Pay rates and allowances under the SCHADS Award are updated annually on 1 July following the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review. This article explains the structure of how the entitlement works. Always verify the current dollar amount at fairwork.gov.au or in the current SCHADS Award pay guide before processing wages. CareIQ's payroll engine is updated each July 1.
Under the SCHADS Award, overtime applies when an employee works more than their ordinary hours. For full-time employees, ordinary hours are 38 per week. For part-time employees, ordinary hours are those agreed in their contract. For casual employees, overtime provisions apply differently — refer to the current Award for casual overtime clauses.
The overtime threshold is calculated on a weekly basis — the seven-day period specified in your payroll cycle. Hours worked across the week are totalled, and any hours above the threshold attract overtime rates.
SCHADS overtime is paid in two tiers:
The number of hours in the first overtime tier before the second tier applies is specified in the current SCHADS Award. This can be different for different employment types. Always verify the current clause at fairwork.gov.au.
An important rule: penalty rates and overtime rates are not cumulative — the higher rate applies. If an employee is working overtime on a Sunday, they are not paid Sunday rate PLUS overtime rate. They are paid whichever is higher.
In most cases, Sunday rates (200%) match or exceed overtime rates, so the Sunday rate would apply. However, if the overtime rate exceeds the day penalty rate, the overtime rate takes precedence.
The SCHADS Award contains provisions for both daily and weekly overtime. An employee who works excessive hours in a single day may attract overtime even if their weekly total is within the ordinary hours threshold. The specific daily trigger points are set in the Award for different employment types.
This is particularly relevant for support workers who do double shifts or extended shifts covering absent colleagues.
Public holiday work is already paid at a significantly elevated rate under SCHADS. If a worker also works overtime on a public holiday, the higher of the public holiday rate or the overtime rate applies — they do not stack. In practice the public holiday rate is almost always higher.
Accurate overtime calculation requires knowing every hour a worker has worked in a week before each new shift is assigned. This is straightforward for salaried staff but complex for support workers who may work across multiple clients, multiple days, and variable shift lengths.
Without automatic tracking, managers assigning shifts often don't know a worker is already approaching overtime — the worker is assigned the shift, works the hours, and the overtime only shows up when the timesheet is processed.
This is a double problem: it may mean workers are assigned more hours than they want (affecting work-life balance and fatigue risk), and it creates unexpected payroll costs that weren't factored into the rostering decision.
CareIQ tracks hours-worked-this-week for each employee and applies the correct overtime tier when generating timesheets. Managers see a warning when assigning shifts that would trigger overtime. 2-month free trial, no setup fee.
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