Clocks will go back one hour at 3:00am on Sunday 2 April 2023 for the ACT, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria. There will be no time change in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia.

Employers in states with daylight-saving time should be aware that payment for employees working at the time daylight saving time ends should be made “by the clock”, unless the relevant award or enterprise agreement states otherwise. This means employees working during the 2:00am to 3:00am period will work an extra hour but do not need to be paid for that extra hour. For example, if an employee’s shift started at 10:00pm and finished at the adjusted time of 6:00am, they should be paid for 8 hours work even though this employee worked 9 hours in total.

Conversely, when daylight saving time commences again later in the year and the clocks move one hour forward, employees will be paid for one more hour than they worked. For example, an employee who worked an “8-hour” shift from 10:00pm to 6:00am (as shown on the clock) would be paid for 8 hours, despite only actually working for 7 hours.

If you are unsure whether your employees are covered by an award which does provide for alternative daylight-saving time payment arrangements, you should seek advice from the specialist employment lawyers at Aitken Legal today.