On 1 July 2026, two significant changes came into effect for Australian employers.

The first was Payday Super: the requirement to pay superannuation contributions at the same time as wages, rather than quarterly.

The second was the expansion of the government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme to 26 weeks.

Three months on, most businesses have made the adjustments. But if you have not reviewed your payroll and parental leave processes since July, now is a good time to check.

Before 1 July 2026, employers were required to pay superannuation contributions quarterly. The new requirement is that super must be paid on or before the day wages are paid.

This is a significant operational change for businesses that were used to managing super as a quarterly obligation. It affects cash flow planning, payroll systems and the administrative process for calculating and remitting contributions.

What to check now:

• Is your payroll system set up to calculate and remit super with each pay run?
• Are you paying super on time for all employees, including casuals and part-time staff?
• Do you have a process for handling late or missed payments?

The ATO has enforcement powers for late super payments, including the Superannuation Guarantee Charge, which is more expensive than the super itself. Getting this right is not optional.

A note on payroll software. Most modern payroll platforms updated their systems ahead of 1 July. If you are using a reputable payroll system and you set it up correctly, you are likely compliant. If you are managing payroll manually or using older software, it is worth a careful review.

The government-funded Paid Parental Leave scheme now provides 26 weeks of payments at the national minimum wage for eligible parents.

This is an increase from the previous 20-week entitlement and represents a significant expansion of the scheme.

What employers need to know:

The government-funded payments are administered through Services Australia, not through the employer. However, employers are still required to pass the payments on to employees in most cases, and there are administrative obligations involved.

If your business also offers employer-funded parental leave on top of the government scheme, you need to check how your policy interacts with the expanded entitlement. Some policies were written when the government scheme was shorter and may need updating.

What to check now:

• Is your parental leave policy up to date and consistent with the current entitlements?
• Do your managers know how to handle a parental leave request correctly?
• Are you clear on the interaction between the government scheme and any employer-funded leave you offer?

These two changes are part of a pattern of increasing employment obligations for Australian businesses. The Fair Work Act has been amended multiple times in recent years. Psychosocial safety obligations have been strengthened. Casual employment rules have changed. The right to disconnect has been introduced.

Keeping up with all of it is genuinely difficult, particularly for small and medium businesses that do not have a dedicated HR function.

If you are not sure whether your employment practices are current, a compliance review is a practical starting point. It does not have to be complicated. It just needs to happen.

Adelle Hemingway is a CPHR and the principal consultant at Hemingway HR. She works with Australian businesses on employment relations, HR compliance and workplace strategy.