Announcements

Announcement 01 - Welcome

Announcement 02 - 3rd November 2021 - Due to unforeseen circumstances, lecture 4, Employment Law & the Various Entitlements Part 2,  scheduled for Wednesday 4th November will be swapped with lecture 6, Tax & National Insurance Part 1,  which was meant to be delivered on Wednesday 11th November.

Announcement 03 - Following the cancellation of Lecture 7 which was to be held on Monday 16th November please note that an additional lecture, lecture 10, will be delivered on Monday 30th November.

Announcement 04 - Assignments questions have been made available below. A link to a video presentation on how to write and submit your assignment has also been made available as well as 21 Academy's Assignment Rubric. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Academy Documents

Complaints Procedure Policy

Complaints Form

Students' Evaluation Form

Lecture Presentations

Lecture presentations will be available during the week following the lecture.

Lecture 1 - Lecture 1

Lecture 2 - Lecture 2

Lecture 3 - Lecture 3

Lecture 4 - Lecture 4

Lecture 5 - Lecture 5

Lecture 6 - Lecture 6

Lecture 7 - Lecture 7

Lecture 8 - Lecture 8a, Lecture 8b

Lecture 9 - Lecture 9

Lecture 10 - Lecture 10

Lecture Summaries & Suggested Reading 

Lecture 1 - Introduction to Payroll

This first lecture will be an introduction to what the course is going to cover and the basis of Payroll. The Importance of all the legal aspects of this will be emphasised. The different systems used to calculate payroll will be mentioned running through those manual and automated. The outcome of this lecture is to immediately grasp the concept that Payroll is not longer merely a calculation of numbers. The outcome is having The basic principles of payroll and the setting up of a professional payroll system.

Core Reading List

Lecture 2 - Starting Payroll for Local & Foreign Employees

This Lecture will go through what information is needed to compute payroll for Local and Foreign Employees. Different information is needed for different scenarios for tax computation, Social Security, Data processing, End of year computation etc. The outcome is to understand this information and how to process it and from where to get this information, The payroll professional’s role within organisations, or as an independent contractor; and the Basic notions of Human resources Practices.

Core Reading List

 

Lecture 3 - Employment Law & the Various Entitlements Part 1

This lecture will cover a basic overview of the various entitlements set out for the benefit of employees in the Maltese employment law regime. Participants will understand the types of entitlements which exist, the number of days permitted for each, the circumstances under which such entitlements may be availed of, and who is entitled to which entitlement.

This lecture shall also give a basic overview of the Itemised Payslips Regulations, which effectively spell out the basic legal requisites of what a payslip should include.

Core Reading List

  • Employment and Industrial Relations Act (Cap 452 of the Laws of Malta)
  • Parental Leave Entitlement Regulations (SL 452.78)
  • Organisation of Working Time Regulations (SL 452.87)
  • Urgent Family Leave Regulations (SL 452.88)
  • Minimum Special Leave Entitlement Regulations (SL 452.101)
  • Overtime Regulations (SL 452.110)
  • Leave for Medically Assisted Procreation National Standard Order (SL 452.114)
  • Annual Leave National Standard Order (SL 452.115)

Lecture 4 - Employment Law & the Various Entitlements Part 2

Part 2 of the lectures on Employment Law shall cover several other factors which are essential for any person involved in payroll to keep in mind. The main types of contracts which exist under Maltese law will be assessed, particularly as regards their termination and any penalties or notice periods which may apply, together with any ancillary rules applicable thereto, for example as regards redundancy notice pay. The topic of redundancy will also be discussed as regards other applicable rules which must be adhered to at law. This lecture shall furthermore also cover how termination of employment payments are to be paid, what needs to be taken into account, and participants will also take a look at the ever increasing incidence of how settlement payments are to be calculated and issued.

Core Reading List

  • Contracts of Service for a Fixed Term Regulations (SL 452.81)
  • Emir, A. (2014), Selwyn’s Law of Employment
  • Employment and Industrial Relations Act (Cap 452 of the Laws of Malta)

Lecture 5 - GDPR & Payroll Implications

During this lecture students will be exposed to the following topics; Introduction to GDPR, Data vs Personal Data, Payroll Personal Data, Controller and Processor relationships, Data Processing Principles, Data Subjects Rights, Lawful processing, Data Breaches, Subject Access Requests, Documentation, Phishing Awareness.

At the end of the session student will have a better understanding of  the principles of data processing, more awareness on how to protect the data being processed and to limit the processing to what is necessary, will be able to assist in a data breach, identify a Subject Access Request and act upon it, identify whether acting as a Controller or Processor, explain essential employment and data privacy implications and apply essential employment and data protection law.

Core Reading List

  • Borg R., Gonzi P., Sciberras A., (2018) GDPR for HR Professionals
  • Data Protection Act, Cap 586 of the Laws of Malta
  • General Data Protection Regulation, (EU) 2016/679

Lecture 6 - Tax & National Insurance Part 1

The outcome of this lecture is to understand and be able to calculate Income tax and Social security according to the Information gathered. This lecture will also delve into the situations and new calculations that have to be made due to the current situation and all it brought with it when speaking of Tax and National Insurance. Here too we will see the difference between a non resident and a resident and the responsibility of the person vs that of the employer.

Core Reading List

Lecture 7 - Tax & National Insurance Part 2

In the second part we will be delving into practical examples and calculating tax and national insurance in difference scenarios mentioned in Part One. This will give a hands on approach to be able to cater for different people in different circumstances. We will then delve into the new Overtime tax rates and PT Tax rates. The outcome is to have an understanding of Basic fiscal law relating to income tax, tax status and rate, and the Final Settlement System.

Core Reading List

  • Income Tax Act, Cap 123 of the Laws of Malta
  • Income Tax Management Act, Cap 372 of the Laws of Malta
  • Social Security Act, Cap 318 of the Laws of Malta

Lecture 8 - Payroll Calculations & the Working Time Regulations

This Lecture will focus on Time and Attendance. Being the pivot of Payroll, T&A needs to be accurate and precise. It is also here that we see the importance DIER gives to it and why this is so important in our payroll calculations. Comprehension of Working Time Regulations are a must in correctly paying our employees and abiding by the Law. Here we will also look into the different leave entitlements. The outcome is to know How to record and apply employee data records (working days & hours, leave, entitlements) in a complex payroll system in an efficient manner. We will also understand How to apply COLA & government bonuses;

Core Reading List

Lecture 9 - Hands-On Payroll A-Z Practicals

In this lecture students we will be computing a payroll from beginning to end putting together all the previous lectures with a hands on approach towards the result. This will lead to the understanding that the use of the right Payroll Software for our need is only a small part of this process and without our technical knowledge of the subject we cannot arrive to the desired result as Human Input is always needed. The outcome is knowing how to calculate payroll manually and what a payslip should look like to be law abiding

Core Reading List

 

Lecture 10 - Social Security, Benefits, Pensions and more

2020 has definitely been a turning point as to how we look at Social Security, Benefits, Pensions, etc. All this goes around how we present and calculate payroll. The important of understanding how these work help in computing a payroll that will not create any problems for both employer and employees. Clear examples from the current situation will be given. Final outcome is to have basic notions of social security, pensions, fringe benefits and the
practical application thereof.

Core Reading List

 

Assignment

You have to choose 2 out of the 4 questions which will be made available in an Assignment Submission form which will be made available below closer to the end of the course. Assignments should be submitted by not later than Wednesday 15th January 2021. Each assignment has to be submitted together with the Assignment Submission Form which is available below.

Assignment Submission Form

If you need information on how to plan, draft and submit your assignment follow the 21 Academy presentation on Writing and Submitting your Assignment.

We are also making the 21 Academy's Assignments Rubric available for your guidance. This is a performance-based assessment tool. Tutors will use the rubric to assist them to allocate scoring while it allows students to understand what is required in the assignment and how it will be graded.

Assignments should be sent accompanied by their respective assignment submission form on info@advisory21.com.mt. Please send assignments in pdf format. Do not scan assignment but convert/save it directly to pdf.

Note that the submitted assignments will be scanned for plagiarism.

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