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SCHADS Interpretations in Astalty

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Overview

Astalty’s SCHADS interpretations are designed for NDIS support workers employed as shift-workers under the SCHADS Award (MA000100). It processes approved shifts through Astalty and translating worked hours into the correct SCHADS pay-rate categories and allowance lines for payroll. It does not replace the need for compliant rostering and HR practices.

Area

Rule / behaviour

Supported?

Classification – ordinary & penalties

Classify weekday daytime vs afternoon vs night based on time-of-day windows

✅

Classify Saturday

✅

Classify Sunday

✅

Classify Public Holiday

✅

Broken-shift night downgrade (early-morning leg on broken-shift day has no night loading)

✅

Different “streams” (e.g. SACS, crisis accommodation) with different OT bands

❌

Ordinary hours caps & overtime

Daily ordinary cap of 10 hours

✅

Weekly / fortnight ordinary caps (38h per week / 76h per fortnight)

✅

Convert excess hours beyond daily/period caps into overtime

✅

Mon–Sat overtime banding: first 2h at first OT rate, rest at higher OT rate

✅

Sunday overtime: all OT at Sunday overtime rate

✅

Public holiday overtime: all OT at PH overtime rate

✅

Overtime when full-time worker goes beyond rostered ordinary hours but is still under caps

❌

Broken shifts

Detect 2–3 work periods per day as “broken shifts”

✅

Broken shift allowance – 1 unpaid break (2 periods)

✅

Broken shift allowance – 2 unpaid breaks (3 periods)

✅

Double time for work beyond 12-hour span in a broken-shift day

✅

Sleepovers

Night-time sleepover allowance

✅

Excludes night-time sleepover itself from ordinary/overtime hours

✅

Enforce min 4 hours ordinary work before/after a sleepover

❌

Enforce that sleepover span is 8 hours / qualitative sleep conditions (bed, room, facilities)

❌

Min 1 hour’s pay for each time worker is called up during sleepover

❌

24-hour care arrangements (special daily structure)

❌

Excursion / camp specific pay rules

❌

Allowances – implemented

First aid allowance (full-time & capped part-time/casual logic)

✅

Broken shift allowances (1 or 2 unpaid breaks)

✅

Sleepover allowance

✅

Kilometre / vehicle allowance (per-km)

✅

Allowances – not implemented

Uniform / special clothing allowances

❌

Laundry allowance for uniforms/work clothing

❌

Clothing damage/soiling reimbursement

❌

Meal allowance for overtime / recall

❌

Telephone allowance (home phone required for work/on-call)

❌

Heat allowance

❌

Board & lodging arrangements / deductions

❌

On-call allowance (being on standby, even if no work)

❌

Travel/accommodation reimbursements beyond per-km (e.g. meals, hotel when away)

❌

Automatic indexation of allowance dollar values when Award updates

❌

Remote work / recall / minimum engagements

Minimum shift engagement (e.g. 2-hour minimum)

❌

Remote work minimum payments (15/30-minute blocks)

❌

Distinguish remote vs on-site work for different rules

❌

Recall-to-work minimum 2 hours’ pay

❌

Breaks & rest periods

Meal break rules (work through meal → overtime until break taken)

❌

10-hour rest period between overtime and next ordinary shift (or double time until achieved)

❌

Paid rest / meal breaks during prolonged overtime (and associated meal allowance)

❌

TOIL & leave

Time-off-in-lieu (TOIL) instead of cash overtime

❌

Extra annual leave entitlements for shiftworkers

❌

Annual leave loading for shiftworkers

❌

Classification & higher duties

Automatic handling of higher-duties pay when acting in higher role

❌

Determining employee’s Award level / stream (classification decision)

❌

Other

Full award compliance for day workers (non-shift)

❌

On-screen rule traces explaining which award logic applied

✅

For any SCHADS documentation and clause descriptions, please refer to:

https://awards.fairwork.gov.au/MA000100.html

What the interpreter does

  • Classifies hours into weekday daytime, afternoon, night, Saturday, Sunday and public holiday categories using the time-of-day and day-of-week definitions in the Award.

  • Enforces SCHADS ordinary-hours caps for shift-workers (10 hours per day, 38 hours per week or 76 per fortnight), converting excess hours to overtime and allocating overtime according to the Award’s Mon–Sat first-band and second-band structure, Sunday overtime and public-holiday overtime rules.

  • Detects broken shifts, applies broken-shift allowances for days with one or two unpaid breaks and applies double time for work performed beyond a 12-hour span on a broken-shift day, including the special rule that early-morning legs on broken-shift days do not attract night penalties.

  • Processes sleepover shifts by paying a sleepover allowance per sleepover and excluding the passive sleepover span from ordinary hours, while still paying normal ordinary/overtime rates for active work performed during the sleepover.

  • Automates key allowances relevant to NDIS support work: first aid allowance for qualified first aid officers, kilometre allowances, broken-shift allowances and sleepover allowances.

  • Provides detail of which Award rules were applied to each employee’s shifts when they are timesheet batched (e.g. when daily/period caps were reached, when broken-shift or sleepover allowances were applied, which overtime band was used).

What the interpreter does not currently do

  • It does not currently calculate overtime that arises purely because a full-time shift-worker works beyond their rostered ordinary hours but still remains under the daily (10-hour) and weekly (38-hour) caps. In those cases we rely solely on the Award’s daily/period caps rather than roster-based caps.

  • It does not automate compliance with roster-design rules (e.g. rostered days off, 10-hour rest between shifts, meal break entitlements, recall to work minimums, remote work/on-call provisions) or day-worker span-of-hours rules.

  • It does not create meal allowances for overtime, telephone or heat allowances, or other minor allowances not explicitly listed above.

  • It does not manage annual leave entitlements or leave loading, or classification/level decisions

Conclusion

The interpreter provides a robust and transparent implementation of the core SCHADS monetary rules around ordinary hours, overtime, shiftwork loadings and key allowances. However, several Award provisions remain outside the engine and must be managed via correct rostering or manual controls.

Day worker rules

The interpretation does not presently operate or consider day worker rules. All interpretations are based upon shift-workers. See definitions below

(a)          Day worker

The ordinary hours of work for a day worker will be worked between 6.00 am and 8.00 pm Monday to Sunday.

(b)         Shift-worker

A shift-worker is an employee who works shifts in accordance with clause 29—Shiftwork.

Other Common Questions

Setting Up Pay Items and Multipliers

Whilst we cannot provide payroll advice based on your interpretation and application of the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010, these are the Pay Items and their suggested multipliers when setting up your Xero pay items. For the Xero Integration to work correctly, each Pay Item (incl. allowances) listed below in the table will need to be setup within Xero.

You should refer to the the SCHADS Award, or seek professional and qualified advice to ensure accuracy and compliance for your organisation.

Pay Item

Part-time (Multiplier)

Casual (Multiplier)

Notes

Weekday Daytime

1

1.25

Also known as 'Standard'

Afternoon

1.125

1.375

Night

1.15

1.4

Saturday

1.5

1.75

Sunday

2

2.25

Overtime 1st Period

1.5

1.75

Also known as 'Overtime 1.5x'

Overtime Last Period

2

2.25

Also known as 'Overtime 2x'

Public Holiday

2.5

2.75

Kilometre Allowance

Award

Sleepover Allowance

Award

Broken Shift One Unpaid Break

Award

Broken Shift Two Unpaid Break

Award

First Aid Allowance

Award

All Casual multiplier rates are inclusive of the Casual Loading