Australia's Fair Work Act 2009 sets a 38-hour standard week for full-time employees. Above 38 hours, the rules branch depending on employment type, applicable Modern Award, and how "reasonable" is interpreted in practice.

Full-time employees

No fixed cap exists for additional hours. Full-time workers can be required to work beyond 38 hours per week if the additional hours are "reasonable." The Fair Work Act defines reasonable using several factors: risk to health and safety, personal circumstances including family responsibilities, the nature of the role, usual patterns in the industry, and whether the employer provides compensation for the extra time.

This standard is deliberately flexible, and deliberately vague. An employer cannot simply require 50-hour weeks indefinitely. Courts and Fair Work inspectors assess patterns over time. Four consecutive weeks of 50-hour weeks with no compensation and no operational justification is unlikely to survive scrutiny.

Part-time employees

Part-time overtime applies at two thresholds - after the employee's contracted hours for the day or week, and after 38 hours per week. Both can trigger penalty rates depending on the applicable Modern Award. An employee contracted for 20 hours per week who works 25 hours does not automatically trigger the 38-hour threshold, but may still be entitled to overtime rates above their contracted hours under the relevant Award.

Casual employees

Casual loading of 25% applies to all hours and compensates for the absence of leave entitlements. Most Modern Awards do not apply a separate overtime rate for casual employees, but some do - particularly in healthcare, hospitality, and retail. Employers in these sectors should check the specific Award, not assume the 25% loading covers everything.

Penalty rates by day type (typical ranges across Modern Awards)

Saturday work typically attracts +25% above the base rate. Sunday rates range from +50% to +100% depending on the Award. Public holidays carry the highest rates: +125% to +250% above base in most Awards, with some Awards requiring double-time plus a day-off-in-lieu for public holiday work.

Penalty rates vary by Award, and Australia has over 100 active Modern Awards. An employer in retail operates under different rules than an employer in manufacturing or aged care.

Record-keeping obligations

Fair Work requires employers to retain time and pay records for 7 years. Required fields include employee name, employment type (full-time, part-time, casual), hours worked per day (not just per week), and gross and net pay. Records must be accessible and legible. A spreadsheet that a payroll processor can read is compliant. A folder of handwritten notes is technically compliant but difficult to defend under audit.

Penalties for non-compliance

The 2026 penalty rates under Fair Work are $16,500 per contravention for individuals and $82,500 per contravention for corporations. "Per contravention" means per employee per pay period with a violation. For a team of 20 people with systematic record-keeping failures, the exposure compounds fast.

Rezano captures daily hours per worker with timestamped records, exports to payroll, and retains data for the full 7-year period. Start tracking at rezano.lv.