Hours of work
Learn about ordinary hours of work and how these can be worked.
On this page:
- Understanding ordinary hours
- Spread of hours
- Maximum weekly hours
- Video: Maximum weekly hours
- Daylight saving time and work hours
- Right to disconnect
- Tools and resources
- Related information
Understanding ordinary hours
Awards and enterprise agreements set out the:
- maximum ordinary hours that an employee can work in a day, week, fortnight or month
- minimum ordinary hours that an employee can work in a day
- times of the day that ordinary hours can be worked (for example, between 7 am and 7 pm).
Ordinary hours can be different for full-time, part-time and casual employees.
Spread of hours
The times of the day that ordinary hours are worked within is called the spread of hours (for example, between 7 am and 7 pm). Time worked outside the spread of ordinary hours can attract overtime rates.
Find more information about maximum and minimum hours of work and the spread of hours in your award by selecting from the list below.
Maximum weekly hours
Under the National Employment StandardsThe minimum entitlements that have to be provided to all employees. (NES), an employee can work a maximum of 38 hours in a week unless an employer asks them to work reasonable extra hours.
For more information on maximum weekly hours under the NES and when additional hours are reasonable, visit our Maximum weekly hours fact sheet.
Video: Maximum weekly hours
Watch our short video to find out about:
- maximum hours for full-time, part-time and casual employment
- reasonable extra hours
- when an employee can refuse to work extra hours
- how authorised time off counts towards an employee’s weekly hours.
Daylight saving time and work hours
Daylight saving time may affect an employee’s work hours.
Employers and employees should know the payment rules for working overnight when daylight saving time starts or ends. To find out, check the:
If it doesn’t say anything, employees working overnight when daylight saving time starts or ends are paid ‘by the clock’. This means employees are paid based on the hours shown on the clock, not the actual time worked.
For more information, go to Daylight saving time.
Right to disconnect
Employees have the right to refuse contact outside their working hours, unless doing so is unreasonable. This means an employee can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact (or attempted contact) from an employer or a third party.
When determining whether an employee’s refusal is unreasonable, several factors must be considered. Learn more at Right to disconnect.
Source reference for page: Fair Work Act 2009 sections 62, 147, 333M
Tools and resources
- National Employment Standards videos
- Pay and Conditions Tool
- Maximum weekly hours fact sheet
- Fixing a workplace problem
