5Annual rate of salary

5 Annual rate of salary

(1) In this section, salary means salary or wages and includes any allowance, or the value of any allowance, or any fee, that is an allowance or fee of a kind that, under the regulations, is to be treated as salary for the purposes of this Act, but does not include any part of any salary or wages that, under the regulations, is not to be treated as salary for the purposes of this Act. (2) For the purposes of this Act but subject to subsections (3) to (3E), the annual rate of salary of an eligible employee on a particular day is an amount equal to the amount per annum of the salary payable to him or her on that day. (3) The regulations may provide that, in a case specified in the regulations, the annual rate of salary of an eligible employee on a particular day shall, for the purposes of this Act or a provision of this Act specified in the regulations, be an amount equal to such amount per annum as is ascertained under the regulations. (3AA) Despite subsections (1), (2) and (3), an eligible employee and his or her designated employer may agree that a particular annual rate is to be the employee’s annual rate of salary for the purposes of the application of this Act on a particular day and, if such an agreement is made, the agreed rate is taken to be the employee’s annual rate of salary on that day. (3AB) Subsection (3AC) applies if: (a) a Minister makes a determination under an Act in respect of the remuneration of a person appointed under that Act; or (b) the Presiding Officers (within the meaning of the Parliamentary Service Act 1999) make a determination under that Act in respect of the remuneration of a person appointed under that Act; or (c) a determination is made under the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973 in respect of the remuneration of a person; and an annual rate of salary of the person can be ascertained under the determination. (To avoid doubt, subsection (3AC) applies whether a determination is expressed to apply to a person or an office.) (3AC) Despite subsections (1), (2) and (3), for the purposes of the application of this Act on a particular day, the annual rate of salary of the person is the annual rate of salary ascertained for the purposes of this Act under the determination on that day. (3A) If, at the time (the later time) immediately before a person ceased or last ceased to be an eligible employee, the person was entitled to partial invalidity pension under section 77 or 78, the annual rate of salary payable to the person at the later time is to be worked out, for the purposes of this Act other than sections 77 and 78, under subsections (3B) to (3E). (3B) If the person’s entitlement arose under section 77, the annual rate of salary payable to the person at the later time is taken to be the amount per annum that would have been the person’s final annual rate of salary at the time (the earlier time) that was the occasion on which the person ceased or last ceased to be an eligible employee before the person’s entitlement arose. (3C) If the person’s entitlement arose under section 78, the annual rate of salary payable to the person at the later time is taken to be the amount per annum that would, if the person had ceased to be an eligible employee on the day immediately before the day on which the person’s entitlement arose, have been the person’s final annual rate of salary at the time (the earlier time) that would have been the occasion of the person’s so ceasing to be an eligible employee. (3D) However, if: (a) the Australian Statistician has published, at or before the later time, an estimate or successive estimates of the change or changes (expressed as a percentage or percentages) in AWOTE in respect of the period between the relevant earlier time and the later time; and (b) the estimate or estimates show an overall increase (expressed as a percentage) in those earnings over that period, or over the part of that period in respect of which the estimate or estimates were published; the annual rate of salary payable to the person at the later time is taken to be the annual rate of salary worked out under subsection (3B) or (3C), as the case requires, increased by that percentage. (3E) If, at any time, whether before or after the commencement of this subsection, the Australian Statistician has published or publishes for a particular period an estimate of a change (including an estimate that no change has occurred) in AWOTE in substitution for an estimate of such a change for that period previously published by the Australian Statistician, the publication of the later estimate is to be disregarded for the purposes of this section. (4) Where the rate of the salary, or of a part of the salary, of an eligible employee is not an annual rate, the amount per annum of that salary, or of that part of that salary, as the case may be, shall, for the purposes of this section, be ascertained: (a) where the rate is a weekly rate—by multiplying the weekly rate by 52; (b) where the rate is a monthly rate—by multiplying the monthly rate by 12; and (c) in any other case—in such manner as is prescribed.