Enter one worker’s week. Six rules from the SCHADS Award run over it: minimum engagement, the break between shifts, broken shifts and their span, and daily and weekly overtime. Each flag shows its clause, what it costs and where the Fair Work Ombudsman says so.
Nothing you type is sent anywhere or saved, and there is nothing to sign up for.
The Monday broken shift runs 07:00–20:30 — a 13.5h span, over the 12h maximum for a broken shift.
Past an award limit
Only 9.5h break before this shift
They finish Monday 20:30 and start again Tuesday 06:00 — 9.5h rest, under the 10h break required between rostered shifts.
Costs money or needs a decision
11h rostered that day
They are rostered 11h on Thursday, over the 10h of ordinary hours in a day — the excess attracts overtime rates.
From the example week below.
The check
One week, six rules, and what each flag costs.
Change a time and the flags change with it. The thresholds start at the defaults Corella ships with, and you can set them to your own agreement.
A simplified check, not legal or payroll advice. It applies six award rules to the shifts you enter, with the thresholds shown. The worker's stream and employment type, an enterprise agreement or an individual flexibility arrangement can all change the answer, so check anything that matters against the award or with the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94.
One worker’s week
This is an example week, so you can see what the flags look like. Change any of it, or clear it and enter your own.
DayStartsFinishesUnpaid breakRemove
Shift spanBroken shift
Shift spanBreak between shiftsBroken shift
Break between shifts
Minimum engagement
Daily overtime
A finish at or before the start runs past midnight. The unpaid break is a meal break inside the shift; a gap between two shifts is its own row.
Paste a week from a spreadsheetThresholds, and your hourly rate
These start at the defaults Corella ships with. Change them to match your stream or your agreement.
What the six rules found
3 past an award limit · 3 to review
Across 7 shifts and 42.5h of paid time.
Past an award limitShift span
Broken shift spans 13.5h
The Monday broken shift runs 07:00–20:30 — a 13.5h span, over the 12h maximum for a broken shift.
What it costs: 1.5h at double time (clause 25.6(f)).
They finish Monday 20:30 and start again Tuesday 06:00 — 9.5h rest, under the 10h break required between rostered shifts.
What it costs: No pay rate attaches to it: the break itself is the entitlement, so the fix is on the roster. If overtime is what cuts the break short, clause 28.3 pays double time until they have had 10 hours off.
The award's sleepover rules changed from the first full pay period on or after 1 June 2026. Work immediately before and after a sleepover is now one shift, the sleepover is not a break between shifts, and by agreement a shift with a sleepover in it can carry up to 12 ordinary hours, with no more than 8 on either side.
This checker has not been updated for those rules yet, so rather than check sleepovers against the old ones it leaves them out. Leave sleepover shifts out of the week you enter, and check the shifts either side of a sleepover against clauses 25.4 and 25.7 of the award. The Fair Work Ombudsman also notes that three more applications to change the sleepover rules are still before the Commission.
What each check looks at, the threshold it starts from, the award clause behind it and what it costs. Print it for the rostering desk.
Rule 1 · Clause 10.5
Minimum engagement
Each shift, and each period of work in a broken shift, against the minimum payment.
Starts at: 2 hours
The award: Part-time and casual employees are paid for at least 2 hours for each shift or period of work in a broken shift — 3 hours for social and community services employees, except when they are doing disability services work.
What it costs: The shortfall is paid anyway: hours on the payslip that nobody works.
The rest between the end of one shift and the start of the next, when the next starts on a different day.
Starts at: 10 hours
The award: At least 10 hours between the end of one shift or period of work and the start of another. By agreement it can be 8 hours on either side of a sleepover shift — and a sleepover is never the break.
What it costs: No pay rate attaches to it: the break itself is the entitlement, so the fix is on the roster. If overtime is what cuts the break short, clause 28.3 pays double time until they have had 10 hours off.
Periods of work on the same day with an unpaid gap between them. Periods that touch are not a broken shift, and a gap of one minute is.
Starts at: Up to 2 unpaid breaks
The award: One unpaid break, or two by an agreement made before each occasion (or written into the worker's agreed regular pattern). Only home care employees, and social and community services employees doing disability services work, can be rostered a broken shift.
What it costs: An allowance per broken shift: $21.81 with 1 unpaid break, $28.87 with 2 (from 1 July 2026).
Paid hours in a calendar day, after unpaid meal breaks.
Starts at: 10 hours
The award: Part-time and casual employees are paid overtime for time over 10 hours a day or a shift. Full-time employees are paid overtime for time beyond their rostered ordinary hours.
What it costs: Time and a half for the first 2 hours, double time after; double time on a Sunday and double time and a half on a public holiday. Full-time social and community services and crisis accommodation employees get time and a half for the first 3 hours.
The award: Part-time and casual employees are paid overtime for time over 38 hours in a week, or 76 in a fortnight.
What it costs: Time and a half for the first 2 hours, double time after; double time on a Sunday. Hours already paid as daily overtime are not counted again.
A simplified check, not legal or payroll advice. It applies six award rules to the shifts you enter, with the thresholds shown. The worker's stream and employment type, an enterprise agreement or an individual flexibility arrangement can all change the answer, so check anything that matters against the award or with the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94. Checked against the award as consolidated by the Fair Work Commission to 1 September 2026. Sleepovers are not covered: the award's sleepover rules changed from the first full pay period on or after 1 June 2026, and this check has not been updated for them. From corellacare.com.au/tools/schads-roster-check/
Know its edges
What this check does not look at.
A roster can clear all six rules and still be paid wrongly. These are the parts it leaves to your payroll and to you.
Pay for ordinary hours
Saturday and Sunday rates (clause 26), afternoon and night shift allowances (clause 29), the casual loading and public holidays. The cost lines here price only what each rule adds.
The fortnight and the roster cycle
Overtime past 76 hours a fortnight, and full-time hours averaged over a roster cycle. The weekly rule counts Monday to Sunday.
The rest of the rostering rules
Days off, roster notice, client cancellations, 24-hour care, excursions and remote work.
Your agreement
An enterprise agreement or an individual flexibility arrangement can change every threshold here. That is what the settings are for.
In Corella
The same rules, before the week is worked.
These are six of the nine award checks Corella runs over a draft roster. They show as a chip on the shift, a banner on the week and a warning when someone is assigned — and they never block anything, because a provider sometimes has to wear the overtime knowingly. Every threshold is set per organisation.
No. The checks run in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere or saved, and reloading the page clears it. There is no account and no sign-in.
What is a broken shift under the SCHADS Award?
A day's work split into periods by unpaid breaks, other than a meal break. The award allows one unpaid break, or two by an agreement made before each occasion. The whole shift can span up to 12 hours, and work beyond that is paid at double time. The broken shift allowance is $21.81 with one unpaid break and $28.87 with two, from 1 July 2026. Only home care employees, and social and community services employees doing disability services work, can be rostered one (clauses 25.6 and 20.12).
How long must the break between two shifts be?
At least 10 hours between the end of one shift or period of work and the start of another (clause 25.4). By agreement it can be 8 hours on either side of a sleepover shift. A sleepover itself is not a break: from the first full pay period on or after 1 June 2026, work immediately before and after a sleepover is part of the same shift.
When does overtime start for part-time and casual workers?
After 10 hours in a day or a shift, and after 38 hours in a week or 76 in a fortnight (clause 28.1(b)). It is paid at time and a half for the first 2 hours and double time after, double time on a Sunday, and double time and a half on a public holiday. A shift with a sleepover in it can run to 12 hours before overtime, if the worker has agreed to that.
What is the minimum payment for a short shift?
Part-time and casual employees are paid for at least 2 hours for each shift, or each period of work in a broken shift. Social and community services employees get 3 hours, except when they are doing disability services work (clause 10.5). Full-time employees have no minimum payment under that clause.
Why doesn't it check sleepovers?
The award's sleepover rules changed from the first full pay period on or after 1 June 2026, and this checker has not been updated for them yet — so it leaves sleepovers out rather than check them against the old rules. Three more applications to change the sleepover rules are still before the Fair Work Commission.
Is this the same check Corella runs?
These are six of the nine award checks Corella runs over a draft roster before the week is worked, with the same rules and the same default thresholds. In Corella they appear as a chip on the shift, a banner on the week and a warning when someone is assigned, and they never block anything: a provider sometimes has to wear the overtime knowingly. Every threshold is set per organisation.
