Do night shifts crossing over public holidays attract full penalty rates? Find out how shift timing and award rules impact entitlements—especially on long weekends.


Q. Our company has a customer service section that has a permanent night shift which operates over seven days, Sunday night to Friday morning. Permanent day and afternoon shift operate in the same section. The roster usually involves shifts which cross over midnight. The current permanent night shift commences at 9.00pm and finishes at 5.00am. Our question relates to the ANZAC Day long weekend and the appropriate penalty rates. The shift commencing the public holiday will finish on a normal workday. Are all the hours worked on the shift commencing Friday (ANZAC Day) and finishing Saturday considered the ‘public holiday shift’ (and attract public holiday penalty rate till 4.00am Saturday), or is the appropriate penalty rate only paid till midnight on each day? The employees are employed under the Clerks – Private Sector Award 2020.

A. The method of calculating the appropriate penalty rate in this circumstance is determined by the applicable modern award. The Clerks – Private Sector Award (cl. 31) provides that a shiftworker working an ordinary shift on a public holiday is paid at time and a half for ordinary time as occurs on such public holiday. Permanent night shift on days other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday attracts a penalty of 30 per cent. This means the employee is paid an additional 50% from 9.00pm Monday (ANZAC Day) till midnight, and at 30 per cent from midnight to 5.00am on Tuesday.


Depends on award provision

It should be noted that some modern awards may provide that the appropriate public holiday penalty rate (or Sunday rate where applicable) applies to the hours worked on the shift the major portion of which falls on a public holiday (or a Sunday). In the above scenario, this would mean the employees would be paid the permanent night shift penalty rate from 9.00pm ANZAC Day till 5.00am Tuesday. Such a term is prescribed in the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award 2020.

Reference therefore should be made to the applicable modern award or, where relevant, the applicable enterprise agreement, to determine a shift worker’s entitlement in this circumstance.