The South Australian Business Chamber Today

​Span Of Ordinary Hours May Be Altered In Certain Awards

Recently the Fair Work Commission dealt with an ambiguity in certain Modern Awards concerning the alteration to the span of hours in certain Modern Awards. The Alteration clause in these Awards allow an alteration by one hour at either end of span.

The Fair Work Commission have clarified that agreement can be made with a group of employees or with an individual employee, where applicable, to alter the span forward by one hour or back by one hour. Therefore, if the span is 6am to 6pm the span may be varied forward to 5am to 5pm or back to 7am to 7pm, retaining the 12 hour span of ordinary hours.

These variations took effect on 1 July 2021.

Want to know if your Modern Award was included in these updates?

Give us a call on our Business Advice Hotline on (08) 8300 0000 (select option 1) and we can check this for you.

You can also join thousands of other businesses and subscribe to our PAYpack Award Service to receive:

  • A user-friendly fully searchable version of the Award which contains helpful tips, points for consideration and important summaries of the National Employment Standards (NES)
  • Schedule of Wage Rates
  • Automatic alerts direct to your inbox when an Award changes together with information on how to apply the change and when it takes effect
  • Summary of changes schedule which provides you with a high-level overview of Award changes
  • Important tips contained within the Award


PAYpack is your essential tool to ensuring you have peace of mind in Modern Award compliance. It’s easy to subscribe to PAYpack — all you need to do is sign up here or call us on (08) 8300 0000.

Recent Articles
Electricity Website Header
18 June 2026
Power price relief for small business starts with checking your deal
Medical cert Website Banner
18 June 2026
Unfit for work: Medical certificates vs. Statutory declarations
Knife Website Header
18 June 2026
Selling knives in SA? New rules begin 1 July 2026
City of adelaide Website Header
18 June 2026
Make it your business – Enrol to vote
SABC Tindo 47
18 June 2026
Photo Gallery: The Chamber Networking - June 2026 @ Tindo Solar
Programs Website Header
18 June 2026
Which business program is right for you?