Daylight saving happened on Sunday – is payroll affected?

The clocks have moved forward by 1 hour.  This is due to daylight saving, which started at 2am on Sunday 6th October 2019 in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria.

Daylight saving doesn’t apply in Western Australia, the Northern Territory or Queensland.

How does this impact payroll?

Employees most likely to be impacted are those who work shifts that change over to and from daylight saving. Mainly businesses that operate on 24 hours.

As daylight saving started by moving the clock forward by 1 hour, this would mean that employees who work an overnight shift worked 1 hour less but are still paid for the full shift.

When daylight saving ends and the clock is rolled back, employees will work for an extra hour but are paid according to the clock. The most common method to deal with this is for these employees to work one hour less at the time of introduction and one hour more at the end of daylight saving.

Employers need to check the relevant award or agreement to see if there are provisions relating to daylight saving. If it doesn’t say anything, employees (full-time, part-time and casual) who work overnight when daylight saving starts are paid according to the clock. Follow the clock.

Here is an example of a daylight saving clause:

AIRLINE OPERATIONS—GROUND STAFF AWARD 2010 [MA000048]

31. Daylight saving

Where by reason of State or Territory legislation there is a movement in time for reason of daylight saving having commenced, or concluded, an employee is to be paid for the number of hours that they have actually worked, by reference to the ordinary measurement of hours and minutes and not by reference to any clock that has changed during the duration of the employee’s shift by reason of State or Territory legislation.

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