The General Retail Industry Award covers a wide range of employees working in retail businesses across Australia.
What PaySauce currently supports
PaySauce supports the Retail Award in stages. The current release covers the majority of features needed for businesses operating within standard retail hours.
PaySauce does not currently support:
Baking Production Employees
Alternate span of ordinary hours
Some features are available now but require a more manual approach, with automation planned for future updates. These are noted throughout this article.
If you are unsure whether your business falls within the scope of what's currently supported, review the General Retail Industry Award 2020 on the Fair Work website before proceeding.
Classification levels
PaySauce supports Retail Employee classification levels 1 through 8. Apprentices are also supported.
To update an employee's classification level:
Select the employee.
Go to the Award Details tab.
Select the new level from the Classification dropdown.
Select Update.
To update an apprentice's classification level:
Select the employee.
Go to the Award Details tab.
Tick the Apprentice option.
Select the Apprentice Year.
Tick if the apprentice has Completed Year 12 or is an Adult Apprentice.
Select Update.
⚠️ Classification levels and Apprentice Years do not update automatically. If an employee moves to a higher level, you will need to update this manually.
Penalty rates
PaySauce automatically applies the correct penalty rates based on when hours are worked.
When | Full-time & part-time | Casual |
Monday to Friday after 6pm | 125% | 150% |
Saturday (all hours) | 125% | 150% |
Sunday (all hours) | 150% | 175% |
Public holiday | 225% | 250% |
⚠️ Casual rates include the 25% casual loading. To trigger public holiday rates, add the Public Holiday detail to the timesheet.
Shift Work
Employees classed as Shiftworkers have a different set of penalty rates paid. To set someone up as a Shiftworker:
Select the employee.
Go to the Award Details tab.
Tick Shiftworker.
Select Update.
You may also need to provide an additional week of annual leave. To do this:
Select the employee.
Go to the Employment Details tab.
Enter in the correct amount of weeks under Annual Leave Weeks per Year.
Select Update.
Once an employee is set up as shiftworker, they will receive different penalty rates for any shift that starts at or after 6.00pm and ends before 5.00am the next day. These penalty rates will apply for the entire shift.
When | Full-time & part-time | Casual |
Monday to Friday | 130% | 155% |
Saturday | 150% | 175% |
Sunday | 175% | 200% |
Public holiday | 225% | 250% |
PaySauce does not currently support Shift workers who are Baking Production Employees
Overtime
PaySauce calculates overtime automatically based on the spread of hours and the thresholds below.
Span of ordinary hours
Hours worked outside the following windows are classified as overtime:
Day | Ordinary hours |
Monday to Friday | 7:00am – 9:00pm |
Saturday | 7:00am – 6:00pm |
Sunday | 9:00am – 6:00pm |
Maximum daily ordinary hours
An employee can work up to 11 ordinary hours on their longest day in a week. On all other days, ordinary hours are capped at 9. Any hours beyond these caps are overtime.
Maximum period ordinary hours
Overtime also applies once an employee exceeds their ordinary hours threshold for the period. Select the appropriate threshold on the employee's settings:
38 hours per week
76 hours per fortnight
152 hours over four weeks
Overtime rates
When | Full-time & part-time | Casual |
Monday to Saturday — first 3 hours of overtime | 150% | 175% |
Monday to Saturday — after 3 hours of overtime | 200% | 225% |
Sunday — all overtime hours | 200% | 225% |
Public holiday — all overtime hours | 250% | 275% |
Note: Casual overtime rates do not include an additional casual loading on top of the rates above.
Time off in lieu (TOIL)
Rather than paying overtime, employees can accrue TOIL. Add the Accrue TOIL detail to the timesheet. PaySauce will accrue time at the applicable overtime factor rather than paying it out.
For example, an employee who works 2 overtime hours at 150% accrues 3 hours of TOIL.
Minimum engagement
The default minimum engagement under the Retail Award is 3 hours. This applies to all employees unless an exception applies.
Full-Time Secondary School Students
Casual employees who are Full-Time Secondary School Students can have a reduced minimum engagement of 1.5 hours per shift. To enable this:
Select the employee.
Go to the Award Details tab.
Enable the Full-Time Secondary School Student toggle.
Select Update.
Note: The 1.5-hour minimum currently applies at the employee level, not on a per-shift basis. Per-shift control is planned for a future update.
Allowances
First Aid Allowance
Payable to employees who hold a current first aid certificate and are required to use those skills as part of their role. This is a weekly allowance of $13.89.
To set up the First Aid Allowance:
Select the employee.
Go to the Award Details tab.
Tick First Aid Allowance.
Select Update.
Broken Hill Allowance
Payable to employees working in Broken Hill. This is an hourly allowance of $1.20.
To set up the Broken Hill Allowance:
Select the employee.
Go to the Award Details tab.
Tick Broken Hill Allowance.
Select Update.
Cold Work Allowance
Payable when an employee works in a cold environment, such as a cool room or freezer.
To set up the Cold Work Allowance:
Select the employee.
Go to the Award Details tab.
Tick Cold Work Allowance.
Select Update.
Now their timesheets will have the following Details available:
For work in areas above 0°C: add the Cold Work detail to the timesheet. PaySauce will pay $0.37 per hour.
For work in areas below 0°C: add the Cold Work Below 0°C detail to the timesheet. PaySauce will pay $0.93 per hour. This rate already includes the above-0°C component, so you do not need to add both details.
Laundry Allowance
The Laundry Allowance is available but currently requires a manual approach. PaySauce will automate this in a future update.
In the meantime, you can add the allowance manually. The award rates are:
Full-time employees: $6.25 per week
Part-time and casual employees: $1.25 per shift
Meal Allowance
Meal allowances are available but currently require a manual approach, with automation planned for a future update.
To trigger a meal allowance, add the relevant detail to the timesheet and enter the amount manually:
Meal Allowance: $23.59
Additional Meal Allowance: $21.39
Annual leave
Under the Retail Award, annual leave loading must be the higher of:
17.5% of the employee's minimum hourly rate for ordinary hours in the leave period, or
The employee's hourly rate inclusive of any applicable penalty rates (for example, if the employee's usual pattern of work includes weekends, and the weekend rates are higher than the weekday rate plus 17.5%)
Junior pay rates
The Retail Award allows reduced pay rates for employees under 21, based on age and length of service. Junior rates apply to classification levels 1, 2, and 3 only. Employees at level 4 or above are always paid at 100% of the adult rate.
Age | Rate |
Under 16 | 45% of adult rate |
16 | 50% |
17 | 60% |
18 | 70% |
19 | 80% |
20 (employed less than 6 months) | 90% |
20 (employed 6 months or more) | 100% |
21 and over | 100% |
Note: PaySauce calculates junior rates automatically. Enter the employee's date of birth and set their classification level correctly and PaySauce handles the rest.
Common questions
Does PaySauce support the full Retail Award?
Does PaySauce support the full Retail Award?
Almost. The current release covers the majority of features for businesses operating within standard retail hours. Baking Production Employees and shift workers are not yet supported. Additional features including shift-specific settings, extended span-of-hours configurations, and more allowance automation are planned for future releases.
How do I know which overtime threshold to use?
How do I know which overtime threshold to use?
This depends on your employment agreements. The Retail Award allows overtime to be calculated over a week (38 hours), fortnight (76 hours), or four-week period (152 hours). Check your employment contracts or the award to confirm which applies to each employee.
Are casual rates different from full-time and part-time rates?
Are casual rates different from full-time and part-time rates?
Yes. Casual employees receive a 25% casual loading built into their base rate, and this flows through to penalty and overtime calculations. PaySauce handles this automatically once the employee is set up as casual.