Skip to main content
Working time rule — Split shift

Learn about the Working time rule for all split shifts that are scheduled within a span of more than 12 hours.

Maud avatar
Written by Maud
Updated over a week ago

🎯 For Admins and Schedule Managers who have imported the Hospitality & Restaurant award through our award library. Click on Working time rules if you want to know more about them.

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.


How are the split shift Working time rules set up?

‎working time rules_AU_new.‎001.jpeg

⬆️ Go to Settings > Schedule > Working time rules. Here you’ll find two Working time rules with the type Split shift.

  • Hospitality (MA000009) - FT, PT, Maximum spread of hours for split shifts is 12

  • Restaurant (MA000119) - Maximum spread of hours for split shifts is 12

Click on the pen icon to edit one of the Split shift rules.

‎working time rules2_AU.‎001.jpeg

Here you’ll find the following information:

  1. The name of the Working time rule.

  2. The employee groups (by default All) and employee types it applies to.

  3. The Shift types it applies to.

  4. Select the shift types that should be excluded from this rule.

Note: Awards have specific requirements regarding minimum hours off between rostered shifts. Planday supports some of these rostering restrictions in line with the Award, through pre-set Working time rules as detailed in this article. Please check your award and review the rostering restrictions applicable before changing who the Working time rules apply to.


See how it works in the schedule

‎tom_new.‎001.jpeg

⬆️ On Monday, Tom works a split shift:

  • From 8 am to 10 am

  • From 11 am to 3 pm

If a schedule manager adds a shift from 5 pm to 9 pm, the following Working time rule warning is shown:

Maximum spread of hours for split shifts is 12:
The employee is working split shifts with a 13:00-hour spread, which exceeds the maximum spread of 12 hours.

The manager can then ignore the warning, cancel the shift they’re creating or edit the times of the shift so it doesn’t break the Split shift working time rule.

Note: Please note that ignoring the working time rule could be in breach of your compliance obligations. You should seek independent legal advice as appropriate for your business.

To export a record of working time rule infractions, you can download a Working time rule report under Schedule > Tools > Working time rule report (Excel format).


Need more help?

Please search for answers in the 🔍 Help Center or watch our ▶️ video tutorials.
Contact our support team via the blue icon at the bottom if you have more questions.


See related articles:

Did this answer your question?