What the SCHADS Award says about broken shifts
Under clause 25.6 of the SCHADS Award, a broken shift is a shift worked in two or more separate periods of work within a single day, with an unpaid break (or breaks) in between that is not a meal break.
The key distinction: a broken shift isn't just a split roster. It specifically refers to situations where a worker is engaged, released from duty for an extended unpaid period, and then required to resume work later the same day. This is common in disability support — a worker might assist with morning routines (6am–10am), be off duty, then return for evening support (4pm–8pm).
Who is entitled to the broken shift allowance
The broken shift allowance applies to full-time and part-time employees at Social and Community Services (SACS) Level 1 and 2, and Home Care employees at Levels 1 to 5. Casual employees do not receive the allowance — their casual loading is intended to compensate for these types of conditions.
This is a common error: providers often assume the allowance applies to all staff or to no staff, when it's actually classification-dependent.
How the allowance is calculated
The broken shift allowance is a per-shift payment — currently 1.7% of the standard rate per shift for each broken shift worked. It's not calculated on hours worked, it's a flat allowance per occurrence.
If a worker works a broken shift on a Saturday, they receive both the Saturday penalty rate for hours worked and the broken shift allowance on top. The two stack — they're separate entitlements.
Maximum spread of hours
A broken shift cannot exceed a 12-hour spread from the start of the first period of work to the end of the last period. If a worker starts at 7am, their last period of work must finish by 7pm.
Exceeding the 12-hour spread doesn't just attract penalty — it's a breach. Some enterprise agreements vary this, but the base SCHADS Award is firm on 12 hours.
Common compliance traps
The mistakes we see most often in timesheet audits:
- Not paying the allowance at all — many providers don't realise it exists, especially those who moved from a different award
- Confusing meal breaks with broken shift gaps — a 30-minute meal break mid-shift is not a broken shift. A 3-hour unpaid gap is
- Exceeding the 12-hour spread — morning + evening shifts that span more than 12 hours from first start to last finish
- Applying the allowance to casuals — casuals are excluded, which means if you're paying it to casuals, you're overpaying (and if you stop, you might face a dispute)
- Not stacking with penalty rates — the allowance applies on top of weekend/public holiday penalties, not instead of
How to get broken shifts right
The simplest approach: audit every shift where there's an unpaid gap longer than a standard meal break. If the gap exceeds what's reasonable for a meal break (typically 30-60 minutes), it's likely a broken shift and the allowance applies.
Better yet, automate the check. CrossVault's Timesheet Validator flags broken shifts automatically — identifying which shifts attract the allowance, whether the 12-hour spread is exceeded, and whether the correct amount has been paid.