Overtime is any time worked by an employee (other than a casual employee) that is either in excess of their agreed ordinary hours of work (for part-time employees), or in excess of the ordinary hours set by the Hair and Beauty Award.
For more information about ordinary hours of work, see the Hours of work section.
You can require your full-time and part-time hair and beauty employees to work overtime as long as the hours are reasonable and are paid at overtime rates. An employee can refuse to work overtime if the request is unreasonable, for example where there are risks to their health and safety, or because of personal circumstances including family responsibilities.
You cannot require a casual employee to work overtime.
Note: Casual employees are paid a special loading instead of overtime for working outside the ordinary hours in the Hair and Beauty Award. For ordinary time worked on a Saturday or Sunday a casual is entitled to a weekend penalty.
Visit Finding the right pay for more information about wages and penalty rates.
Payment for working overtime
When working overtime, your full-time and part-time hair and beauty employees must receive at least time and half for the first three hours of overtime and double time after that.
For part-time employees, overtime is also payable for all hours worked in excess of their agreed number of hours. Visit the How do I hire a part-time employee section for more information.
Your employees may also be entitled to a meal allowance when they work overtime. See the Allowances section for more information about allowances.
Can employees take time off instead of being paid for overtime?
If your employee chooses, you can agree to provide them with paid time off instead of payment for overtime. The amount of time off must be equivalent to the pay the employee would have received for working overtime. For example, if an employee works 1 hour of overtime that would have been paid at 150%, the employee can take 1.5 hours paid time off instead of being paid for working the overtime.
If your employees choose to take paid time off instead of payment at overtime rates and you agree, you must ensure the following conditions are met:
- you and your employees agree when the time off will be taken
- the time off is taken within 4 weeks of working the overtime or, if you both agree, it may be accumulated and taken as part of annual leave.