If you work a 10 or 12-hour shift and get sick, it is Australian business practice to only pay you for 7.6 hours. This has been the way the law has been interpreted due to an uncertainty in the Fair Work Act, because a workday is normally 7.6 hours.

Luke Grant is joined by Nicholas Marouchak, Director at MKI Legal, to discuss a recent court case that saw two Tasmanian shift workers, who normally work 12-hour shifts, launching legal proceedings saying this was unfair – and won.

The game-changing full Federal Court decision on 21 August 2019 has stated that shift workers should get paid for their full shift hours if they are sick.

Unless this decision is overturned by the High Court on appeal, Mr Marouchak warns it won’t take long before sectors with similarly long shifts, like mining and health workers, will be docked pay for being sick.

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