Q. We would like to change the rostered day off (RDO) of an administrative employee to coincide with the RDO observed by our production employees in the factory. The employee has taken the same RDO for a number of years and however the company wants the employee to observe the same day as the rest of our workforce due to a planned reshuffle of the business. As the employee is likely to refuse the proposed change to their RDO, does the employer have a unilateral right to determine what day an RDO is taken by an employee? The administrative employee is employed under the Clerks – Private Sector Award 2010. 

 

A. Generally, the arrangement of ordinary working hours must be by agreement between the employer and the majority of employees in the enterprise or part of the enterprise concerned, or with an individual employee about how their working hours are to be arranged. In this case, the employer and the employee have already reached agreement on how the ordinary hours are to be worked (an average of 38 hours per week over four weeks with an RDO).  

The question therefore is whether the RDO can be varied. In this case, the Clerks – Private Sector Award 2010 (cl.25.3) provides that “where an employee is entitled to a rostered day off during the employee’s work cycle, the employer must give the employee four weeks’ notice in advance of the weekday the employee is to take off.” This means the employer can direct a change to the day observed as the employee’s RDO by giving four weeks’ notice to the employee advising of the change 

 

Other modern awards 

In the case of other modern awards, the matters relating to RDOs on which agreement generally may be reached include: 

  • how the hours are to be averaged within a work cycle; 

  • the duration of the work cycle for day workers provided that such duration does not exceed three months; 

  • a period of notice of a rostered day off which is less than four weeks; 

  • substitution of rostered days off; 

  • accumulation of rostered days off; 

  • arrangements that allow for flexibility in relation to the taking of rostered days off; and 

  • any arrangements of ordinary hours which exceed eight hours in any day. 

 
The alternative arrangements available, with respect to the taking of RDOs, are subject to the terms of the applicable modern award. Reference should therefore be made to the applicable modern award to determine whether the employer has the right to change an RDO and, if so, to what conditions must the employee comply. 
 

Bottom line 

The employer should check the relevant modern award or enterprise agreement to determine whether an employee’s RDO can be changed.