What are RDOs in the Building and Construction Industry?

A rostered day off (RDO) is a paid day off for working extra hours that add up to a whole working day. An RDO may be a requirement of a modern award or enterprise agreement, or something that employers and employees arrange between themselves. Any arrangements for RDOs must comply with the relevant industrial instrument and with the National Employment Standards, which state that an employee must not be required to work more than 38 hours per week unless the additional hours are reasonable.

An industrial instrument may include terms providing for the averaging of hours of work over a specified period. In general, building and construction industry employees will work between 36 to 40 ordinary hours a week, depending on their industrial instrument.

Example: a monthly RDO arrangement for a 40-hour week

A monthly RDO arrangement for a 40-hour week would enable an employee to have a day off every four weeks and spread the payment for that day over their whole pay. Each day an employee would work 8 hours and get paid for 7.6 hours to get one paid day off every 20 days. Your industrial instrument may also provide for:

  • a method for reaching agreement between employer and employees about substituting a nominated industry RDO for ‘picnic days’ or similar
  • a method for reaching agreement about banking RDOs, particularly for employees employed on distant work or ‘away from home’ work. Often, these employees may accrue up to five rostered days off for the purpose of creating a bank to be drawn from by the employee at a mutually agreeable time between employer and employee
  • working out and managing the relationship between public holidays and RDOs
  • a calendar that has been established and agreed upon by employers and employees and documenting RDOs for a one-year period across a sector or industry
  • employees being paid out any unused RDOs upon termination.