🎯 This article is relevant to Planday customers who have enabled the General Retail Award in Planday. It provides an overview of the relevant functionality in Planday and the content of Planday’s built-in award interpretation feature (“Award library”) for the General Retail Industry and links to additional guides to ease the set-up process of your Planday organisation.

If you’re unsure of the correct Award coverage for your company or your employees, we encourage you to visit the Fair Work Commission Awards finder page or contact the Fair Work Ombudsman to discuss this further. Getting this right is very important and sets the foundation for paying your employees correctly. You should also seek any independent legal advice as appropriate for your business.

Please also note that Planday focuses on the most common time and attendance related parts of the Retail Award and does not cover all award requirements, for example allowances, shift work and some overtime. Please refer to the schedule in our T&Cs and this Help Centre article for more information about the award exclusions.

Changing or overriding award configurations

Set out below is how Planday configures award requirements relating to contract rules, break rules, shift types and overtime. Whilst you are able to change the hours or rules specified, please note that overriding or changing these configurations could be in breach of your compliance obligations. You should seek independent legal advice as appropriate for your business.

Link to the official award: http://awardviewer.fwo.gov.au/award/show/MA000004

Employee types

‘Employee types’ are used to define the employee’s employment basis. This is important to ensure that your employees are covered by the appropriate rules and automations in Planday.

Action required: Map your employees to the correct employee type. Learn more about Employee types in this article.

Name of Employee type

Full time

Part time

Casual

Classifications

'Classifications' can be used to set your employees’ minimum hourly rates as per the Award. Planday supports the most common classifications of the Award which are pre-set for your convenience as detailed below.

Note: Casual loading for casual employees is added automatically and separately with a payroll supplement.

Action required: Assign a classification to your employees. Learn more about classifications in this article.

Name of Classification	Level
Adult	Level 1-8
20 years and employed by the employer for more than 6 months	Level 1-3
20 years and employed by the employer for 6 months or less	Level 1-3
19 years	Level 1-3
18 years	Level 1-3
17 years	Level 1-3
16 years	Level 1-3
Under 16 years of age	Level 1-3

* Note: Classifications for apprentices are not supported in Planday. We recommend the following article here to enable the manual setup of an employee’s hourly rate should you wish.

It’s important to always check the Award and Fair Work’s Pay and Conditions Tool (P.A.C.T) if you’re unsure of the correct classification(s) to allocate to your business. Getting this right is very important and sets the foundation for paying your employees correctly. Alternatively contact the Fair Work Ombudsman to discuss this in more detail.

Ordinary hours and Span of hours

This outlines and forms the foundational amount of ordinary hours and span of hours worked by an employee before overtime is triggered, as described by the award. These are supported in Planday with ‘Contract rules’.

Contract rules

You can define each individual employee’s ordinary hours, and span of hours or contracted/agreed hours of work and visually see how you’re distributing the hours in the schedule. These rules set the foundation for applying overtime rates (covered further down).

Planday has input example information into the contract rules section for part time and full time employees. Casual employees contract rules are as per the span of hours, and maximum working hours per day and per week as per the Award.

Please note the following businesses have varied ordinary hours that may be worked which will need to be updated appropriately by the business in the contract rules section for employees:
- from 5:00 am in a newsagency; or
- until midnight in a video shop; or
- until 11:00 pm on all days of the week if the trading hours of the retailer extend beyond 9:00 pm on a Monday to Friday or 6:00 pm on a Saturday or Sunday.

Action required:

Review the agreed or contracted hours of work for both part-time and full-time employees to ensure they comply with the relevant award clauses and the requirements for span of hours.
Map your employees to the correct contract rules, or create/customise rules relevant to your circumstances. Learn more in this Help centre article.

Click here if you want to learn how to change the rules to meet your specific requirements.

Contract rule	Weekly interval	Regular working hours	Max hours per day
Full-time	38 hours per week	Agreed working hours: Mon-Fri = 9am-5:06pm (example only)	7.6 hours every day (example only)
Part-time*	22.8 hours per week	Agreed working hours: Mon,Tue,Fri = 9am-5:06pm (example only)	7.6 hours every day (example only)
Casual	38 hours per week	Span/spread of hours according to Award: Mon-Fri = 7am-9pm Sat = 7am-6pm Sun = 9am-6pm	Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun = 9 hours Thur = 11 hours*

* Important

For part-time employees:

You will need to review and update the contract rule when assigning this to part-time employees to ensure it is in line with their employee contract or agreement.
- Alternatively you can update the settings of the contract rule before assigning it to employees. Learn how in Overview of Contract rules and Overtime.
The Contract rule for part-time employees available in Planday is a default configuration provided as an example only.

Break rules

By using ‘Break rules’ allows you to automatically apply a set of breaks to the shifts in your schedule according to award specifications. You can also add/remove additional breaks and edit them manually on a shift-by-shift basis. Learn more about break rules in this article.

Length of shift	Type of Break(s) that automatically apply
More than 4 hours (but less than 5)	1 x 10 min paid rest break
More than 5 hours (but less than 7)	1 x 10 min paid rest break + 1 x 30 min unpaid meal break
More than 7 hours (but less than 10)	2 x 10 min paid rest break + 1 x 30 min unpaid meal break
More than 10 hours	2 x 10 min paid rest break + 2 x 30 min unpaid meal break

Action required:

Review the pre-defined break rules under Settings > Schedule > Breaks and verify that the breaks are set up in accordance with how your business operates. Pay special attention to the start and end times of the breaks particularly when using the ‘Timesheets’ feature with pre-defined break rules.

We encourage you to ensure you review disbursement of breaks in shifts in the ‘Timesheets’ feature and adjust them accordingly.

Getting this right is very important and sets the foundation for paying your employees correctly. Refer to the Award for more information on breaks or alternatively contact the Fair Work Ombudsman to discuss in more detail.

Shift types

By using ‘Shift types’ you can label particular shifts. For example when an employee is on leave (Annual leave, Compassionate leave, etc.) or to label when an employee is not working on a public holiday, however is required to be paid ordinary hours for that time.

Learn more about Shift types in this article.

Name of Shift type	Area of use
Absent	For Absence (not award specific)
Absent - Public holiday	Use this shift type when your employee is absent on a public holiday and should be paid for their ordinary hours of work (only applicable for F.T and P.T)
Annual leave (paid)	Used together with the Leave and Absence module
Compassionate leave (CAS - unpaid)	Used together with the Leave and Absence module
Compassionate leave (FT/PT - paid)	Used together with the Leave and Absence module
Late	For Lateness (not award specific)
Overtime	Use when your employee should be paid overtime, E.g. when work is required in excess of rostered hours
Overtime on Public Holiday	Use when your employee is working on a Public Holiday and should be paid overtime
Personal / Carer’s leave (FT/PT - paid)	Used together with the Leave and Absence module
Personal / Carer’s leave (unpaid)	Used together with the Leave and Absence module
Sick No Pay	For Sickness (not award specific)
Time Off	For Time off (not award specific)
Training	To track training for Apprentices (no penalties or Overtime applies)
Unpaid leave	Used together with the Leave and Absence module

Working Time Rules

‘Working time rules’ provides you with a notification if you roster a shift that is in conflict with the predefined Working time rules. This prompt allows you to make an informed decision on what to do next. Planday supports some of the most common rostering restrictions in line with the Award and has pre-set rules for your convenience which are detailed below.

Name of working time rule	Applies to	Overtime or Rostering Restriction	Notes
Minimum 12 hours off between shifts	All	Rostering restriction / Overtime	Warning will appear when attempting to schedule a shift that is fewer than 12 hours from the end time of the previous shift scheduled. Hours less than the 12 hours between shifts should be recorded as overtime using the ‘Overtime’ shift type
Minimum 3 hours per day	P.T + Casual	Rostering restriction	Warning will appear when attempting to schedule fewer than 3 hours in conflict with minimum shift length requirements. We recommend always scheduling 3 or more hours, and if necessary leaving a comment on the shift if the employee should end their shift earlier.
Maximum 11 ordinary hours on one day per week	All	Rostering restriction / Overtime	Warning will appear when attempting to schedule more than 11 hours in conflict with minimum shift length requirements. Hours in excess of the 11 hours should be recorded as overtime using the ‘Overtime’ shift type
Maximum 5 days of ordinary hours per week	All	Rostering restriction / Overtime	Warning will appear when attempting to schedule more than 5 days of ordinary hours in one week. Hours in excess should be recorded as overtime using the ‘Overtime’ shift type
Maximum 6 consecutive working days	All	Rostering restriction / Overtime	Warning will appear when attempting to schedule more than 6 consecutive working days. Hours in excess should be recorded as overtime using the ‘Overtime’ shift type
Maximum 9 ordinary hours per day	All	Rostering restriction / Overtime	Warning will appear when attempting to schedule more than 9 hours in conflict with minimum shift length requirements. Hours in excess of the 9 hours should be recorded as overtime using the ‘Overtime’ shift type

Overtime

This outlines the overtime as described by the award*, supported by ‘contract rules’ and ‘payroll supplements’ in Planday.

	Overtime requirement	Supported by	Automatic	Action required
Full-time employees	In excess of ‘ordinary hours’ (Max 38 hours / week and Max 9 or 11 hours / day)	Contract rules, Working time rules, and Timesheets	✅	Suggested automatically in Timesheets
	Outside ‘span of hours’	Contract rules and Timesheets	✅	Suggested automatically in Timesheets
	Outside roster conditions	Schedule	✅	Suggested automatically in Timesheets if Punch clock was used to record worked hours. If not, Schedule manager needs to split the shift in the schedule and use shift type “Overtime” on hours in excess of the rostered hours.
	In excess of the employee’s rostered hours	Schedule	✅	Suggested automatically in Timesheets if Punch clock was used to record worked hours. If not, Schedule manager needs to split the shift in the schedule and use shift type “Overtime” on hours before or after the rostered hours.
Part-time employees	In excess of ‘ordinary hours’ (Max 38 hours / week)	Contract rules, Working time rules, and Timesheets	✅	Suggested automatically in Timesheets
	Outside of the agreed days and times of work	Schedule	✅	Suggested automatically in Timesheets if Punch clock was used to record worked hours. If not, Schedule manager needs to split the shift in the schedule and use shift type “Overtime” on hours before or after the rostered hours.
	Outside ‘span of hours’	Contract rules and Timesheets	✅	Suggested automatically in Timesheets (when defined in Contract rules)
Casual employees	In excess of 38 ordinary hours per week	Contract rules and Timesheets	✅	Suggested automatically in Timesheets
	Outside the span of ordinary hours for each day	Contract rules, Working time rules, and Timesheets	✅	Suggested automatically in Timesheets
	In excess of 11 hours on one day of the week and in excess of 9 hours on any other day of the week	Schedule	✅	Suggested automatically in Timesheets if Punch clock was used to record worked hours. If not, Schedule manager needs to split the shift in the schedule and use shift type “Overtime” on hours in excess of the rostered hours.

* Note: only the most common instances of overtime have associated functionality within Planday and current functionality does not support the averaging of hours across multiple weeks. Please refer to the Awards finder page or contact the Fair Work Ombudsman for information on other situations in which overtime may be applicable.

Payroll supplements

‘Payroll supplements’ are used to make automatic adjustments to employees’ hourly rates based on set criteria. They are commonly used for overtime and penalties.

Learn more about Payroll supplements in this article.

Automatically applied using ‘Shift Type’

Name	Applies	For
General Retail (MA000004) - Cas. Overtime after 3	When more than 3 hours Overtime is performed, Mon-Sat (requires use of shift type ‘Overtime’)	Casual
General Retail (MA000004) - Cas. Overtime first 3	When Overtime is performed, Mon-Sat (requires use of shift type ‘Overtime’)	Casual
General Retail (MA000004) - Cas. Overtime Pub.Hol	When Overtime is performed on a Public Holiday (requires use of shift type ‘Overtime’ + ‘Overtime on Public Holiday’)*	Casual
General Retail (MA000004) - Cas. Overtime Sunday	When Overtime is performed on a Sunday (requires use of shift type ‘Overtime’)	Casual
General Retail (MA000004) - Overtime after 3	When more than 3 hours Overtime is performed, Mon-Sat (requires use of shift type ‘Overtime’)	F.T
General Retail (MA000004) - Overtime first 3	When Overtime is performed, Mon-Sat (requires use of shift type ‘Overtime’)	F.T
General Retail (MA000004) - Overtime Pub. Hol	When Overtime is performed on a Public Holiday (requires use of shift type ‘Overtime on Public Holiday’)*	F.T
General Retail (MA000004) - Overtime Sunday	When Overtime is performed on a Sunday (requires use of shift type ‘Overtime’)	F.T

Automatically applied without ‘Shift Type’

Name	Applies	For
Casual loading	For all hours worked	Casual
Penalty after 6pm	When ordinary hours is performed on Mon-Fri after 6pm	P.T + F.T
Penalty after 6pm Casuals	When ordinary hours is performed on Mon-Fri after 6pm	Casual
Penalty Public Holiday	When ordinary hours is performed on a Public Holiday*	P.T + F.T
Penalty Public Holiday	When ordinary hours is performed on a Public Holiday*	Casual
Penalty Saturday	When ordinary hours is performed on a Saturday	P.T + F.T
Penalty Saturday Casuals	When ordinary hours is performed on a Saturday	Casual
Penalty Sunday	When ordinary hours is performed on a Sunday	P.T + F.T
Penalty Sunday Casuals	When ordinary hours is performed on a Sunday	Casual

* Public Holidays

Action required: Note that this requires you to set up a Public Holiday calendar that is relevant for your State/region and your employees. Learn more about how to create a Public Holiday Calendar in this article.

If using the Xero integration to Planday, you will need to review which setup suits to ensure public holiday hours are sent from Planday to Xero correctly. Learn more in the Public holiday calendars FAQs article.

See related articles:

How to set up your own employment terms

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