Skip to main content

When farm and livestock employees work overtime, they have to make a claim to get paid overtime rates or get time off instead of pay.

Employees must make their claim within 2 weeks of working the overtime or before their next pay day, whichever day comes later.

How do they claim?

There is no particular way that employees have to claim their overtime.

Some of the ways employees can make a claim are:

  • submitting their time sheet
  • making a written claim
  • telling their employer that they worked the hours.

What happens if they don’t claim?

If an employee doesn’t make a claim for overtime in the correct timeframe, they won’t get overtime rates or time off instead of pay.

They must still be paid for the overtime work at their ordinary pay rate, including any penalty rates and allowances that apply.

View references

What to do next

Give us feedback on this article

Use our Feedback form to give us feedback about the information in this article.

If you have a question about pay or entitlements or need our help with a workplace issue, you can submit an online enquiry

Page reference No: K600151