How to prevent accidental overtime when building staff rosters
Most overtime nobody planned starts on the roster: a sixth day added to cover a sick call, a finish that is always later than rostered, or a part-time employee picking up a shift with nothing in writing. Here is where four common awards draw the overtime lines, where they get crossed by accident, and how to build a week that stays inside them.
Overtime you planned is a cost you chose. Overtime you did not plan usually starts on the roster: a sixth day added to cover a sick call, a close that ends too near the next morning’s open, or a part-time employee picking up extra hours agreed in passing. By the time it shows on a timesheet, it has been worked and has to be paid.
Preventing it is less about watching the clock and more about knowing where your award draws its lines, then building the week so nobody crosses one without a decision being made. This article sets out the triggers in four common awards, the places overtime tends to slip in, and a worked week from a takeaway shop.
What counts as overtime depends on the award
The Fair Work Ombudsman describes overtime as work outside the ordinary hours set by the award, enterprise agreement or employment contract that applies. It can include work beyond the maximum daily or weekly ordinary hours, outside a part-time employee’s agreed hours, and outside the spread of ordinary hours. Each award sets those lines differently, and often differently again for full-time, part-time and casual employees.
So the first step is to confirm which award applies, using the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Find my award tool, and to read its hours of work and overtime clauses. The glossary explains ordinary hours and the span of hours if the terms are new. An enterprise agreement, if your business has one, may draw the lines somewhere else again.
The triggers in four common awards
The table summarises when overtime is payable under four awards, as consolidated to 1 July 2026. It is a guide to what to look for, not a substitute for the clause itself, and it leaves out shiftwork and other special arrangements.
| Award | Full-time | Part-time | Casual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant Industry Award 2020 | Work outside the spread of hours or rostered hours set out in clause 15 (23.1(a)) | Time beyond 38 hours a week (or the average over the roster cycle), the daily maximum in clause 15.1, or the employee’s rostered hours (10.13(b)) | Time beyond 12 hours in a day or shift, or 38 hours a week (or the average over a roster cycle of up to 4 weeks) (11.2, 11.5) |
| Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 | Time worked beyond ordinary hours (28.2(a)), with ordinary hours of 6 to 11.5 on any day (15.1(c)) | Time beyond 38 hours a week (or the average over the roster cycle), the daily maximum in clause 15.2, or the employee’s rostered hours (10.13(b)) | Time beyond 12 hours in a day or shift, or 38 hours a week (or the average over a roster cycle of up to 4 weeks) (11.2, 11.4) |
| General Retail Industry Award 2020 | Hours beyond ordinary hours, outside the span of ordinary hours, or outside the roster conditions in clause 15 (21.2) | Hours beyond guaranteed hours as agreed or varied, or outside the span of ordinary hours (21.2) | Hours beyond 38 ordinary hours a week (or the average over the roster cycle), outside the span, or beyond 11 hours on one day of the week and 9 hours on any other day (21.2) |
| Fast Food Industry Award 2020 | Hours beyond 38 ordinary hours a week (or averaged over 4 weeks), beyond 5 days in a week (or 6 if the next week has no more than 4), beyond 11 ordinary hours in a day, before the rostered start, after the rostered finish, or outside ordinary hours (20.2) | The full-time triggers, plus hours beyond the agreed hours or a recorded variation, or beyond the regular pattern where no written record of a variation is kept (20.3) | Hours beyond 38 ordinary hours a week (or averaged over the roster cycle), or beyond 11 ordinary hours in a day (20.4) |
Rates and minimum payments differ as well. Under the Restaurant Industry Award, an employee required to work on a rostered day off is paid at the overtime rate and for at least 4 hours (clauses 23.1(d) and (e)), and the Hospitality Industry (General) Award has a similar rule for full-time and part-time employees (clauses 28.2(d) and (e)). The rates are on each award’s pay rates page: Restaurant, Hospitality, General Retail and Fast Food.
Where accidental overtime comes from
Unplanned overtime rarely comes from one big decision. It builds up from small changes made one at a time, each reasonable on its own. These are the usual sources.
- Cover for a sick call. The person who can get there fastest is often the person already at their hours for the week. Check their running total and days worked before offering the shift. Managing sick calls in hospitality covers finding cover quickly.
- The extra day. Under the Fast Food Industry Award, a full-time or part-time employee who works a sixth day in a week is on overtime unless their ordinary hours in the following week fall on no more than 4 days (clauses 20.2 and 20.3).
- Staying back. Ten minutes to finish the close, half an hour for a late delivery. Under the Fast Food Industry Award, hours after the rostered finish are overtime for full-time and part-time employees (clauses 20.2(c) and 20.3(c)), and under the Restaurant Industry Award work outside a full-time employee’s rostered hours is overtime (clause 23.1(a)).
- Part-time hours without the paperwork. Extra hours agreed in conversation can end up paid as overtime. Under the General Retail Industry Award, a variation to a part-time employee’s pattern must be recorded in writing (clause 10.6), and under the Fast Food Industry Award, an agreed change to a rostered shift that is not recorded in writing means overtime for the hours beyond the regular pattern (clauses 10.5 and 10.6).
- Long days. Each award limits ordinary hours in a day: 11.5 under the Restaurant Industry Award (clause 15.1(b)) and for full-time and part-time employees under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award (clauses 15.1(c) and 15.2(b)), 11 under the Fast Food Industry Award (clause 13.5), and 9 under the General Retail Industry Award, or 11 on one day a week (clauses 15.4 and 15.5).
- Late trading in retail. Under the General Retail Industry Award, ordinary hours fall between 7:00 am and 9:00 pm Monday to Friday, 7:00 am and 6:00 pm on Saturday, and 9:00 am and 6:00 pm on Sunday, extended to 11:00 pm on all days if the shop trades beyond those times (clauses 15.1 and 15.2). Hours outside the span are overtime for every employment type (clause 21.2).
- A close followed by an open. Under the Restaurant Industry Award, an employee who works overtime and is next rostered to start less than 8 hours later may delay their start without loss of pay, or is paid at the overtime rate until they have had an 8 hour break (clause 23.2). Under the General Retail Industry Award, starting again without a 12 hour break means 200% of the minimum hourly rate until the break is taken, unless a 10 hour break has been agreed (clause 16.6).
- A one-off roster change. Under the General Retail Industry Award, when the roster of an employee other than a part-time employee is changed for a one-off event that is not an emergency and reverts the following week, extra time worked because of the change is paid at the overtime rate (clauses 15.9(g) and (h)).
- Swaps. A swap moves hours from one person to another, and the person taking the shift may already be close to a limit. Handling shift swap requests covers checking a swap before you approve it.
Build the week with the limits in view
- Write down each person’s limitsBefore placing a shift, note each person’s employment type, agreed or guaranteed hours, availability, and the daily and weekly ordinary hours their award allows. For part-time employees, include the days and times in their written agreement.
- Place the fixed hours firstRoster full-time and part-time employees on their agreed patterns, then fill the gaps with casuals who have room under their own limits.
- Keep a running totalTotal each person’s hours and days as you go, not at the end. A weekly total beside each name shows a limit coming before a shift crosses it.
- Roster the real finishIf the close regularly takes 30 minutes after the doors shut, or the delivery lands at 18:00, roster the finish that actually happens. Under awards that pay overtime after the rostered finish, a finish that is always wrong is overtime every week.
- Check the gaps between shiftsLook at every close followed by an open, and every late finish before an early start, against the break your award requires.
- Leave headroomKeep the people most likely to be asked to stay back or cover a shift below their limits, and know which casuals and part-time employees are happy to pick up extra hours.
The overtime hours calculator checks a week once the hours are in, and the roster publishing checklist includes weekly hours among the checks to run before the roster goes out.
A worked example: a takeaway shop’s week
A takeaway shop is covered by the Fast Food Industry Award 2020. Alex, the full-time shift supervisor, works 38 ordinary hours each week under clause 13.2(a), rostered 10:00 to 18:30 Monday to Wednesday and 11:00 to 18:30 on Thursday and Friday, each with a 30 minute unpaid meal break. That is 8 + 8 + 8 + 7 + 7 = 38 hours. Jess, a part-time crew member, has a written pattern of 17:00 to 21:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which is 12 hours a week. While finishing next week’s roster, the owner makes three changes.
| Change | Why it is overtime | Overtime hours | The fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex covers a Saturday catering order, 9:00 to 13:00 | A sixth day in the week, taking Alex past 38 ordinary hours (clause 20.2(a)) | 4 | Give the order to a casual, who has room under the 38 hour and 11 hour limits in clause 20.4 |
| Alex stays on Thursday until 19:00 to put away a delivery that lands at 18:00 | Time after the rostered finish of 18:30 (clause 20.2(c)) | 0.5 | Roster Thursday as 11:30 to 19:00, which is still 7 hours after the meal break |
| Jess covers Tuesday 17:00 to 21:00 for a casual who has an exam | Hours beyond Jess’s agreed hours, with no variation recorded (clause 20.3(a)) | 4 | Ask Jess, and if she agrees, record the change for that week in writing, such as by text message, before the shift (clause 10.7) |
As built, the week carried 8.5 hours of overtime that nobody had decided to pay: 4 on Saturday, 0.5 on Thursday and 4 on Tuesday. Under Table 5 in clause 20.6, overtime for full-time and part-time employees from Monday to Saturday is paid at 150% of the minimum hourly rate for the first 2 hours and 200% after that. With the three fixes, the same work is covered and the week has no overtime in it.
Once the week starts
A roster that is clean when it is published can still pick up overtime by Friday. Three habits keep it out.
- Check before you offer. When a shift needs cover, look at the running totals first and offer it to the person with the most room, not the first person who replies.
- Agree staying back in advance. Make it the rule that nobody stays past their rostered finish unless a manager has said yes, and record the time actually worked on the timesheet.
- Compare the roster with the timesheets every week. The difference between rostered and worked hours shows where overtime is coming from. Comparing rostered and actual labour costs and the roster vs actual hours tool show the gap.
When overtime is the right call
Some overtime is worth paying. A function that runs late, or a supervisor staying to lock up after a big night, can cost less than bringing someone else in for a minimum shift. The difference is that it was decided, costed and agreed, not discovered on the timesheet.
It also has limits. The Fair Work Ombudsman says employers can only request or require work beyond an employee’s maximum weekly hours where the extra hours are reasonable, that employees can refuse overtime that unreasonably exceeds those hours, and that health and safety issues such as fatigue need to be considered and managed. Awards list what is weighed up, as clause 28.1 of the Hospitality Industry (General) Award does: risk to health and safety, the employee’s personal circumstances including family responsibilities, the needs of the business, any notice given and the usual patterns of work in the industry, among other matters.
Budget planned overtime as its own line, so it is visible when you compare the week with what you meant to spend. Building a roster around a weekly wage budget and seven rostering mistakes that increase your wage bill cover the wider picture.
Roster Flow handles the week around those checks: 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.
A checklist against accidental overtime
- You know which award applies and where its overtime lines sit for each employment type
- Each person’s agreed hours, availability and limits are written down before you build
- Weekly totals and days worked are tracked while the roster is built
- Rostered finishes match when the work actually ends
- Every close followed by an open meets the award’s break
- Extra hours for part-time employees are agreed and recorded in writing first
- Cover and swaps go to people with room under their limits
- Staying back past the rostered finish is agreed in advance
- Rostered and worked hours are compared every week
- Planned overtime is costed as its own line in the budget
Questions
When does overtime start for a part-time employee?
It depends on the award. Under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards it includes time beyond the employee’s rostered hours, 38 hours a week or the daily maximum, while under the General Retail Industry Award it is time beyond their guaranteed hours as agreed or varied.
Is staying back after a shift overtime?
It can be. Under the Fast Food Industry Award, hours after the rostered finish are overtime for full-time and part-time employees, and under the Restaurant Industry Award work outside a full-time employee’s rostered hours is overtime. Check your own award before asking anyone to stay.
Can casual employees be paid overtime?
Yes. Awards set a point where a casual’s hours become overtime, such as more than 12 hours in a day or shift, or 38 hours a week, under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards, or more than 11 ordinary hours in a day under the Fast Food Industry Award.
Can an employee refuse to work overtime?
An employee can refuse additional hours that are unreasonable. Whether they are reasonable depends on factors such as health and safety, personal and family circumstances, the needs of the business and the notice given.
Does a shift swap change who is paid overtime?
It can. The hours move to the person taking the shift, so check their weekly total, days worked and the break since their last shift before approving the swap.
Is overtime worked out by the day or by the week?
Awards have both daily and weekly triggers. The General Retail Industry Award says overtime is calculated on a daily basis, and the Restaurant and Hospitality awards treat overtime worked on any day as standing alone from other days.
Sources
- Fair Work Commission: Restaurant Industry Award 2020 [MA000119]
- Fair Work Commission: Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 [MA000009]
- Fair Work Commission: General Retail Industry Award 2020 [MA000004]
- Fair Work Commission: Fast Food Industry Award 2020 [MA000003]
- Fair Work Ombudsman: when overtime applies
- Fair Work Ombudsman: find my award