SCHADS Award Penalty Rates Explained

Weekend penalty rates under the SCHADS Award are:

• Saturday: 150% (time and a half) for full-time and part-time employees. Casuals receive 175% (150% + 25% casual loading)
• Sunday: 200% (double time) for full-time and part-time employees. Casuals receive 225% (200% + 25% casual loading)

These rates apply to all ordinary hours worked on the respective days. They are not additional — they replace the ordinary rate. A worker paid $30/hour base who works Saturday gets $45/hour, not $30 + $15.

Shift workers under SCHADS attract additional loadings for unsociable hours (cl.29):

• Afternoon shift (finishing after 8pm and at or before midnight, Mon–Fri): 112.5% of the ordinary rate (12.5% loading)
• Night shift (finishing after midnight, or commencing before 6am, Mon–Fri): 115% of the ordinary rate (15% loading)

The trap: these shift loadings do not compound with weekend penalties. A worker on a Saturday night shift gets the Saturday rate (150%), not 150% + 15% — the weekend rate is in substitution for the shift loading (cl.26.2).

Overtime under the SCHADS Award is triggered in two ways:

• Daily: hours worked beyond 10 in a single day
• Weekly: hours worked beyond 38 in a week — this weekly trigger applies to part-time and casual employees; full-time overtime is measured against rostered ordinary hours, not a flat 38h cap

The overtime rates depend on the service stream (cl.28.1):

• Disability services, home care, family day care: 150% for the first 2 hours, then 200%
• SACS and crisis accommodation: 150% for the first 3 hours, then 200%
• Sunday overtime: 200% (double time); public holiday overtime: 250% — regardless of stream

Stating a flat "first 2 hours" rule understates the 150% band for every SACS and crisis-accommodation worker.

Public holidays attract the highest penalty rates in the SCHADS Award:

• Full-time and part-time: 250% for hours worked
• Casual: 275% for hours worked (250% + 25% casual loading)

Employees who are not required to work on a public holiday are entitled to be paid their ordinary rate for the day (for full-time and part-time workers who would normally work that day).

A common error: applying the public holiday rate to an entire shift that spans midnight. Only the hours actually falling on the public holiday attract the 250% rate. Hours before midnight are paid at the ordinary or evening rate.

The SCHADS Award has a clear hierarchy when multiple penalties could apply:

1. Penalties do not compound — you never add Saturday rate + overtime rate together
2. The higher rate applies — if overtime falls on a Saturday, the worker gets the higher of the overtime rate or the Saturday rate for each hour
3. Public holidays override — the public holiday penalty (250%, "double time and a half") is paid in lieu of weekend and shift loadings (cl.34.2(b)), so it is the rate that applies for public-holiday work
4. Allowances stack — unlike penalty rates, allowances (broken shift, travel, on-call) are paid in addition to whatever penalty rate applies

Getting this interaction wrong is one of the most common payroll errors. Systems that simply add penalties together will overpay; systems that only apply one type of penalty will underpay.

Consider a Level 2.1 disability support worker (ordinary rate $36.22/hr from 1 July 2026 — the SACS rate including the Equal Remuneration Order) who works the following shift on a Saturday:

• Start: 2pm Saturday
• Finish: 1am Sunday

The correct calculation:

• 2pm–12am Saturday (10 hours): Saturday rate = $36.22 × 150% = $54.33/hr
• 12am–1am Sunday (1 hour): Sunday rate = $36.22 × 200% = $72.44/hr

But wait — the worker has also done 11 hours total. For a part-time or casual worker that exceeds the 10-hour daily overtime threshold (cl.28.1(b)(ii)); for a full-time worker overtime is measured against rostered ordinary hours (cl.28.1(a)). Either way, the 11th hour (12am–1am) is already at 200% (Sunday rate), which equals the overtime rate — so no additional overtime applies for that hour.

If the shift had been entirely on Saturday (2pm–1am = 11 hours), the first 10 hours would be at 150% (Saturday) and the 11th hour — the first overtime hour — would also be at 150%: under cl.28.1(a)(i) the disability/home care overtime band is time and a half for the first 2 hours (double time only from the third overtime hour). On a Saturday the overtime and Saturday-penalty rates coincide at 150% for that hour.