Additional hours of work – what is reasonable?

According to The Australia Institute, the average Australian worker performs 6 weeks of unpaid overtime a year, worth over $8,000 per worker per year. Managers and professionals experience the highest rates of unpaid overtime and excessive or unreasonable hours, followed by community and personal service workers.

In this article, we look at:

• what is "reasonable" when assessing additional hours;
• employee rights to refuse to work additional hours;
• the practice of averaging hours of work; and
• a case review that saw significant penalties imposed on the employer for unreasonable additional hours.

Recent high-profile cases alleging unreasonable additional hours

In March 2023, the Finance Sector Union, represented by Hall Payne Lawyers, issued proceedings in the Federal Court against one of the big-four financial institutions on behalf of managers it alleges were required to work 55 to 80-hour working weeks: NAB faces big test case over excessive work