When are shift penalty rates paid?

An employee gets paid shift penalty rates when they work:

• early morning, afternoon or non-permanent night shift
• permanent night shift.

Early morning, afternoon or non-permanent night shift

These are shifts that are worked from Monday to Friday that:

• start before 6am, or
• end after 6pm.

Permanent night shift

A permanent night shift is a shift that:

• finishes between midnight and 8am
• doesn't rotate or alternate with another shift or day work.

When are shift penalty rates not paid?

A shiftworker won't get paid shift penalty rates when they work:

• on a weekend
• on a public holiday
• overtime.

Example - shiftworker working on a weekend

George is a permanent night shiftworker because he always workes shifts that finish after midnight and before 8am. Pippa is a non-permanent night shiftworker because she works afternoon shifts as well as night shifts.

George and Pippa are both rostered to work from 10pm on Saturday to 4am on Sunday.

They both get paid the Saturday penalty rate from 10pm to midnight and the Sunday penalty rate from midnight to 4am. George and Pippa don't get their shift penalty rates during this shift.

Part-time allowance

Part-time employees don't get paid their 15% allowance when they work permanent night shifts.

See Part-time allowance in the Cleaning Award for more information.

Give us feedback on this article

Use our Feedback form to give us feedback about the information in this article.

If you have a question about pay or entitlements or need our help with a workplace issue, you can submit an online enquiry.