RDO Accruals: What you need to know

The Electrical, Electronic and Communications Contracting Award 2010 (Award), as well as a number of industry enterprise agreements, allows employers to adopt a rostered day off (RDO) system. An RDO is a paid day off for working extra hours that add up to a whole working day. An employee’s ordinary hours may be either a 36- or a 38-hour week, however they work a 40-hour week, with 0.8 or 0.4 hours accrued towards an RDO respectively. Please note that the 36 hour week is usually only applicable to enterprise agreements.

NECA often gets asked how an employee should be paid and how entitlements to RDOs should accrue when their employee is on paid leave or off work due to a public holiday. Electrical contractors will be governed by either the Award or an enterprise agreement. Most enterprise agreements are silent on the accrual of RDO’s for paid leave periods and public holidays. If this is the case, the employer should fall back on the obligations imposed on it by the Award.

Under the Award, employees have the right to accrue RDOs during any of the following periods:

1. paid personal/carer’s leave;
2. annual leave;
3. long service leave;
4. public holidays;
5. workers compensation;
6. paid compassionate leave;
7. training leave; and
8. jury service.

What do I do if my employee takes a period of annual or personal leave?

When an employee takes a day of paid leave (i.e. annual leave or personal leave), 8 hours should be deducted from the relevant accrued leave entitlement. The employee will then be paid their ordinary working hours (i.e. 7.2 hours or 7.6 hours) for the day of leave, with the remaining 0.8 or 0.4 hours accrued towards the RDO.

What if my employee is on unpaid leave?

If an employee takes a day off on unpaid leave, the employee will not accrue time towards the RDO. The employee will therefore be short 0.8 or 0.4 hours, for the RDO and will subsequently only be entitled to be paid for RDO based on the actual accrued hours. For example, if the employee was on a 36-hour week roster, in the first fortnight, they would usually be entitled to 1 RDO, which is paid in full. In this case, the employee would only be entitled to be paid 6.4 hours for the relevant RDO (7.2 hours less 0.8 hours).

What if my business is shut on a public holiday and my employee does not work?

Employees should be paid as if they had worked their normal hours on the public holiday (provided that they ordinarily work on the day the public holiday falls), and they should still have the relevant time accrued towards their RDO.

Please note this information primarily relates to the Award and it should be noted that enterprise agreements may differ to the above, so it is important to double check your obligations if you do have an enterprise agreement in place.

Please note that this industry release is not legal advice and should not be taken to be legal advice. Please contact Lauren Howe, NECA Legal on 02 9744 1099 or lauren.howe@neca.asn.au should you wish to discuss this further or if you require legal advice.