FWC clarifies link between leave and ordinary hours for overtime payments

Modern awards (and a majority of enterprise agreements) provide for overtime or other penalty payments when employees work outside or in excess of their ordinary hours of work. Whether leave counts towards an employee's entitlement to overtime pay is not an issue that is regularly or commonly raised in the Fair Work Commission (FWC).

Recently, EPI Capital made an application to the FWC to remove an ambiguity or uncertainty sourced in the overtime provisions of the Clerks Private Sector Award 2020 (Clerks Award). Clause 21.1 of the Clerks Award provides that an employer must pay an employee at an overtime rate for any hours worked at the employer's direction in excess of the ordinary weekly hours, or in excess of 10 ordinary hours in one day (among other situations).