Family Support & Case Work Rates

Staff requiring a 3-year degree typically commence at **Level 3**. Staff requiring a 4-year degree (like Social Work) typically commence at **Level 4**.

Overtime under SCHADS uses a different band depending on the service stream. For Family Support Workers in the SACS stream, the band is **first 3 hours at time-and-a-half, then double time** (cl.28.1(a)(ii)). Disability services and home care use a shorter band — only 2 hours at time-and-a-half before double time kicks in (cl.28.1(a)(i)).

This means a SACS caseworker who works 4 hours of overtime is paid 3 hours at 150% and 1 hour at 200%. A disability support worker doing the same 4 hours is paid 2 hours at 150% and 2 hours at 200% — the same number of overtime hours, but a different cost split. Payroll systems that apply the disability band to SACS staff overpay; systems that apply the SACS band to disability staff underpay.

The OT trigger itself: overtime kicks in after 10 hours in a single day, or after 38 ordinary hours in a week for full-time employees. For part-time and casual employees, cl.28.1(b)(ii) adds a separate >10h-on-any-single-day trigger that can stack with the weekly flag.

Family support roles are usually weekday day work, but many services run after-hours and weekend support — particularly in family violence and crisis intervention. The standard SCHADS penalty rates apply (cl.26 and cl.34.2):

• Saturday: 150% (175% for casuals after the 25% loading)
• Sunday: 200% (225% casual)
• Public holiday: 250% (275% casual)
• Afternoon shift (finishing after 8pm and at or before midnight Mon–Fri): 12.5% loading on the whole shift (cl.29.3(a))
• Night shift (finishing after midnight, or commencing before 6am Mon–Fri): 15% loading (cl.29.3(b))

Penalties don't compound: a Saturday afternoon shift attracts 150%, not 150% plus 12.5%. Weekend rates substitute for the cl.29 shift premiums under cl.26.2, and the public holiday rate is in lieu of shift and weekend rates under cl.34.2(b).

Consider a Level 4 family violence caseworker (base rate $35/hr, full-time) who finishes their regular 9am–5pm shift, then is called back for a 9pm–1am crisis response. The first 2 hours of the call-out (9pm–11pm) are after-hours but still on Friday. The next 2 hours (11pm–1am Saturday) cross midnight.

The 9pm–5pm sequence is already 8 ordinary hours. The call-out hours push the day total past 10 hours, so cl.28.1 overtime applies on the excess. Because this worker is SACS (cl.28.1(a)(ii)), the first 3 hours of overtime are paid at 150% and any additional hours at 200%. The Saturday portion (after midnight) attracts the higher of the Saturday rate (150%) or the overtime rate — the higher rate applies per hour, never both stacked. Penalties and overtime under SCHADS are never additive.

Three errors come up repeatedly in family support payroll:

• Applying the disability OT band to SACS staff. Disability/home care = 2h at T1.5 then double time. SACS = 3h at T1.5 then double time. Using the wrong band underpays SACS workers on hour 3 of overtime.
• Adding shift loadings to weekend penalties. A caseworker doing a Saturday after-hours debrief gets 150%, not 150% + 12.5% (cl.26.2 non-stacking).
• Wrong classification level. A 4-year-degree social worker doing case management duties classified as Level 3 instead of Level 4 is underpaid on every hour, every penalty, and every overtime hour — compounding for years.