Overtime

Overtime is work performed outside the ordinary hours set by a modern award or enterprise agreement, paid at higher rates. Australia doesn't have one national overtime rule — the triggers live in whichever award or agreement covers each employee, which is why two businesses on the same street can have different overtime maths.

Common triggers

Under most awards, overtime starts when an employee works:

more than the ordinary hours allowed in a day,
outside the award's span of ordinary hours (early mornings or late nights),
more than an average of 38 hours a week — the National Employment Standards cap, plus reasonable additional hours,
outside their rostered hours, or on a rostered day off, where the award says so.

Part-time employees often earn overtime sooner — typically for hours beyond their agreed pattern — and casual overtime rules vary by award. The overtime multiples themselves are set in each award and change with award updates, so check the Fair Work Ombudsman's tools rather than relying on memory.

What it means for your roster

Employees can refuse unreasonable additional hours, and regular accidental overtime is one of the most common quiet costs in shift businesses. Some awards let you agree to time off in lieu instead of overtime pay — in writing, occasion by occasion. Either way, the fix is the same: know each person's ordinary-hours limits before the roster is published, not after the timesheets land.

Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) s 62 (maximum weekly hours) plus the overtime clauses of the applicable modern award or enterprise agreement — see the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Tommy shows rostered and worked hours side by side, so creeping overtime is visible before payday rather than a surprise after it.

Related terms

Working out the pay? The free overtime calculator applies the legal rates to your hours in seconds.