Roster conditions – General Retail Industry Award

Written by Stephanie Boudehen, HR Team Leader

Are your employees covered by the General Retail Industry Award? If so it is important you are aware of your obligations related to the roster conditions.

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 week end 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

For assistance with understanding your obligations or for further information, please contact Key Business Advisors at 1300 4 ADVICE or by emailing info@keyba.com.au to speak with one of our qualified HR Advisors.