Scheduling Award Alerts

Overview

When you create or assign a shift, Astalty automatically checks the worker’s roster for potential SCHADS Award compliance issues.

Alerts appear in the Suggested Support Worker table when:

• Assigning shifts from the Unassigned Shifts page

• Creating new Direct Support shifts

This helps you make informed decisions before confirming a shift.

Alert Categories

Each alert belongs to one of four categories. You can control how each category behaves in:

Settings > Scheduling

For each category, choose:

• Disabled — No alerts shown

• Warn Only — Warning shown, but you can still assign the shift

• Prevent Selection — Worker cannot be assigned

Overtime Alerts

These alerts help you avoid unintended overtime costs by flagging when assigning a shift to a worker would push their hours beyond ordinary time thresholds.

Daily Cap Reached

Triggered when the shift would push the worker over their daily ordinary hours limit.

• Hours beyond the cap are paid at overtime rates.

Example:
Worker has an 8-hour daily cap.
They already have 6 hours scheduled.
You assign a 4-hour shift → 2 hours become overtime.

Period Cap Reached

Triggered when the shift would push the worker over their weekly or fortnightly ordinary hours cap.

• Weekly cap: 38 hours

• Fortnightly cap: 76 hours

• Additional hours attract overtime rates.

Example:
Worker has 74 hours in a fortnight.
You assign a 4-hour shift → 2 hours become overtime.

Rostered Hours Exceeded

Triggered when the shift exceeds the worker’s specifically rostered ordinary hours for that day.

• Extra hours attract overtime rates.

Example:
Worker rostered for 6 hours.
You assign an 8-hour shift → 2 hours overtime.

Broken Shift Spread (Overtime)

Triggered when a worker’s total span of work in a day exceeds 12 hours (from first shift start to last shift end).

• Time beyond 12 hours attracts overtime rates.

Example:
First shift starts 7am.
Last shift ends 8pm → 13-hour spread.
1 hour overtime applies.

Fatigue Management Alerts

These alerts help ensure workers receive adequate rest between shifts and across the rostering period, in line with the award's fatigue management requirements.

Minimum Break

Triggered when there is less than the required break between shifts.

• May result in overtime or double time rates.

Example:
Worker finishes at 10pm.
Next shift starts 5am → 7-hour break (minimum required is 8).

Consecutive Days

Triggered when assigning the shift would exceed the recommended maximum number of consecutive working days.

Example:
Worker has worked 6 days in a row.
Assigning day 7 triggers the alert.

Insufficient Days Off

Triggered when assigning the shift would reduce required days off within the rostering period.

Example:
In a 14-day period, 2 days off are required.
Worker currently has 2.
Assigning this shift reduces it to 1.

Shift Duration

These alerts flag issues with the length of the shift being assigned — either too long or too short.

Exceeds Ordinary Hours

Triggered when the shift exceeds ordinary hours per shift.

• Extra hours attract overtime rates.

Example:
Ordinary shift cap is 8 hours.
You assign 10 hours → 2 hours overtime.

Exceeds Maximum Hours

Triggered when the shift exceeds the maximum allowed shift length.

• All hours beyond the maximum attract overtime rates.

Example:
Maximum shift length is 10 hours.
You assign 12 hours → 2 hours overtime.

Minimum Engagement

Triggered when a shift is shorter than the award’s minimum engagement period.

• Worker must still be paid for the minimum engagement.

Example:
Shift is 1.5 hours.
Minimum engagement is 2 hours → Worker paid for 2 hours.

Broken Shifts

These alerts relate to broken shift arrangements — where assigning a shift would result in a worker having multiple work periods in a single day separated by unpaid gaps.

Broken Shift Periods

Triggered in two situations:

1. Excessive periods

   • More than 3 work periods in one day (maximum allowed).

2. Broken shift formed

   • 2 or more work periods with unpaid breaks.

   • Requires explicit employee agreement.

Example:
Worker already has 2 shifts on Monday.
Assigning a third creates 3 work periods (maximum allowed) and requires agreement.

Broken Shift Spread (Double Time)

Triggered when the total daily spread exceeds the maximum allowed (typically 12 hours).

• Time beyond the spread attracts double time.

Example:
7am start, 8pm finish → 13-hour spread.
Time beyond 12 hours is paid at double time.

Pay Period Settings

Pay Period settings determine how Astalty calculates:

• Overtime

• Period caps

• Accumulated hours

If these settings are incorrect, alerts will be inaccurate.

Go to:

Settings > Scheduling > Edit > Pay Period

Required Fields

• Period Type — Either Weekly (7-day cycle) or Fortnightly (14-day cycle).

• Reference Date — A specific date that Astalty uses to anchor the start of each period cycle.

How It Works

Weekly

• Uses a rolling 7-day cycle.

• Enter any date that falls on the first day of your pay week.

• Only the day of the week matters.

Example:
If pay week runs Wednesday–Tuesday, enter any Wednesday.

• Weekly SCHADS cap: 38 hours

• Hours beyond 38 = overtime

Fortnightly (Most Common)

• Uses a rolling 14-day cycle.

• Reference Date must match the actual first day of a real pay fortnight.

• The exact date matters (not just the weekday).

Example:
Pay period runs 6 Jan – 19 Jan 2025.
Enter 6 January 2025 as the reference date.

• Fortnightly SCHADS cap: 76 hours

• Hours beyond 76 = overtime

Why This Matters

If the pay period settings are incorrect, overtime and period cap alerts will be inaccurate. For example:

• Wrong period type — If your payroll runs fortnightly but Astalty is set to weekly, a worker doing 40 hours one week and 30 hours the next would trigger a false overtime alert in the first week (exceeding the 38-hour weekly cap), when in reality they're under the 76-hour fortnightly cap.

• Wrong reference date — If your fortnights start on a Monday but the reference date points to a Wednesday, the system will calculate period caps against a Wed–Tue cycle instead of your actual Mon–Sun cycle, potentially splitting hours across the wrong periods.

Setting Up

1. Go to Settings > Scheduling.

2. Under Pay Period, set the Period Type to match your payroll cycle (Weekly or Fortnightly).

3. Set the Reference Date:

   • Weekly — Pick any date that falls on the first day of your pay week (e.g. if your week starts on Wednesday, pick any Wednesday).

   • Fortnightly — Pick any date that falls on the first day of one of your actual pay fortnights. Check your payroll system for the start date of a recent pay period and use that.

Where You'll See Award Alerts

The award alerts system is integrated into the "suggested support worker" table, which can be found when assigning shifts from the unassigned shifts page or by creating brand new direct support shifts.