Health Professionals Award Interpretations in Astalty

Overview

Astalty's Health Professionals Award interpreter processes approved shifts for workers employed under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award (MA000027) and translates worked hours into the correct pay-rate categories and allowance lines for payroll. The award is set per worker on their employment contract, and every interpretation surface — the Award Interpretation tab on timesheet batches, the Award Pay Report, the Award Playground and the payroll exports — interprets each worker under the award on their own contract. It does not replace the need for compliant rostering and HR practices.

Who this award covers

The Health Professionals Award covers allied health professionals — occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech pathologists, psychologists, dietitians, exercise physiologists, podiatrists, social workers and similar professions — together with the support services staff who work alongside them, such as receptionists, administration staff and cleaners.

For an NDIS provider, this is usually the right award for your therapy and allied health team.

Putting a worker on the Health Professionals Award

The award is set on the worker's employment contract:

1. Open the worker's User Profile and go to the HR tab.
2. Create (or edit) their contract and set Award to Health Professionals Award.
3. Choose their Health Professionals Classification — the Base Hourly Rate fills in automatically from the current award rates. You can override the base rate if you pay above award.
4. Choose the Practice Type — this sets the daily span of hours used to decide when the shift loading applies (see The practice type and span of hours).

Classifications come from the award's two streams:

SCHADS-only contract fields — the SCHADS Overtime Stream, First Aid Allowance entitlement and Minimum Break Near a Sleepover — do not apply to a Health Professionals Award contract and are hidden.

The practice type and span of hours

Under this award, the hours that count as ordinary day work depend on the type of practice the worker is employed in. Astalty records this on the worker's contract as the Practice Type:

A weekday shift worked inside the span is paid at the ordinary rate. The practice type decides how late (or early) a shift can run before the shift loading below applies — for example, a 3pm–7pm shift attracts the loading in a general practice but is plain day work in a private practice, whose span runs to 9pm.

If you are unsure which span applies to your organisation, refer to the award or seek qualified advice — the practice type changes what evening work costs you.

How your hours are interpreted

The shift loading

This award has a single 15% shift loading — there are no separate afternoon, night or permanent-night loadings. The loading applies to a weekday shift that falls outside the practice span, when the shift:

• finishes after 6:00pm and at or before 8:00am the next day, or
• commences at or after 6:00pm, or before 6:00am.

The loading applies to the whole shift, and a shift that sits entirely inside the practice span never attracts it.

Weekends and public holidays

Weekend hours are paid at 150% on both days — unlike SCHADS and the Aged Care Award, Sunday is not paid at a higher rate than Saturday under this award. A shift is classified by the day each hour falls on, so the Saturday-morning portion of a Friday night shift is paid at the Saturday rate.

Ordinary hours and overtime

Ordinary hours are capped daily and across the pay period, for every employment basis. Hours beyond a cap become overtime:

• Daily — 10 ordinary hours per day, for full-time, part-time and casual employees alike.
• Weekly / fortnightly — 38 hours per week, or 76 hours per fortnight.

Overtime from Monday to Saturday is paid at 150% for the first 2 hours and 200% after that — Saturday overtime uses the same bands as a weekday. Sunday overtime is 200% and public holiday overtime is 250%.

Casual employees

The 25% casual loading behaves differently on penalties and on overtime, and this is the detail most worth getting right:

• On ordinary, weekend, shift-loading and public holiday rates the loading is added — a casual working a Saturday is paid 150% + 25% = 175%.
• On overtime the loading is folded into the base before the overtime multiplier is applied — a casual's first overtime band is 150% × 1.25 = 187.5%, not 175%.

Casual employees also have a 3-hour minimum engagement, flagged as a scheduling alert. Part-time and full-time employees have no minimum engagement under this award.

Allowances

• Overtime meal allowance — one meal once a shift's overtime exceeds one hour, and a second once it exceeds four hours. Turned on at Settings → Scheduling → Meal Allowance; it is off by default.
• Laundry allowance — per shift, capped weekly, for workers with the laundry entitlement on their contract.
• Kilometre / vehicle allowance — per kilometre, for approved travel in a worker's own vehicle.

Allowance dollar values are indexed automatically each financial year.

The uniform allowance, on-call allowance, telephone allowance and the award's other minor allowances are not calculated — see What Astalty covers under this award.

Scheduling alerts

Astalty raises alerts while you roster, before the hours reach payroll:

• Minimum engagement — 3 hours, casual employees only
• Minimum 10-hour break between shifts
• Ordinary hours exceeded — a shift longer than 10 hours, for every employment basis

See Scheduling Award Alerts for how alert behaviour is configured.

Where you see the interpretation

• Award Interpretation tab on a timesheet batch — the per-worker breakdown for the shifts in that batch.
• Award Pay Report — the same breakdown across a full pay period.
• Award Playground (under Scheduling → Award Playground) — experiment with hypothetical work records for a worker whose contract is on this award. Sleepover scenarios don't apply — this award has no sleepover provisions, so sleepover templates are hidden.
• Timesheet exports and the Xero timesheet push — pay lines and allowances flow to payroll per worker.

Each worker's expanded view includes the interpretation trace showing which Health Professionals Award rules were applied — which cap was reached, whether the shift loading was classified, and why.

Setting up Xero pay items

Pay items are mapped per pay group, and one pay group's mapping can only encode one award's rates. Health Professionals Award staff therefore need their own pay group.

Whilst we cannot provide payroll advice based on your interpretation and application of the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020, these are the Pay Items and their suggested multipliers when setting up Xero pay items for a Health Professionals Award pay group. You should refer to the Award, or seek professional and qualified advice, to ensure accuracy and compliance for your organisation.

The Weekday Afternoon pay item is never used by this award — Astalty marks it as not applicable for a Health Professionals pay group, and you do not need to map it.

For the mapping workflow itself, see Setup Pay Items and Employee Templates in Xero and Setup Pay Groups and Employees in Astalty.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Sunday paid the same as Saturday?

Because that is what this award says: all ordinary hours between midnight Friday and midnight Sunday are paid at 150% (175% casual). Sunday is only paid at a higher rate when the hours are overtime — Sunday overtime is 200%.

Why didn't my worker's 7pm finish attract the shift loading?

Check the Practice Type on their contract. In a private practice the span runs to 9:00pm, so a shift finishing at 7pm is ordinary day work. In a general practice the span ends at 6:00pm, and the same shift would attract the 15% loading.

Why is my casual's overtime higher than the ordinary rate plus 25%?

Because on overtime the casual loading is folded into the base before the overtime multiplier, rather than added afterwards. The first overtime band works out at 150% × 1.25 = 187.5%.

Why didn't a minimum engagement alert appear for my part-time worker's short shift?

Because this award only sets a minimum engagement for casual employees (3 hours). Part-time and full-time employees can be rostered shorter shifts without an award minimum applying.

Does Astalty pay the on-call allowance for health professionals?

No. On-call and recall are not calculated under this award — if you pay an on-call allowance, handle it in your payroll system. See What Astalty covers under this award.

Who updates pay rates after the Annual Wage Review?

You do, in your payroll system. Astalty indexes the allowances it calculates and the classification base rates it suggests, but the pay rates on your Xero pay items are maintained by you.

Can Astalty tell me if my roster complies with the Health Professionals Award, or give payroll advice?

Astalty gives you the tools — the interpreter, the per-worker interpretation trace, the scheduling alerts and the playground — but it cannot give payroll advice or confirm compliance for your organisation. How the Award applies to your situation is your decision; refer to the Award or seek qualified advice.

What Astalty covers under this award

Conclusion

The Health Professionals Award interpreter covers ordinary hours, the practice-type span and shift loading, weekend and public holiday penalties, overtime, casual loading and the meal, laundry and kilometre allowances, with an on-screen rule trace for every decision it makes. Provisions outside the engine — on-call and recall, the uniform allowance, TOIL, higher duties and leave rules — must be managed through correct rostering or manual controls.