An employee can work a maximum of 38 hours in a week unless an employer asks them to work reasonable extra hours.
Presently, no OSHA standard to regulate extended and unusual shifts in the workplace exists. A work period of eight consecutive hours over five days with at least eight hours of rest in between shifts defines a standard shift. Any shift that goes beyond this standard is considered to be extended or unusual.
What are the maximum hours for a shift? In Australia, the maximum number of ordinary hours a casual employee can work is 12 hours in a day or shift. A casual employee must have time off after this and there must be time for meal breaks. This averages about 38 hours over a 4-week roster cycle or a 9.5 hour week.
What is the working week? Under Australian laws, employees work up to 38 hours in a week, or 7.6 hours (7 hours, 36 minutes) each day.
Full-Time Employees Cannot Work More Than 10 Consecutive Days. As part of the hours of work that your full-time employees work, it's important to make sure that any full-time employees don't work more than 10 days in a row, regardless of the needs of the workplace.
Maximum weekly hours
An employee can work a maximum of 38 hours in a week unless an employer asks them to work reasonable extra hours.
International students in Australia on a valid student visa can work for up to 20 hours per week while school is in session, and there is no limit on the number of hours an international student can work during recognized school vacations.
The student visa work restriction was relaxed throughout the pandemic and was completely removed in January 2022. This was done to allow student visa holders to work over their normal limit of 40 hours per fortnight as Australia was facing workforce shortages.
Student visa work restrictions were relaxed throughout the pandemic, and completely removed in January 2022 to allow primary and secondary student visa holders to work over their normal limit of 40 hours per fortnight to address workforce shortages. This will end on 30 June 2023.
In most awards, workers are required to work for five hours before receiving a properly scheduled meal break. Most, if not all, EBAs or EAs (Enterprise Bargaining Agreements, or Enterprise Agreements) have specific clauses on meal breaks.
Generally, workers can legally work as many hours in a day as they choose to or as their employer requires. No federal or state law caps the number of hours in a workday for most workers. However, workers under 16 years old are not allowed to work longer than 8-hour days.
Full-time employees working between 7 to 10 hours a day are entitled to 2 paid rest breaks of 10 minutes and one unpaid meal break of 30-60 minutes. Employees are also entitled to a minimum break of 12 hours between shifts, but it can be agreed between employer and employee to reduce the break to 10-12 hours.
It might not be the healthiest long-term solution to work 80 hours a week. However, it can sometimes be unavoidable. If you are working an 80 hour week, try to do it intermittently or for short periods. The most important thing you need to consider to avoid burnout is to keep a healthy sleep schedule.
12-hour shift health concerns
According to the National Institute of Health, long shifts are associated with medical issues such as obesity, sleep disorders and chronic fatigue. The issues with shift work are that the person has problems sleeping and finding time to make health a priority.
A lunch break is not a legal requirement under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) ('Fair Work Act'). An employee's entitlement to a lunch break depends the relevant provisions of an their applicable modern award, enterprise agreement or individual's contract of employment.
Working on a Student visa (subclass 500)
When you study in Australia as a Student visa (subclass 500) holder, you are permitted to work while studying. From 1 July 2023 this visa will allow you to work a maximum of 48 hours per fortnight.
The National Minimum Wage
This is the minimum pay rate provided by the Fair Work Act 2009 and is reviewed each year. As of 1 July 2023 the National Minimum Wage is $23.23 per hour or $882.80 per week.
The Australian minimum hourly wage is currently $21.38 per hour. In 2021, the Australian minimum wage for a standard 38 hours work week equates to $812.60 per week. You can use the following simple formula to calculate the annual minimum wage: $812.60 per week × 52 workweeks in a year = $42,255.20.
As per the Australian Home Ministry, foreign students would be allowed to work for 48 hours per fortnight. This means that students would be able to work for 24 hours in per week.
Full-time employees usually work an average of 38 hours each week. They're usually employed on a permanent basis or on a fixed term contract.
² A fortnight is defined by Australian Immigration as being a 14 day period that starts on a Monday and ends on a Sunday. In practical terms, the 40 hour limit per fortnight means you are usually limited to working up to 20 hours per week. Let's take a look at an example to see why.⁵ Week 1: 10 hours. Week 2: 30 hours.
But once those unlimited work hours finishes, regardless of whether you're working on TFN (as an employee) or an ABN (as a business) you will need to abide by the work hours conditions on your visa. So you need to make sure that you don't work more than 40 hours per fortnight even if you are running your own business.
The average labour salary in Australia is $69,160 per year or $35.47 per hour. Entry-level positions start at $54,600 per year, while most experienced workers make up to $120,073 per year.
Condition 8105 restricts students to 40 hours of work per fortnight, while their course is in session. This will be increased to 48 hours per fortnight from 1 July 2023. Courses of study are considered to be 'in session': during the advertised semesters, which includes exam periods.