Part-time employees get paid overtime rates when they work:

• more than 10 hours in a day or shift
• more than the usual daily hours for full-time employees in their workplace.

Part-time employees don’t get paid overtime rates if:

• they work more than their rostered part-time hours. These hours are paid at their minimum hourly rate
• they work outside the span of ordinary hours.

Usual daily hours

Usual daily hours for full-time employees means the number of ordinary hours a normal shift for a full-time employee would have in a particular workplace.

Example

Ace is a part-time enrolled nurse who works 5 hour shifts on Monday and Tuesday.

Full-time employees are rostered to work 7.5 hour shifts in Ace’s workplace.

One week, Ace works 8 hours on both days instead of his normal 5 hours.

Ace is paid for 7.5 hours at his minimum hourly rate and 30 minutes at overtime rates for each shift because he worked more than the usual daily hours for a full-time employee in his workplace.

Example

Avice is a part-time registered nurse level 2. She works 5 hour shifts from Monday to Friday.

Full-time employees are normally rostered to work 10 hour shifts at her workplace.

On one Monday, Avice works a 9 hour shift.

Avice is paid at her minimum hourly rate for all 9 hours of the shift.

Avice doesn’t get overtime rates for this shift because she hasn’t worked more hours than the usual daily hours for a full-time employee in her workplace.

Averaging hours

Hours for part-time employees can be averaged over a weekly, fortnightly or 28 day period.

These employees get paid overtime when they’ve worked more than the average hours a full-time employee works during the period.

Example

Debbie is a part-time enrolled nurse. Her agreed guaranteed minimum hours are 30 hours per week.

Debbie’s workplace uses a fortnightly period to average employees' ordinary hours. Full-time employees work an average of 76 ordinary hours each fortnight.

One fortnight, Debbie works 40 ordinary hours over 5 days in the first week and then her normal 30 hours in the second week.

Even though she worked 10 hours more than her agreed minimum hours per week, Debbie doesn’t get paid overtime rates. This is because she didn’t work more than 76 hours in the fortnight.