Where a worker laboured for only part of a unit period, over which span must the hours exceeding the weekly standard be measured before the premium is settled?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
For this exercise we read the attendance records showing each day worked and the hours on it, the papers fixing the unit period under the working-hour provisions, and the wage statement itemising ordinary wages and the overtime premium for the pay month.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the provision as written: where the period the worker laboured within the unit period is shorter than that unit period, the employer must pay the additional pay provided for in the referenced premium provision on every hour exceeding the weekly standard, taking the hours over that span by averaging what was actually worked within it.
Another reading notes the provision says the shorter span is to be averaged, but sets out no averaging method, so the file must still show how the averaged hours are matched against the weekly standard, and it does not reach a case where the whole unit period was worked.
Your judgment
Once the hours are averaged over the shorter span, how could the file show exactly which span was worked within the unit period so the comparison with the weekly standard can be checked?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to prescribe an averaging method or to change the reference to the premium, or if an enforcement rule or a decision explains how averaged hours are compared with the weekly standard.