Crisis Accommodation Employee Rates

In some crisis setting, "24 Hour Care" shifts may be utilized where the employee is available for duty in a 24 hour period, sleeping for 8 hours. Specific payment models apply (e.g. paying for 8 hours work + sleepover allowance). This is a complex area of the Award.

Clause 25.8 sets out three constraints on any 24-hour care shift:

• 8-hour direct care cap (M1): during the 24-hour period the employee is required to provide up to 8 hours of direct care. Recorded direct-care hours must not exceed 8h. If they do, the excess must be paid at the prescribed overtime rate under cl.28.1.
• 8-hour continuous sleep (M2): the employee is entitled to a continuous 8-hour sleep period during the shift. If the timesheet records work performed within a window that should be the 8h sleep block, that's a breach of cl.25.8.
• Agreement requirement (M3): 24-hour care shifts can only be worked by **home care employees by agreement**. They are not available for SACS/SIL streams unless a home-care service indicator is present. This part of the rule cannot be auto-verified from timesheet data — it requires a documented agreement on file.

The "8 hours work + sleepover allowance" payment shorthand reflects rule (M1) and the cl.25.7(d) sleepover allowance for the 8h sleep block. If the worker is awake providing care for more than 8 hours, the excess is overtime — not still inside the standard 24-hour care envelope.

Workers in crisis accommodation and SIL houses sometimes do multiple consecutive sleepovers — for example a 3-night block. Each sleepover attracts its own allowance under cl.25.7(d). If the worker is called to duty under cl.25.7(e) on each night, each night's disturbance is paid separately at the prescribed overtime rate with a one-hour minimum per disturbance.

Providers need to be careful about fatigue management obligations under WHS law when rostering consecutive sleepovers, especially if the worker is also doing day shifts before or after the sleepover block. The SCHADS rest-break rules (cl.25.4) still apply — there must be at least 10 hours off duty between the end of one shift and the start of the next, with cl.25.4(b) allowing a reduced 8-hour break by agreement when one of the shifts is contiguous with the start or end of a sleepover.

Under clause 25.7, a sleepover means the employer requires an employee to sleep overnight at the workplace and be available to work if needed. The employee is paid a flat sleepover allowance for the period (cl.25.7(d) — 4.9% of the standard rate per night, approximately $60.01), not an hourly rate. The employer must provide a bed and bedding, access to bathroom and kitchen facilities, and a reasonable level of comfort.

If the worker is called to duty during the sleepover (cl.25.7(e)), they must be paid at the prescribed overtime rate for the time worked, with a minimum payment of one hour per disturbance. Each disturbance attracts its own one-hour minimum unless the disturbances are close enough to be treated as continuous work. The applicable rate includes any penalty rates that would normally apply for the time of day and day of week.

Adjacency under cl.25.7(f): each sleepover needs a single shift of at least 4 hours immediately before OR immediately after. The two sides are not added together — each must independently reach 4 hours. The employee must be paid for at least 4 hours on the adjacent shift even if they actually work less.

Fair Work requires employers to keep accurate records of sleepover start and end times, any periods where the worker was called to duty (start time, end time, and nature of work), and the total payment for the sleepover including any call-to-duty payments. If you can't produce these records during an audit, Fair Work applies the reverse onus — they assume the employee's version of events.

For 24-hour care shifts the record-keeping bar is higher still. You need to evidence the 8-hour continuous sleep period, the direct-care hours used inside the 8-hour cap, any OT hours paid for excess direct care, and the underlying employee agreement that makes the 24-hour care arrangement available in the first place. Without those records the shift is indefensible if audited.