THE SHORT ANSWER
Check the work.
The roster. The payment.
Gather actual start and finish times, breaks, the roster that applied, employment terms, the complete relevant week or roster cycle, and detailed payroll earnings. A payslip total alone cannot explain which hours were treated as overtime.
Build a comparison that links each question to a source: what was worked, how those hours were classified, which rate was used and where the matching payment appears.
This guide focuses on checking hourly-pay evidence under MA000119. Confirm Award coverage first. Salary, annualised wage, flexibility and time-off arrangements need their own supporting records and review. A matching overtime amount does not establish that every entitlement is correct.
YOUR RECORDS CHECKLIST
Six bundles to gather
before comparing dollars.
| Records | What to check |
|---|---|
| Employee and employment terms | Employee ID, employment type on the work dates, classification evidence, age where relevant, contract and applicable agreements. |
| Actual work and breaks | Original clock entries or timesheets, start and finish dates and times, actual breaks, amendments and the reason for each correction. |
| Roster and changes | Original and revised rosters, when changes were communicated, supporting agreement or notice, rostered days off and adjacent shifts. |
| Part-time terms | Written guaranteed hours and availability, dated variations and the roster applying to the disputed work. |
| Complete period and cycle | Week and cycle boundaries, averaging evidence, all relevant shifts and an explicit list of missing or disputed records. |
| Payroll and rate evidence | Payslips, detailed earnings, pay-code definitions, applicable dated rates, adjustments, reversals and payment references. |
This is a practical review checklist, not an exhaustive statement of statutory record obligations. Fair Work’s record-keeping guidance explains the legal requirements, including keeping time and wage records for seven years.
WHY THE RECORDS MATTER
Employment type
changes the question.
The Restaurant Award connects overtime to different boundaries:
- Full-time: check work outside the spread or rostered hours under clauses 15 and 23.1.
- Part-time: clause 10.13 covers excess weekly or cycle-average hours, maximum daily ordinary hours and rostered hours.
- Casual: clauses 11.2 and 11.5 cover work beyond 12 hours per day or shift, or 38 weekly hours / the permitted roster-cycle average.
- Adjacent work: clause 23 also covers rostered-day-off work and the break after overtime. Keep the preceding and following shifts.
Use the complete applicable clauses and historical version; this summary is not every condition or exception. Check ordinary-hours limits, split shifts and other relevant restrictions before assigning an hour category.
Fair Work’s Restaurant industry guidance distinguishes guaranteed part-time hours from additional rostered hours. More than the guaranteed hours does not, by itself, establish overtime.
STEP 01
Confirm the employee, Award and work dates.
Start a review sheet with the employee ID, work dates, workplace, pay-period dates and the question being investigated. Keep the work date separate from the payment date.
Use Fair Work’s Restaurant Award coverage summary to check the applicable instrument. A restaurant name or payroll label is not enough: verify the business activity, the employee’s work and whether a registered agreement applies.
Collect evidence for the employment type and classification applying at the time. Record unresolved coverage or contract questions before calculating.
Output: a defined review scope and a list of the employment facts still needing confirmation.
STEP 02
Reconcile the hours actually worked.
Line up the original timesheet or clock entries with any edited version. Investigate early starts, late finishes, missing punches and duplicated entries. Ask for evidence of opening, closing or other disputed work rather than assuming the scheduled finish was the actual finish.
Check whether each recorded break was taken, its duration and whether it was paid or unpaid. Keep split shifts and overnight dates visible. A scheduled meal break should not silently become a deduction from verified work.
Keep each correction traceable to the original record, supporting evidence and reviewer decision. If a fact remains disputed, mark it unresolved instead of choosing a convenient number.
Output: reconciled work intervals, break treatment, payable quantities and outstanding discrepancies.
STEP 03
Find the roster that applied to those hours.
Compare the work intervals with the relevant roster version. Retain the original roster, revisions and the evidence explaining when and how a change occurred. An updated export may hide the earlier plan.
For part-time employees, place guaranteed hours, availability and dated variations beside the roster. Establish what was rostered for the disputed day; do not use a weekly contract figure as a substitute for this evidence.
Flag any uncertainty about a roster change or agreement for review. Keep a proposed or retrospective edit distinct from the version relied on at the time.
Output: linked roster evidence and a clear explanation of the hours being compared.
STEP 04
Check the complete week or roster cycle.
Write down the boundaries used by the applicable ordinary-hours and overtime provisions. Retain any averaging arrangement and all work records needed for that window. A payroll fortnight is not evidence that the overtime window is a fortnight.
Reconcile the period total to its individual shifts. Include work immediately before or after the disputed shift where rest or continuity may matter. Keep rostered days off and split-shift intervals visible.
If the cycle is incomplete, obtain the missing records before confirming its result. A useful shift-level calculation can still leave a period-level question unresolved.
Output: a complete evidenced review window, or a stated limitation that prevents a conclusion.
STEP 05
Match the hour treatment to gross earnings.
Document the reason each established segment is ordinary time, overtime or another pay category. Select the rate source and effective version for the employee and work dates. Fair Work’s Pay and Conditions Tool helps identify applicable pay rates.
Obtain the payroll earning codes and their meanings. An inclusive rate, a separate premium or an off-cycle adjustment can change the comparison. For casual employees, confirm the applicable total-rate treatment instead of guessing whether to add loading.
Reconcile matching components to the payslip’s gross earnings. Do not compare an expected gross overtime amount directly with the net bank transfer. Fair Work’s pay-slip guidance explains the required pay details; obtain underlying earnings when the slip does not explain a shift allocation.
Output: traceable expected and recorded gross components, with rate references and no unexplained allocation.
WORKED EXAMPLE
A late finish.
A payment to explain.
One hour outside a verified part-time roster.
Assume an adult part-time employee is rostered Monday 16:00–21:00 and actually works until 22:00, with no break deduction. The roster evidence is settled; no valid roster change, public holiday or special arrangement applies. A reviewer establishes the final hour as overtime. The invented minimum base rate is $30.00, not a published classification rate.
| Component | Calculation | Gross amount |
|---|---|---|
| Recorded ordinary payment | 1.00 × $30.00 | $30.00 |
| Illustrative overtime entitlement | 1.00 × ($30.00 × 1.50) | $45.00 |
The 150% first-two-hours weekday rate is from Award clause 23.4, Table 7; clause 23.3 treats each day’s overtime separately. These assumptions do not establish an actual employee’s entitlement.
The records decide what happens next: retain the roster version, time entry, employment terms, rate reference and matching earnings. If a separate $15.00 premium or linked correction paid this component, the apparent difference may already be explained.
STEP 06
Record the explanation and follow-up.
Classify the issue: missing work evidence, uncertain roster treatment, a rate question, a payment allocation problem or a supported pay difference. Record what has been established and what still needs evidence.
Keep the originals and the comparison together. A reviewer should be able to follow every amount back to its work record, roster, rate source and payroll line.
Where a confirmed error needs correction, follow the employer’s payroll process and obtain appropriate advice. Keep the correction reference and recheck the matching component; a review finding does not itself update payroll.
Output: an evidenced decision, named follow-up owner and a record of any correction or remaining question.
BUILD A REUSABLE REVIEW SHEET
Keep the evidence
beside the amount.
- Employee ID, employment type, classification and applicable instrument.
- Work date, actual intervals, breaks and original time-record reference.
- Roster version, rostered intervals and change-evidence reference.
- Week or cycle boundaries, completeness status and linked part-time terms.
- Hour category, applicable source clause, dated rate and expected gross component.
- Payroll code, matching paid component, adjustment references and difference.
- Missing evidence, reviewer explanation, decision and follow-up reference.
Use the payroll audit data checklist to prepare files, and our payroll audit data checklist to align the sources.
Keep special arrangements
in a separate evidence check.
A salary or annualised wage needs the agreement, covered components, work records, payment evidence and any relevant reconciliation. Do not infer that a salary total settled a particular overtime component.
If time off instead of overtime payment is asserted, obtain the written agreement and records of the time or payment. Fair Work’s overtime guidance explains that time-off options depend on the applicable instrument. WageReview does not audit TOIL or track time-off credits.
Keep uncertain agreement validity, contractual offsetting and other legal questions visible for appropriately qualified review.
WHERE WAGEREVIEW CAN HELP
Turn the records
into an explainable review.
WageReview’s controlled demo compares represented hourly-pay amounts under Restaurant MA000119, Retail MA000004 and Hospitality MA000009. It connects supported calculations with work records, pay segments and source references for human review.
Supported Restaurant period overtime and other conditional outcomes require complete applicable roster and setup evidence. Missing or conflicting inputs can block a calculation or require manual review; the system does not invent missing facts.
Prepare records using the data checklist and explore the review workflow. The scope of this article is broader than a promise that every listed obligation is automated.
The current offer is a controlled demonstration. Production use remains disabled. WageReview does not create pay runs, write back to payroll, automatically correct payments or guarantee complete Award compliance.
Common questions.
Can I check overtime from a payslip alone?
A payslip is useful payment evidence, but you also need the work and roster records that establish the hour treatment. Obtain detailed earning codes and adjustments when the slip does not explain the comparison.
Does every extra part-time hour attract overtime?
No. Distinguish guaranteed hours, additional rostered hours and hours outside the applicable boundaries. Fair Work’s Restaurant guidance explains the difference; retain the written terms and relevant roster.
What if the roster cycle is incomplete?
Keep the limitation explicit and obtain the missing records. Do not treat an incomplete total as evidence that no period overtime exists.
Does a matching overtime payment prove all wages are correct?
No. It resolves only the established components in the comparison. Other payments, missing evidence and unresolved arrangements need their own review.
Official sources and related guides.
- Restaurant Industry Award 2020 (MA000119): clauses 10, 11, 15 and 23
- Fair Work: Restaurant Award summary and coverage
- Fair Work: Restaurant industry pay and hours guidance
- Fair Work: Record-keeping requirements
- Fair Work: Pay slips
- Fair Work: Overtime pay
- Fair Work: Pay and Conditions Tool
- How hourly-pay review works
- Restaurant Award review scope
Sources checked 13 October 2026. General information for payroll review in Australia, not legal advice. Check the applicable instrument and effective rules for the work dates. Examples are invented and do not publish current Award dollar rates.