What to do when an employee calls in sick before a shift

The phone goes at 6:05 and your opener is not coming in. What you do in the next hour decides whether the shift runs short, costs more than it should or ends in an argument about pay. Here is a plan to follow every time, with the rules on notice, evidence and sick pay, and the award rules for whoever covers the shift.

Written by Roster Flow. Published 14 July 2026.

A sick call is one of the few roster problems you cannot plan away. You can decide in advance how you will handle it, though, so the morning it happens is a list to work through rather than a scramble. This article covers the employee who is sick and the shift they leave behind, in the order you deal with them.

A woman in a black jumper sitting on a grey sofa under a white duvet, sipping tea from a glass cup — Photo: Pexels

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Take the call properly

The first conversation matters more than it seems. Keep it short and kind, and get what you need to plan the day:

How long they expect to be off. Just today, or the next few shifts as well. An employee taking sick leave has to tell you as soon as possible, which can be after the leave has started, and say how long they expect to be away.
Which shifts are affected. Read their next shifts back from the roster, so you both agree on what needs covering.
Anything the next person needs to know. A delivery due, a function booked, or keys and a till float that are with them.
Whether you will ask for evidence. If you want a medical certificate or other evidence, say so now rather than when they come back.

You do not need a diagnosis to plan the roster, and the Fair Work Ombudsman does not consider it reasonable for an employer to contact the employee’s doctor for more information. Set one agreed way to report a sick call, such as a phone call to the manager on duty, and put it in writing for the team. A text in a group chat at 5:30 is easy to miss. A sick leave notification records the call as it happens.

Decide whether the shift needs covering

Before you ring anyone, check whether the shift needs a full replacement. Look at the roster for the day and ask:

Is the role needed for the whole shift, or only for the busy hours?
Can someone already rostered cover part of it, such as a supervisor on the coffee machine for the first half hour?
Can a later starter come in earlier, or an early finisher stay on?
Does the shift need a particular skill, such as opening, cooking or supervising, that narrows who can cover it?

Moving an existing shift is often faster than calling someone new in, but it is still a roster change. Under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards, a full-time or part-time employee’s roster can be changed by mutual agreement at any time, and otherwise needs 7 days’ notice (Restaurant clause 15.3(d), Hospitality clause 15.5(d)). A change made on the morning therefore needs the employee’s agreement.

Find cover in the right order

Messaging the whole team at once gets you three replies and two people annoyed that they were not needed. Work down a short list instead, in an order you decided in advance:

People already rostered that dayAsk whether someone rostered later can start earlier, or someone finishing earlier can stay. Check the hours against the award limits below.
Casuals who are availableOffer the shift to casuals whose availability covers it, starting with those who can do the role without help. Make it an offer, not an instruction.
Part-time employees who want more hoursOffer extra hours by agreement and inside their availability, and record the agreement in writing, as set out below.
A swap instead of an extra shiftIf nobody can take the shift as it stands, see whether two people can rearrange their shifts between them to cover it.
Run the shift shortIf there is truly nobody, trim the service rather than the breaks: close a section, simplify the menu or shorten the opening hours for the day.

A swap needs the same checks as any other, and handling shift swap requests sets them out. Contacting people outside their working hours to fill a shift is not unlawful, but employees have a right to disconnect: they can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact outside their working hours unless the refusal is unreasonable. It has applied to small business employers, those with fewer than 15 employees, since 26 August 2025. Send the offer, accept a no or no reply, and move to the next name.

The award rules for the person who covers

Cover is arranged in a hurry, which is when award rules get missed. The rules below are from the Restaurant Industry Award 2020, the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020, the General Retail Industry Award 2020 and the Fast Food Industry Award 2020, as consolidated to 1 July 2026. Other awards differ, so confirm which one covers your business with the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Find my award tool.

Rules to check before you confirm cover
Rule	What it means for the replacement	Clause
Casual minimum engagement	A casual called in must be engaged and paid for at least 2 hours under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards, and 3 hours under the Fast Food award and generally under the Retail award	Restaurant and Hospitality 11.3; Fast Food 11.3; Retail 11.2
Longest casual shift	No more than 12 hours in a day or shift	Restaurant and Hospitality 11.2
Part-time availability	A part-time employee must not be rostered outside their written availability	Restaurant and Hospitality 10.7(a)
Part-time extra hours	Time a part-time employee works beyond their rostered hours is paid at the overtime rate	Restaurant and Hospitality 10.13(b)(iii)
Part-time extra hours in retail	A change to the regular pattern for a shift can be agreed and recorded in writing, including by text, before the end of that shift; the award’s own example treats extra hours agreed that way as ordinary hours, and time beyond the guaranteed hours as agreed or varied is overtime	Retail 10.6 and 10.8
Part-time extra hours in fast food	A change to a particular shift by agreement must be recorded in writing by the end of that shift; without a record, hours beyond the regular pattern are paid at overtime rates	Fast Food 10.5 and 10.6
Time between shifts	At least 10 hours between finishing ordinary hours one day and starting the next, or 8 hours at a changeover of rosters, for full-time and part-time employees	Restaurant 15.1(e); Hospitality 15.5(e)
Employees under 18	Must not be required to work more than 10 hours in a shift	Restaurant and Hospitality 13.3

Check the cost as well as the rules. A casual brings the 25% casual loading under all four awards, and the day matters too. Under the Restaurant Industry Award, Saturday, Sunday and public holiday hours are paid at higher percentages than weekday hours: a part-time employee’s ordinary hours on a Sunday, for example, are paid at 150% of their minimum hourly rate (clause 24.2). Rates for each award are on the Restaurant Industry Award pay rates page and the other award pages.

Paying the employee who is sick

For a full-time or part-time employee, paid sick leave covers the hours they would normally have worked in that period, at their base pay rate. Base pay does not include overtime, loadings, allowances, penalty rates or bonuses. The yearly entitlement is 10 days for a full-time employee and pro rata for a part-time employee, and unused leave carries over from year to year.

A casual employee is not entitled to paid sick leave, so a casual who calls in sick is not paid for the shift. Casuals can take 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave each time a family or household member needs care because of an illness, injury or unexpected emergency, and full-time and part-time employees can take unpaid carer’s leave once their paid leave has run out. More on each type of leave is in the availability and leave guide.

A worked example: a Saturday sick call

A cafe covered by the Restaurant Industry Award opens at 6:30 on Saturday. This is how the manager handles one sick call, and the rule behind each step.

One sick call, from the phone call to the pay run
When	What happens	The rule behind it
Saturday 6:05	Priya, a part-time barista rostered 6:30 to 11:00, rings to say she is sick and expects to be off Saturday and Sunday	Notice as soon as possible, with how long she expects to be away
6:10	The supervisor, already rostered from 6:30, will run the coffee machine until cover arrives	No change to anyone’s roster
6:15	The manager offers 7:00 to 11:00 to Jo, a casual available on Saturdays, who accepts at 6:20	The 4 hour shift is above the 2 hour casual minimum (clause 11.3)
6:30	Priya’s Sunday shift, 7:00 to 12:00, is offered to the next casual on the list, who accepts	An offer, made in order
Pay run	Priya is paid sick leave for 4.5 hours on Saturday and 5 hours on Sunday, 9.5 hours in total, at her base rate	Sick leave is paid for the hours she would have worked, without penalty rates

Had Priya worked her Sunday shift, those 5 hours would have been paid at 150% under Table 8 of the award. Her sick leave for the same hours is paid at her base rate, because penalty rates are not part of base pay. Jo’s shift is paid at the casual rate for Saturday, which includes the casual loading. On Monday, the manager asks Priya for a medical certificate or a statutory declaration, which the team was told would be needed for sick leave on a weekend.

A man in glasses and a dark blazer talking on a mobile phone while writing notes with a red pen — Photo: Pexels

Evidence and repeated sick calls

You can ask for evidence that the employee could not work because of illness or injury, even for a single day or less. An award or registered agreement can set out when evidence is needed and what type, and the request must be reasonable in the circumstances. Medical certificates and statutory declarations are examples of acceptable evidence: there are no strict rules on the type, but it has to convince a reasonable person that the leave was genuine. An employee who does not give evidence when asked may not be entitled to be paid for the leave.

If sick calls from one person become frequent or fall into a pattern, talk to them privately about what is going on, and whether anything at work, such as their roster, is part of it. Keep the conversation about attendance and support. Employees are protected here: an employee has a workplace right when they have a benefit under a workplace law, such as sick leave under the National Employment Standards, and taking adverse action against someone because they use a workplace right is unlawful. An employee who is away because of illness or injury and can provide evidence is also protected from dismissal because of the absence while they are still using paid sick leave, or while the absence is less than 3 consecutive months or less than 3 months in total over the last 12 months.

If you are unsure how the rules apply to a particular situation, the Fair Work Infoline is on 13 13 94.

Record what happened

The time of the call, who took it and how long the employee expected to be off
The sick leave recorded against their balance, since your records must show leave taken and how much each employee has
The replacement’s agreement, and any change to a part-time employee’s hours, in writing
The roster updated and republished, so the timesheet matches the shift as it was actually worked

Time and wages records must be kept for 7 years. If the replacement forgot to clock in, fixing missing clock-ins covers getting the hours right before payroll.

Roster Flow keeps the day’s changes in one place: availability and leave from staff phones, the roster published to everybody at once, clock ins that become timesheets, and approved hours sent to Xero, MYOB or a CSV file.

Set it up before the next sick call

One agreed way to report a sick call, written down and shared with the team
A call list for each role, in order, kept with the roster
Casual availability kept up to date, so offers go to people who can say yes
The evidence you will ask for, and when, told to the team in advance
A plan for running each regular shift short if nobody can come in

In a busy venue, sick calls are one of several same-day changes to the roster. Managing hospitality roster changes and sick calls looks at the rest.

Questions

Does an employee have to call before their shift starts?

They have to tell you as soon as possible, which can be after the leave has started, and say how long they expect to be off. Ask the team to use one agreed way of reporting it, so the call reaches whoever runs the shift.

Do I pay a casual who calls in sick?

No. Casual employees are not entitled to paid sick leave. They can take unpaid carer’s leave to care for a family or household member, and 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave a year.

How much is a part-time employee paid on sick leave?

Their base pay rate for the hours they would normally have worked in that period. Penalty rates, loadings, allowances and overtime are not included.

What is the shortest shift I can call a casual in for?

Two hours under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards, and three hours under the Fast Food award and, in most cases, the General Retail award. Check the minimum in your own award before offering a short cover shift.

Does a staff member have to answer my call on their day off?

Not always. Employees can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact outside their working hours unless the refusal is unreasonable, which depends on things like the reason for the contact and whether they are paid to be available.

Can I ask a part-time employee to work extra hours to cover?

Yes, by agreement and inside their availability. Record the agreement in writing and check how your award pays the extra hours: under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards, time beyond a part-time employee’s rostered hours is paid at the overtime rate.

Sources

Sick leave notificationA sick call, recorded as it happens.Hospitality sick callsSame-day roster changes in a venue.Shift swap requestsThe checks before two people trade shifts.Availability and leave guideLeave types, notice and records.

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