Is shift allowance applicable to casual employees who have worked afternoon shift under the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Award 2010 ? If a shift worker takes personal leave under the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Award 2010 is the shift allowance added to their base pay rate?
We will answer these questions separately.
Yes, the employee will receive a shift loading on top of their usual casually-loaded rate.
In most cases, the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Award 2010 (the Award) provides for an afternoon shift loading of 15% to be paid in addition to the ordinary hourly rate when performing shift work, as defined at clause 31.1. However, the shift loading will be higher if:
A casual employee under the Award is paid a 25% loading on top of the appropriate base hourly rate. Clause 13.1 provides that this casual loading forms part of the employee’s all purpose hourly rate. This means that the casual hourly rate is regarded as the employee’s ordinary rate for the purpose of calculating any other applicable penalties or loadings under the Award.
Therefore, when a casual employee works an afternoon shift as defined, the casual is entitled to receive the shift loading calculated on top of their casual hourly rate.
No, the employee will only receive their base rate of pay, which excludes shift loading.
The Award touches on personal leave briefly at clause 35. The Award largely refers back to the safety net provisions of the NES. When an employee is entitled to personal leave, the NES provides that the employee is to be paid at their base rate for pay for the ordinary hours of work. The base rate is defined as the rate paid for ordinary hours and it excludes (amongother things) loadings, overtime or penalty rates.
Therefore, as the shift loading does not fall within the definition of base rate, the employee is not entitled to receive the shift loading during a period of personal leave.
