Update: On 11 May the Federal Court upheld Fair Work Australia’s decision to allow students to work for 1.5 hours on school days. This means that students can work for as little as 1.5 hours per shift on school days, between the hours of school finishing and the business closing. Employers need to make sure they have written consent from the student and their parent or guardian.
You can read the full decision on the Fair Work Australia website 
.
Ordinary hours of work are the hours that you and your employees agree to be their normal and regular pattern of work within the limits explained below. Ordinary hours do not include overtime hours.
The ordinary hours of work in the Retail Award are a maximum of 38 hours per week and can only be worked during the following times:
| 7.00am - 9.00pm |
7.00am - 6.00pm |
9.00am - 6.00pm |
Different ordinary hours of work apply to the following types of retail businesses:
| Newsagency |
5.00am - 9.00pm |
5.00am - 6.00pm |
5.00am - 6.00pm |
| Video hire shop |
7.00am - 12.00am |
7.00am - 12.00am |
9.00am - 12.00am |
| Business trading beyond 9.00pm Monday to Friday or beyond 6.00pm Saturday or Sunday |
7.00am - 11.00pm |
7.00am - 11.00pm |
9.00am - 11.00pm |
The ordinary hours of work can be averaged over a period of up to 4 weeks. See the organising rosters section for further information on averaging ordinary hours. Any hours worked in excess of an average of 38 hours per week are overtime and must be paid at the appropriate overtime rates.
Note: If you require your employees to start work earlier than their allocated shift in order to perform any duties such as setting up, or stay back to perform any duties such as packing up or attending a compulsory team meeting after their shift has finished, then they must be paid for this time.
Maximum and minimum daily ordinary hours
You can roster your retail employees to work up to a maximum of 9 ordinary hours of work on any day, and for one day per week a retail employee can be rostered for 11 hours. Part-time employees and most casual employees must work (or be paid for) a minimum of 3 hours per shift.
Example
Paul is a full-time shoe repairer working at Soles 'N' More. Paul works 38 hours per week as follows:
Monday - 4 hours
Tuesday - 5 hours
Wednesday - 9 hours
Thursday - 9 hours
Friday - 11 hours
Total = 38 hours
Paul is entitled to ordinary rates of pay and doesn’t receive any overtime for working 11 hours on Fridays.
Minimum hours for casual high school students
Casual high school students can work for a minimum of 1.5 hours so that they can work after school.
The minimum hours of work for casual high school students can only be 1.5 hours (instead of 3 hours) if all of the following apply:
- the employee is a full-time secondary school student
- the work is between 3.00pm and 6.30pm on a school day
- the employee and their parent/guardian agree to the shorter period of work, and
- working for 3 hours or more is not possible, either because of the operational requirements of the business or the employee is not available for a longer shift.
If any of these don’t apply, the minimum hours of work for a casual high school student is 3 hours.