Anthony Forsyth, Consultant, Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Division 3 of Part 2-2 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) contains the provisions of the National Employment Standards (NES) relating to maximum weekly hours of work for full-time and part-time employees.

The NES provisions also deal with the circumstances in which employees may be requested or required to work “reasonable” additional hours; averaging arrangements; and the interaction of maximum working hours under the NES with provisions in modern awards and enterprise agreements.

Awards and agreements commonly contain many different types of provisions relating to hours of work, including terms specifying the “ordinary hours of work” and arrangements relating to overtime, rostering, shift work and minimum periods of engagement.

See Maximum hours of work.