Roster conditions – General Retail Industry Award

We are aware of many General Retail Industry Award companies trying to minimise the risk to their teams and as such, have created 2 separate teams for rostering purposes.  Whilst this is a great idea, you will still need to abide by the rostering rules.

If your employees are covered by the General Retail Industry Award, it’s important that you are aware of your rostering and payroll obligations. Just bear in mind that even during these challenging times, you need to make sure that you’re compliant and paying your staff the correct rates.

The General Retail Industry Award outlines the conditions under which an employee should be rostered and states the conditions employers must respect in regards to notification or change of roster. The award has a number of rules and conditions employers must meet when rostering employees. If the employer breaches the award by not respecting these rules and conditions, the employee is entitled to overtime pay.

Some of the main conditions to be aware of:

1. An employee may be rostered to work up to a maximum of 9 hours on any day, but can be rostered for 11 hours one day per week.
2. An employee must have at least 2 consecutive days off each week or 3 consecutive days off in a two week period.
3. Ordinary hours and any overtime cannot be worked over more than 6 consecutive days.
4. An employee must not be rostered for more than 5 days per week. If the employee works 6 days in one week, they must not work more than 4 days the following week.
5. An employee who regularly works Sundays must be rostered so as to have 3 consecutive days off each four weeks and the consecutive days off must include Saturday and Sunday (so at least a weekend off per month).
6. The roster period should not exceed 4 weeks.

Requirements 2 and 5 will not apply where the employee requests in writing and the employer agrees to other arrangements. If the employer agrees, the arrangement must be recorded in writing in the time and wages records. Therefore, it is important that each manager responsible for rostering employees is fully trained and understands all the roster conditions of the award.

Manager should:

1. Ensure the team works to their roster
2. Be aware and make a note of when a team member works outside the roster arrangements
3. If employees change and swap shifts, be mindful of the roster conditions as above
4. Cross-check timesheets completed by employees daily before sending them to payroll to ensure the hours worked correspond to hours entered on the timesheet

We can audit your business to ensure you are compliant when rostering staff and paying the correct rates. Many businesses (including giants like Coles and Woolworth) have been heavily penalised after the FWC found that they underpaid their employees due to rostering errors, so it pays to get it checked by experts.  

For professional advice please contact Key Business Advisors on 1300 4 ADVICE.