Rostering and Award-Interpreted Payroll
Employee Contracted or Varied Rosters and Actual Times Worked (Timesheet) Record-Keeping Requirements
In addition to the required employee sign-off of their timesheet, the employee needs to follow the requirements for changes to the employee’s contracted hours of work. This is very relevant for shift workers whose hours may change in each period of work to the needs of the business
An employer generally cannot change your contract work times without your agreement, unless a specific clause in your contract, enterprise agreement, or modern award allows them to alter shifts or rosters with reasonable notice.
Contract Rules and Rights
- Full-time workers: Total hours usually stay at 38 per week, but start and finish times can sometimes shift if the award or contract allows reasonable changes.
- Part-time workers: Agreed hours and days in writing cannot be changed by the boss alone without your consent.
- Notice periods: Most modern awards require at least 7 days of notice before changing a roster or work pattern.
- Consultation: Companies must talk to you and ask for feedback before making major schedule changes that affect your life.
Employers should keep records of hours worked for all employees (including Salaried employees to facilitate the BOOT test. Employers are also required to keep these records in some circumstances.
Adopting best practice record-keeping makes it easier to:
- Keep track of all employee details
- Maintain timesheet records for all employees, including salaried employees earning less than $191,100 (2026/27 year)
It also helps avoid fines for doing the wrong thing.
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay-and-wages/paying-wages/record-keeping#time-and-wages-records
Fair Work required process requirements Handled In Inzenius all-in-one rostering-to-payroll system
The Inzenius process supports these requirements efficiently.
Consultation about changes to rosters or hours of work
An employer who intends to change regular rosters or ordinary hours of work at a workplace must consult with employees affected by the change first.
The employer must:
- provide employees and their representatives with information about the proposed change
- invite the employees and their representatives (including unions) to give their views about the impact of the proposed change, including any impact on family and caring responsibilities
- consider any views given by the employees or their representatives.
If the award also has rules about rostering and ordinary hours (for example in a different clause), the employer needs to follow those rules first. This means that if the award says that the employer needs the employee’s consent to make any changes to their roster or ordinary hours, this applies. They can’t make the changes without consent by just using the consultation clause.
Employers may need to reference the employee agreement to the changes if a dispute is lodged
You need to process efficiently to support these requirements
- Employees’ contracted roster days and times are tagged as their template, which may be for a rotating number of weeks. These templates can be used for any future period(s)
For each roster period, which may be created for months in advance, is published to each employee for their acceptance to their mobile or any web-connected device as notification and record of acceptance- If the roster for the future period is changed from their employment contracted days and times, this record of acceptance may be needed for future investigations
The new rosters can be tagged as their new agreed days and times for their employment record
Timesheet approval and acceptance
Employees clock in and out of each shift via their device; the system compares this to their rosters for their supervisor to authorise and each employee to sign off. The timesheet is ready for automated payroll processing.
Employees click in on the GPS time clock on their device- These records are dynamically appended below each employee’s roster, showing actual attendance for each employee’s shift to their supervisor
The Manager uses the Inzenius check for non-compliance with roster working times for approval, with most records grouped as approved because the times match within the accepted tolerance for each shift.
The employee accepts the approved timesheet
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are the employee work times recorded?
Initially in their employment contract or in a document variation agreed to by the parties.
A simple way would be to assign a roster frequency as their default roster for this purpose from the roster built in the rostering system, allowing shift-based roster periods over more than one week or pay cycle
Should employees formally accept the changed roster?
Yes, and it could be included as a function in the employee portal
Does the employee have to accept the roster change?
No, and if not accepted, any payroll penalties in the award for the variation of the roster will need to be automated in the payroll award interpretation
If the roster was changed and the employee accepted the timesheet but not the roster in their normal process, does this exclude the penalty payment for the changed roster applying?
Unfortunately, no, because the employee needed to accept the roster change for the penalty not to apply.
What is the penalty for the changed roster without acceptance?
This will depend on the award conditions, but generally the normal overtime rates for the times outside of the employee’s contracted roster work times