Overtime pay: what hours past the shift are worth

The applicable act sets a multiple of the ordinary wage rate, and which act applies depends on whether you run a factory, a shop or another kind of establishment, and in which state. The multiple, the base it applies to and the cap on hours are all revised from time to time, so ask your labour consultant to confirm the current position for your establishment. A policy that pays more than the statutory floor is fine.

That depends on the act covering your establishment and on what your own policy says. Some employers work from the full ordinary wage for the job, some from a narrower figure, and the two give noticeably different bills over a busy season. Settle the base once, write it into the appointment letter or the standing policy, and use the same base for every worker rather than deciding it month by month.

It depends on the category of employment and the act that covers them. Many establishments treat supervisory and managerial staff as outside overtime and give them time off instead, while workers covered by the applicable act are entitled to it regardless of whether pay is monthly or daily. Get your consultant to tell you which of your roles fall inside the coverage, then say so in each appointment letter.

Keep it simple and same-day. A dated line naming the worker, the hours asked for and the person who asked is enough, whether it lives in a register, a notebook at the dispatch desk or a message the supervisor sends. What matters is that it is created on the night the work happens. A list assembled at the end of the month from memory will be argued over, and the argument usually lands on payday.