AN170010 – Building and Construction Industry Award

PART V – HOURS OF WORK, BREAKS, OVERTIME, SHIFT WORK, WEEKEND WORK 

27. HOURS OF WORK

(a) Except as provided elsewhere in this award, the ordinary working hours shall be 38 per week, worked between 7.00am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday, in accordance with the following procedure.

(b) Hours of Work and Rostered Days Off

(i) The ordinary working hours shall be worked in a 20-day four-week cycle, Monday to Friday inclusive, with eight hours worked for each of 19 days and with 0.4 of an hour on each of those days accruing towards the twentieth day, which shall be taken as a paid day off. The twentieth day of that cycle shall be known as the rostered day off and shall be taken as outlined in subclauses (b), (d) and (e) hereof. Payment on such a rostered day off shall include accrued entitlement to the allowances prescribed in subclauses 45(a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) of this award.

(ii) A rostered day off shall be taken on the fourth Monday in each four-week cycle, except where it falls on a public holiday, in which case the next working day shall be taken in lieu.

(iii) Before October each year the parties at State level will meet to programme the RDO’s for the following year, ensuring that they coincide with the public holidays to the greatest extent practicable.

(c) Civil Construction and Maintenance Workers

In lieu of the provisions of subclause (b) hereof, the ordinary hours of work for civil construction and maintenance workers engaged on work covered by subclause 3(c) of this award shall be an average of 38 per week, to be worked Monday to Friday on one of the following bases:

(i) by employees working less than eight ordinary hours each day; or

(ii) by employees working less than eight ordinary hours on one or more days each week; or

(iii) by fixing one weekend on which all employees will be off during a particular work cycle; or

(iv) by rostering employees off on various days of the week during a particular work cycle so that each employee has one week day off during that cycle.

(d) Agreement on Alternate RDO’s

(i) Where an employer, who is not a party to an industry agreement dealing with rostered days off, and a majority of employees at an enterprise agree, another day may be substituted for the nominated industry rostered day off.

(ii) Where there are union members employed at the enterprise, and the majority of the members request the union to be consulted, that consultation will take place at least five days prior to the alternate RDO being implemented.

(iii) Where there is a dispute in relation to an alternate RDO, the matter may be determined in accordance with Clause 37 – Settlement of Disputes of this award.

(e) Agreement on Banking of RDO’s

(i) Where employees are employed on distant work covered by Clause 46 – Living Away From Home – Distant Work of this award, an employer (who is not a party to an industry agreement dealing with RDO’s) and a majority of those employees on distant work may agree to accrue up to five RDO’s for the purpose of creating a bank to be drawn upon by the employee at times mutually agreed by the employer or subject to reasonable notice by the employee.

(ii) Where there are union members employed at the enterprise, and the majority of the members request the union to be consulted, that consultation will take place at least five days prior to its introduction.

(iii) Where there is a dispute in relation to the operation of this subclause, the matter may be determined in accordance with Clause 37 – Settlement of Disputes of this award.

(f) PROVIDED that 13 rostered days are taken off by an employee for 12 months’ continuous service.

(g) Each day of paid leave taken and any holiday (as prescribed in Clause 36 - Public Holidays and Holiday Work of this award), occurring during any cycle of four weeks shall be regarded as a day worked for accrual purposes.

(h) An employee who has not worked, or is not regarded by reason of subclause (g) hereof as having worked a complete 19-day four-week cycle, shall receive pro rata accrued entitlements for each day worked or regarded as having been worked in such cycle, payable for the rostered day off, or in the case of termination of employment, on termination.

(i) Except where agreement has been reached in accordance with subclauses (d) and (e) hereof, the prescribed RDO or any substituted day may be worked where that is required by the employer and such work is necessary to allow other employees to be employed productively or to carry out out-of-hours maintenance or because of unforeseen delays to a particular project or a section of it or for other reasons arising from unforeseen or emergency circumstances on a project, in which case, in addition to accrued entitlements, the employee shall be paid penalty rates and provisions as prescribed for Saturday work in Clause 31 - Weekend Work of this award.

(j) Agreement on Working other than the RDO Cycle

(i) Where an employer, who is not party to an industrial agreement dealing with rostered days off, and the majority of employees employed at a particular enterprise agree that due to the nature of an employer’s operations it is not practicable for the foregoing four-week cycle to operate, they may agree to an alternate method of arranging working hours. Provided that the ordinary hours worked in any one week from Monday to Friday are within the spread of hours set out in subclause (a) hereof, and that no more than eight ordinary hours are worked in any one day.

(ii) If the employees involved are members of the union then the employer shall notify the union.

(k) Early Starts

The working day may start at 6.00am or at any other time between that hour and 8.00am and the working time shall then begin to run from the time so fixed, with a consequential adjustment to the meal cessation period. The change to the start time requires agreement between the employer and the employees and where an employee is a member of a union, and they request the involvement of the union, then the union will be entitled to be involved in the consultation.

(l) Hours of Work – Part-Time Employees

(i) This clause shall only apply in respect of the operation of Clause 34 – Parental Leave of this award.

(ii) Notwithstanding the provisions of this clause and Clause 30 – Shift Work of this award, an employee working on a part-time basis pursuant to the provisions of Clause 34 – Parental Leave of this award may be paid for actual hours worked and in such instances the employee shall not be entitled to accrue time towards a rostered day off, and further provided that such employee shall not work on the rostered day off.

(iii) An employer and employee may agree that the part-time employee accrues time towards a rostered day off as provided by this clause and Clause 30 – Shift work of this award. In such instances the part-time employee shall accrue pro rata entitlements to rostered days off in accordance with subclause (h) hereof as appropriate.

(iv) The actual ordinary hours of part-time work shall be arranged or varied as applicable by mutual agreement between the employer and the employee from time to time under the provisions of paragraph 34(k)(vii) of this award.

(m) Washing Time

The employer shall provide sufficient facilities for washing and five minutes shall be allowed before lunch and before finishing time to enable employees to wash and put away gear.

(n) Work Up Time

Where special circumstances exist on civil construction and maintenance projects, and a majority of employees desire to work more than eight ordinary hours on any day for the purpose of having a shorter working week, they may, subject to the consent of the employer and the consent of the union, be permitted to do so without payment of overtime rates. All such ordinary hours worked in excess of eight per day shall be aggregated for the purposes of implementing a shorter working week.

(o) Shaft or Trench Sinkers, Etc

Where shaft or trench sinkers or timbermen are working at a depth of over 1.8 metres and where employees are driving at any depth in a tunnel or are engaged on similar work, the prescribed ordinary hours shall include a daily crib time of half an hour which shall be counted as time worked.

(p) Work in Compressed Air

The working hours and conditions of employees working in compressed air shall be those as from time to time prescribed in the code of the Standards Association of Australia for work in compressed air, Part 1 - Airlock Operations.