parishes meet their employment obligations and maintain full compliance with legal requirements. A specialist payroll resource is available to oversee payroll and provide advice to parishes.

The Parish Payroll Service will ensure that:

  • employees have a current employment agreement in place
  • employee leave records are accurately maintained
  • employee separation payments are based on correct employment history information and accurately calculated
  • any volunteers are documented as such and therefore have clarity that leave benefits do not accrue for their work, particularly in the case where this extends over a significant period of time.

Further information regarding the Parish Payroll Service, along with payroll guides and tools, can be found here.

Recruitment and selection ​

The Archdiocesan HR Office provides recruitment and onboarding assistance to parishes for the employment of new workers. It is recommended that parishes seek advice from HR regarding a role’s requirements and applicable remuneration before recruitment commences.

In general, parishes should follow standard recruitment practices when employing staff. These include:

  • identifying the work that needs to be done, the skills required, the time needed to complete the tasks and for how long
  • determining whether being a Catholic is an inherent requirement of the position
  • drafting job descriptions determining the remuneration levels applicable to the role
  • advertising key positions, particularly full-time positions, either internally through the HR Office’s service or externally
  • developing a list of questions that allow the applicant to demonstrate their skills in relation to the selection criteria, and interviewing a range of appropriate candidates by a panel of at least two people, one of whom preferably is the parish priest
  • keeping notes of the interview and the responses provided by candidates, and retaining these for record-keeping purposes
  • checking references for the candidate judged most suited to the position.

The successful candidate will be required to complete pre-employment checks, including:

  • Working with Children Check (WWCC) card (renewed every five years)
  • National Police Check certificate (renewed every three years)
  • annual acknowledgement of the expectations and responsibilities outlined in the Safeguarding Children and Young People Code of Conduct.

In addition to this, successful candidates are required to successfully complete the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne’s Safeguarding Essentials online training module annually.

An employment agreement must be completed for all parish workers and forwarded to them for signing. The HR Office should be consulted for completion of this requirement.

The parish priest alone has authority to employ parish workers and must sign the offer of employment.

Resources to assist with your recruitment and selection:

Mandatory compliance requirements ​

The Archdiocese has approved a number of HR-related policies that also apply to employees and volunteers. Parishes are requested to ensure employees and volunteers are familiar and comply with the following policies:

Additional HR related policies can be found here.

WorkCover ​

Victorian legislation requires that all paid parish employees be insured under the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013. (Note that priests and clergy are not employees.)

The parish will receive each year a wages declaration for its paid employees from the WorkCover insurance adviser (Gallagher Bassett). The parish is required to complete an estimate of the wages paid for the upcoming year and a reconciliation of actual wages paid for the year just ended. The record of salaries and wages paid to parish employees is available from the Employment Hero application reports maintained by the Archdiocese’s Parish Payroll Service.

The premiums payable for WorkCover are charged directly by Gallagher Bassett to the parish following receipt of the completed estimated wages declaration.

Volunteers ​

Volunteers provide an invaluable service and play an important role in our organisations. Work performed on a volunteer basis should be clearly documented so that both parties understand their respective rights and obligations.

Volunteer arrangements ​

A volunteer is any person engaged by, or part of, CAM or a parish agency or entity, who provides services without remuneration or reward, regardless of whether their role relates directly to children and/or young people. They are under no legal obligation to perform any work, and both the parish and the volunteer are entitled to cease the arrangement at any time.

Church volunteers represent CAM and hold a position of trust in our communities. CAM acknowledges that children, young people, families and communities often hold Church volunteers in high regard, and therefore there is a need to ensure that all volunteers have been appropriately screened and trained in safeguarding, irrespective of whether their role involves direct, indirect or no contact with children and young people.

All volunteers are required to complete pre-employment checks including:

  • Working with Children Check (WWCC) card (renewed every five years)
  • National Police Check Certificate (renewed every three years)
  • acknowledgement of the expectations and responsibilities outlined in the Safeguarding Children and Young People Code of Conduct (renewed every three years)

In addition to this, volunteers are required to successfully complete the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne’s Safeguarding Essentials online training module every three years.

The process of selecting volunteers is essentially the same as recruiting employees, in that there should be clarity in identifying the task to be performed, interviewing potential volunteers, conducting reference and police checks, and providing a letter of offer to perform work as a volunteer. A sample engagement letter to volunteers is provided.

Safeguarding standards relating to child safety and WWC requirements apply as much to volunteers as they do to clergy and employees.

As the parish may be responsible for injuries that occur to volunteers in the course of their duties, it is prudent to keep a record of volunteer attendance for insurance purposes. The Archdiocese holds a separate master policy for voluntary workers’ insurance and public liability.

Induction and training should be provided to volunteers in relation to their respective roles, and they should be aware of and understand the parish’s policy on health and safety.

While volunteers can be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses and given small gifts in appreciation of their services, providing benefits or payments may change their status to that of an employee. For this reason, the use of honorariums should be avoided. Providing adequate recognition and encouragement of the efforts of volunteers is important as it can bothprovide motivation and assure volunteers that their efforts are valued and appreciated.

Record-keeping ​

All letters of offer, agreements on duties to be performed, and records of attendance and leave taken should be retained on the employee file. This is managed through the Parish Payroll Service platform for parishes using that service.

For parishes administering HR and payroll matters directly, it is vital that a complete record of all employment-related correspondence and advice is maintained on file from the commencement of the employment relationship through to seven years after cessation of employment.

A detailed listing of the employment records that parishes are required to maintain can be found on the website of the Fair Work Ombudsman.