From casual staff loading to broken shifts, sleepover allowances and travel time, we were able to answer most of the attendees’ compliance-related questions. And today, we’re sharing the answers to the questions we didn’t have time to get to in the webinar.
If a staff member works with Client A for 2 hours and then travels 40 minutes to work with Client B, then the employer needs to pay the staff for the 40 minutes of travel time. Where will the costing come from: Client A or Client B?
As of the 1st of July 2022, part-time and casual employees must be paid for travel time between clients when it falls in the relevant minimum payment period. This is true even if you can’t charge clients for this time.
Whether you can charge clients, and how much you can charge them, depends on the agreements you’ve made with them. The client must have agreed to the travel charges beforehand. So, your first step should be to refer to your agreements.
For NDIS services, you also need to meet the guidelines set out by the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits. They specify the maximum travel time and rate you can charge. Under the NDIS’ price limits, you can also split the travel time to and from a location between multiple clients in that area. For example, if a staff member travels 30 minutes from Client A to visit Client B, then 5 minutes to Client C, those 30 minutes could be split between Clients B and C.
Regardless of what your agreements say, it’s worth paying attention to travel time when creating your rosters. You can also use ShiftCare’s geolocation filters to only match clients with nearby employees.
Watch the webinar:
If each shift of a broken shift meets minimum shift hours, do companies need to pay a travel allowance? What about the break between the two halves of the shift?
Broken shifts came up multiple times in the Q&A section of the webinar. Remember that broken shifts can only contain two shifts and one break, and each of these shifts must meet the minimum time.
Moreover, only social and community services employees undertaking disability services work and home care employees can work broken shifts. For any other team members, you must consider the break to be working hours.
Providing the above is true, you only need to pay employees for:
- Time worked
- The broken shift allowance
- Travel for part-time or casual employees working with multiple clients and travelling between them during the relevant minimum payment period
However, you do not need to pay for the time spent travelling to and from the shift location during the break.
How does overtime affect shift allowances, such as the afternoon shift for casual staff? Does one override the other?
Casual staff are always entitled to the 25% casual loading in addition to the relevant shift allowance.
Take the example of a casual level 4 home care employee, pay point 2. Their hourly rate of pay for working on a Saturday is $48.21. This is based on:
- The employee’s hourly base rate: $27.55
- The employee’s penalty amount for working on a Saturday: $13.78
- The employee’s casual loading amount: $6.89
Are penalty rates on top of the employee’s ordinary rate or the minimum SCHADS rate? E.g. if an employee is paid $40/hour when the minimum SCHADS is $30, and we need to pay double on Sunday, would that be $60, $70 or $80?
Legally, you could pay your team member $60, $70 or $80. However, make sure you’re being transparent about pay so that your employee doesn’t feel misled and you’re not found to be non-compliant.
Consider writing an individual flexibility agreement (IFA) that clearly states all the rates. Make sure you create it correctly: IFAs must be signed by both employee and employer, and the employee has the right to refuse an agreement without losing their job or job offer.
Of course, it’s also worth investigating what other providers are paying their employees on weekends. While this won’t change your legal obligations, it could affect your ability to retain staff.
If a casual team member has regular shifts of only eight hours a week, how can they move to being part-time?
An employee can be part-time if they:
- Are engaged to work fewer than 38 hours per week on average
- And have reasonably predictable work hours
There is no lower limit to a part-time employee’s working hours, as long as those hours are consistent and regular.
If casual employees meet the criteria for part-time hours, they need to be offered casual conversion after 12 months. This is best offered in writing.
However, the employee can choose to continue as a casual employee. In that case, you should offer casual conversion every 12 months.
How does late cancellation work for casual staff?
For casual staff, late cancellation does not apply. You don’t need to provide them with a roster, and shifts can be cancelled at any moment before the start of the shift.
Late cancellation does apply to part-time and full-time employees, however. For these employees:
- The roster should be provided at least two weeks before the rostered period begins, e.g. if the rostered period is from the 20th to 27th of the month, you should share it with staff by the 6th
- Roster changes can be made with at least seven days notice, unless the change is required to enable services to be delivered when a staff member is absent because of illness or an emergency
Any changes to part-time employees’ hours must also be agreed in writing.
ShiftCare’s SCHADS Award Interpretation
ShiftCare’s SCHADS Award Interpretation feature ensures compliance with the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services (SCHADS) Award by validating shifts in real-time and flagging any breaches during creation, updates, cancellations, or deletions.
Key Features:
- Real-Time Validation: Instantly identifies non-compliant hours, missing allowances, or other issues, allowing prompt resolution before payroll processing.
- Customised Award Settings: Tailors compliance to your business needs by setting default awards at the account level and applying staff-specific rules, ensuring accurate application across various sectors.
- Comprehensive Shift Validation: Evaluates every action affecting a shift to maintain compliance across pay periods without additional effort.
- Clear Warnings and Insights: Provides actionable insights with clear explanations for any non-compliant shifts, facilitating swift issue resolution.
By integrating these features, ShiftCare streamlines employee rostering and upholds SCHADS Award compliance, protecting your business from potential breaches.
Got more HR compliance questions? Watch the webinar, or try ShiftCare for free to discover how it can simplify time-tracking, travel expenses and NDIS price limits.
