From the first full pay period on or after 15 April 2019, employers under the Horticulture Award 2010 must pay overtime rates to their casual employees.
Previously, casual employees under the Horticulture Award 2010 had no entitlement to overtime; however this has now changed as part of the Fair Work Commission’s review of modern awards.
The new clause 24.3 in the Horticulture Award 2010 requires employers to pay casual employees an overtime rate of 175% (inclusive of casual loading) for each hour worked in excess of:
- 12 hours per engagement;
- 12 hours in a single day; or
- 304 ordinary hours in an eight week period.
Additional loadings will also apply to ordinary hours worked by causal employees under a new clause 22.2. Under this clause, casual employees (other than shift workers) may work 304 ordinary hours over an eight week period, provided that:
- ordinary hours may be worked between 5:00am and 8:30pm on any day (excluding public holidays);
- in States or Territories that do not observe daylight saving time, the spread of hours may be moved forward one hour (4:00am to 7:30pm) when other States and Territories observe daylight saving time;
- a loading of 15% must be paid (in addition to the casual loading of 25%) for each ordinary hour a casual employee works between 8:31pm and 4:59am (or 7:31pm and 3:59am during any adjustment for daylight savings as detailed in the above paragraph);
- the maximum number of ordinary hours which a casual employee may work per engagement, or on any day is 12 ordinary hours.
In light of these changes, it is vital that affected employers review their payroll and record keeping systems they are award compliant.
When it comes to your record keeping obligations and underpayments, prevention is better than a cure. If you require assistance checking pay rates, please contact our Business and Employment Law team:
- Matt Bell on 07 4616 9860 or [email protected]; or
- Michael Gibson 07 4616 9810 or [email protected].
