SCHADS Award — Sleepover Shift Configuration Guide

Award: SCHADS (MA000100)  |  Effective: 1 June 2026 

Purpose & Background

The Fair Work Commission a decision varying the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award (SCHADS) Award (MA000100). Changes took effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 June 2026.

The key changes are:

• The pre and post-sleepover active periods are assessed separately for shift the calculation of shift penalties. This means one part may attract a penalty loading while the other may not. It also means that shifts that were previously being interpreted as 'Night shift' due to the sleepover break portion crossing midnight should now be interpreted as an 'Afternoon shift'. Overtime is still calculated as though it was a single shift however.
• Employers and employees may agree to extend ordinary hours to up to 12 hours total across pre- and post-sleepover periods (maximum 8 ordinary hours in either period). The default threshold remains 10 hours.

Why Payroll Systems Need Re-configuring

Under most standard SCHADS configurations prior to 1 June 2026, a sleepover shift crossing midnight was assigned a night shift interpretation period for the entire shift duration. This caused all active working hours both before and after the sleepover to inherit the 15% night shift loading.

The configuration updates described on this page will explain how to ensure the pre & post portions of the sleepover shift are paid at the correct relevant penalty rates (Afternoon shift or Day shift) based on the Fair work updates.

If your organisation wishes to support the 12 hour agreement, this will need to be configured as a separate pay group, Easy Employer cannot currently support ad hoc 12 hour arrangements, an employee will need to be on either a 10 hour or a 12 hour Pay group.

What Needs to Be Configured

NOTE: This configuration guide will work for clients who use a single shift for sleepovers. This will not work for clients that use 2 to 3 separate shifts for sleepover shifts. If you are using a second shift for the post sleepover portion, consider adding those hours to the sleepover shift instead.

NOTE 2: You can test configuration changes on https://sandbox.easyemployer.com.

For most SCHADS clients, three changes are required in Easy Employer:

Step 1 — Add a Sleepover Interpretation Period

This is a prerequisite for Steps 2 and 3. The interpretation period must be created at the Award level first.

NOTE: If the 'Sleepover' Interpretation period already exists in your account, you can skip to step 2.

1.1 — Navigate to the Award

Navigate to Organisation > Awards, and click on the SCHADS award. Find the Interpretation Periods section.

1.2 — Add the New Interpretation Period

Click Add Interpretation Period and configure:

• Name: Sleepover
• Type: Manually Selected. Ensures it is triggered only via Role Override, not automatically by time-based logic.

Save. The system creates this period at the Award level and propagates it to all Pay Groups. This may take several minutes if many Pay Groups exist.

Step 2 — Configure the Role Override

Link the Sleepover role to the Sleepover interpretation period so shifts are automatically classified.

NOTE: Steps 2 & 3 will need to be repeated for all relevant Pay groups.

2.1 — Open the Pay Group for Editing

From the SCHADS Award, Click on one of the relevant Pay Group's, and when loaded click Edit Award Pay Group.

2.2 — Locate and Update the Role Override

In the Pay Group edit screen, find the Role Overrides section:

• Scenario A — Override already exists: It may currently point to Night Shift After Midnight. Edit it and change the interpretation period to Sleepover.
• Scenario B — No override exists: Create a new Role Override. Select all roles that correspond to sleepover shifts. Set the type to Interpretation Period and select the Sleepover interpretation period.

Save. All shifts assigned the Sleepover role will now receive the Sleepover interpretation period automatically.

Step 3 — Configure the Weekly Rate

In this step, we define the correct penalty rates for each time band under the Sleepover interpretation period.

3.1 — Navigate to Weekly Rates

Within the Pay Group, go to the Weekly Rate configuration area and select the Sleepover interpretation period.

NOTE: Ensure you are working in the 'Weekly Rates' section. There can be a 'Public Holiday Rates - Worked shifts' and 'Public Holiday Rates - Public Holiday Shifts' that looks almost identical.

3.2 — Rate Configuration Table

You will need to configure the weekly rates for the 'Sleepover' Interpretation period as below. You will need to select the relevant payroll category based on your configuration for the 'Category'. 

NOTE: For some Full time and Part time Pay groups you may also need to set a leave loading category for the Afternoon shift time bands.

Practical Example

Shift starts 5:00 PM, sleepover break 10:00 PM – 6:00 AM, active work resumes to 9:00 AM:

• Pre-sleepover (5:00 PM – 10:00 PM): Finishes before midnight, after 8 PM → Afternoon Shift loading applies to the whole period.
• Sleepover (10:00 PM – 6:00 AM): Sleepover allowance generated by award trigger (pre-existing configuration).
• Post-sleepover (6:00 AM – 9:00 AM): from 6 AM onwards the ordinary day rate applies.