Part-time employees occupy the least understood position in Australian pay. They have the security and entitlements of permanent employment, but with agreed hours that are less than full-time — and that combination creates overtime questions that neither full-time nor casual rules answer cleanly.
What makes someone part-time
A part-time employee is a permanent employee who works fewer than full-time ordinary hours, with reasonably predictable hours agreed in advance. They accrue annual leave and personal leave on a pro-rata basis, and they receive notice of termination — which is why they do not receive casual loading.
The critical feature is the agreement about hours. Under most awards, a part-time employee should have their ordinary hours, and often the days and start and finish times, agreed in writing at the point of hiring.
The point people miss: extra hours are not automatically overtime
Here is the crux. If you are contracted for 20 hours a week and you work 25, those extra five hours are not automatically overtime. Under many awards, hours worked beyond your agreed part-time hours but still within the span of ordinary hours are paid at the ordinary rate — not at a penalty rate.
Overtime for part-timers typically begins when hours exceed the full-time threshold, or when they fall outside the span of ordinary hours, or when they exceed a daily maximum. That can feel counterintuitive, and it is a frequent source of disputes.
That said, a number of awards have been varied to provide that agreed part-time hours cannot simply be extended at will, and that additional hours must be agreed. Some awards now do treat unagreed additional hours as overtime. This is an area where the award text genuinely matters.
When part-time overtime usually does apply
- Hours worked beyond the full-time weekly threshold, commonly around 38 hours.
- Hours worked outside the span of ordinary hours set by the award.
- Hours beyond a daily maximum, often somewhere between 8 and 12 depending on the award.
- Work on days you were not rostered, under some awards.
- Additional hours not agreed in advance, under awards containing that protection.
Changing your agreed hours
If your actual pattern of work has drifted well beyond your written agreement, that is worth addressing. A permanent change to agreed hours generally needs to be agreed in writing by both parties. Working 30 hours a week for a year on a 15-hour agreement is not a stable arrangement, and it can affect your leave accrual and redundancy calculations as well as your pay.
Leave accrues on your actual hours
Annual leave and personal leave accrue progressively based on ordinary hours worked. If you regularly work additional ordinary hours, your leave accrual should reflect that. This is another reason to keep your own record of hours rather than relying on memory.
What to do
Find your written agreement about hours, find your award’s part-time clause and overtime clause, and read all three together. Then check whether your extra hours are being treated as ordinary time or overtime, and whether that matches what the award says. Our complete guide to overtime covers the general framework, and the overtime calculator will handle the arithmetic.
This article is general information about Australian pay rules and is not legal, financial or industrial-relations advice. Award entitlements vary. Check your specific award or agreement at fairwork.gov.au or contact the Fair Work Ombudsman.