Consider the following scenario: two part-time employees work from Thursday to Sunday, inclusive. The employees enquire whether there is an entitlement to an additional week’s annual leave as their ordinary hours regularly require them to work Sundays.

The National Employment Standards (NES) refers to a shift worker as an employee who, among other factors, regularly works Sundays and public holidays. Would these two employees be entitled to an additional week’s annual leave because they regularly work Sundays?

 

Part-time employees and additional annual leave

In this case, the answer is no.

The entitlement to an additional week of annual leave applies only to a specific category of shift workers. Part-time employees are not normally entitled to an extra week of annual leave each year, unless otherwise specified in the applicable modern award or enterprise agreement.

The Fair Work Act (FWAct)(s87(3)) provides the following conditions that must be met before a shift worker qualifies for the additional week’s annual leave. 

It applies to a shift worker who:

  • is employed in an enterprise in which shifts are continuously rostered 24 hours a day for seven days a week
  • is regularly rostered to work those shifts, and
  • is regularly required to work Sundays and public holidays.

These factors would also be relevant in the case of an employee covered by a modern award or an enterprise agreement.

This means that all three factors must be applied. Consequently, an employee who is regularly required to work Sundays and public holidays, but does not work a seven-day continuous shift roster, does not qualify for the additional week’s annual leave.

In a case heard some years ago, the (then) Australian Industrial Relations Commission determined that part-time work on Saturdays and Sundays does not constitute “seven-day shift work” and, therefore, there was no entitlement to an additional week’s annual leave.