There are 3 shifts in the civil construction sector:

• day shift: any shift starting on or after 6am and before 10am
• afternoon shift: any shift starting at or after 10am and before 8pm
• night shift: any shift starting at or after 8pm and before 6am.

Work in the civil construction sector is only paid as shift work if the work is carried out by employees of the same employer at the same jobsite over at least two consecutive shifts.

Ordinary hours can be worked between 7am and 6pm Monday to Friday under the Building Award.

Work outside the span of ordinary hours that isn’t shiftwork is overtime.

To calculate civil construction shift and overtime rates, use our Pay and Conditions Tool.

Example: Nights only in the civil construction sector

Bob’s business provides daily traffic management between 9pm and 5am for a road maintenance project in South-Western Sydney. The road work is only done at night and the road is reopened each day to maintain traffic flow. The work is done every night for a week.

Even though the hours fall within the night shift hours, Bob’s employees working at this jobsite aren’t doing shift work. This is because the work doesn’t continue for another shift.

Bob’s employees are entitled to the applicable overtime rate for this work because the hours are outside the span of ordinary hours.

Example: Shift work in the civil construction sector

Bob is also contracted to provide traffic management services for bridge maintenance in North Sydney. Work is contracted from 5am to 8pm.

Employees at this jobsite work either the night shift from 5am to 12:30pm or the afternoon shift from 12:30pm to 8pm.

Employees working on either shift are shiftworkers. This is because:

• the hours fall within the shift definitions for the civil construction sector in the Building Award
• the work of one group of employees is being continued by another group at the same jobsite.

The employees are entitled to the relevant shift penalty rate for time worked.