RSE Minimum Hours

Requirement guidelines

From 2 September 2024, employers can average the 30-hour minimum weekly work requirement over a 4-week period to determine if they meet the minimum payment obligations for RSE workers. This means that instead of paying for a minimum of 30 hours each week, employers (including joint ATR employers) can now ensure that the worker’s pay meets the minimum total payment for 120 hours over 4 weeks.

As of 1 April 2025, the minimum hourly rate for workers in their 1st or 2nd season is $23.50, requiring a total minimum payment of $2,820 over 120 hours. If they are holiday pay as you go (HPAYG) employees, their minimum payment is $3,045.60 ($23.50 × 1.08 × 120 hours).

For workers in their 3rd and subsequent seasons, the minimum hourly rate increases to $25.85, with a total minimum payment of $3,102. If they are HPAYG employees, their minimum payment is $3,350.40 ($25.85 × 1.08 × 120 hours).

For more information, please click here.

RSE employee settings

In an employee’s Team Manager profile, within the General tab, there is an RSE option labelled RSE Worker. This option determines how the RSE minimum hours policy applies to the employee.

New employees

• Non-RSE selected: If this option is chosen, the RSE report is not applicable to the employee.
• RSE selected: If this option is selected, you must enter the RSE visa grant date (RSE contract date). Depending on this date:
  • If it’s before 2 September 2024, you can tick the 1 week rule checkbox. This indicates the employee is governed by the old 1-week minimum work rule.
  • If it’s on or after 2 September 2024, there is no need to tick the checkbox, as the employee will fall under the new 4-week averaging rule.

The 1 week rule setting can also be applied or removed for multiple employees at once using Bulk Team Manager, located under Setup > Team Manager > Bulk Team Manager > General.

Existing employees

For all existing employees already set up as RSE workers with a RSE visa grant date (RSE contract date) before 2 September 2024, the 1 week rule checkbox will be automatically ticked. This ensures that the policy update does not apply to them.

RSE minimum hours report

In the Reports section, you’ll find a report called RSE Minimum Hours. If you don’t have access to this report, contact our Support team for assistance.

Once you access the report, you’ll notice all the standard filters, along with a few additional ones specific to RSE requirements:

• Period: As per MBIE regulations, the 4-week averaging must be done in set blocks. With the new requirement starting on 2 September 2024, the first 4-week block is preset from 02/09/2024 to 29/09/2024. The subsequent 4-week blocks will also be preset. Simply select the 4-week block relevant to your analysis, such as 02/09/2024-29/09/2024.
• RSE contract type: This filter offers three dropdown options:
  1. All
  2. 1 week rule
  3. 4 week rule

We recommend analysing this report by selecting each rule type separately. For example, you can first analyse the report for employees under the 1 week rule and then for those under the 4 week rule, or vice versa. This approach ensures a clear and organised review of your RSE workers’ compliance with the minimum hours requirement.

Key notes

• RSE workers only: Only RSE workers will appear in this report.
• Employee start dates: If an employee starts partway through the 4-week period, their start date must match their first timesheet entry date for the report to function correctly.
• Top-up filter: The ‘Top-up’ filter is applicable only when the search is restricted to the 4-week rule.

1 week rule

Employees must be paid for at least 30 hours per week.

Report columns

• Employee code: The code associated with the employee.
• Team member: The name of the employee.
• Week 1 to Week 4: These columns represent the hours worked by the employee during each of the four weeks in the selected period.
• Employment start date: The date the employee started their employment.

Example

Hours Worked:

• Week 1: 30 hours (Meets the minimum; shown in green, no top-up required)
• Week 2: 20 hours (Below the minimum; shown in red, top-up of 10 hours required)
• Week 3: 28.5 hours (Below the minimum; shown in red, top-up of 1.5 hours required)
• Week 4: 37.33 hours (Exceeds the minimum; no top-up required)

4 week rule

Employees must be paid for at least 120 hours at the applicable minimum hourly rate over a 4-week period.

Report columns

• Employee code: The code associated with the employee.
• Team member: The name of the employee.
• Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4: These columns show the number of hours worked by the employee each week during the selected 4-week period.
• Total hours paid: The total number of hours the employee has been paid for over the 4-week period.
• Employment start date: The date the employee started their employment.
• Pro-rate minimum hours: Indicates whether the minimum hours have been pro-rated based on the employee’s start date. If this field is blank, it means the employee’s minimum hours have not been pro-rated.
• Start week: The week the employee began working within the selected 4-week period. If the employee was employed before the start of week 1, this field will be left blank.
• Days paid (first week employed): The number of days the employee was paid for in their first week of employment. If the employee was employed before the start of week 1, this field will be left blank.
• Minimum hours: The minimum hours that the employee must be paid for during the selected period.
• Minimum hourly rate: The minimum hourly rate applicable to the employee based on their number of seasons.
• Minimum pay: The minimum amount the employee should be paid for 120 hours, calculated by multiplying the minimum hours by the minimum hourly rate.
• Amount paid: The total amount the employee was paid during the selected period.
• Top-up amount: The amount the employer must pay if the amount paid is less than the minimum pay.
• Employee hourly rate: The actual hourly rate being paid to the employee, which could be the same or higher than the minimum rate.
• Top-up hours: The number of hours the employee must be topped up by, calculated by multiplying the top-up amount by the employee hourly rate.

Examples

Employee started before the 4-week period and received more than the required minimum pay:

The employee began working before the start of the 4-week period, so their minimum required hours are 120. With a minimum hourly rate of $23.50, their minimum pay is $2,820. If the employee received $3,704, no top-up is required as the amount paid exceeds the minimum pay.

Employee started before the 4-week period and received less than the required minimum pay:

The employee began working before the start of the 4-week period, so their minimum required hours are 120. With a minimum hourly rate of $23.50, their minimum pay is $2,820. If the employee received $2,608.50, a top-up of $211.50 is required as the minimum pay exceeds the amount paid. If the employee’s hourly rate is $23.50, an additional 9 hours must be paid to the employee.

Employee started during week 1 and received more than the required minimum pay:

The employee started on the third day of week 1 and worked for 3 days. The report calculates minimum hours based on a 5 day workweek at 6 hours per day. If the employee worked 3 days, their hours are pro-rated by 2 days (5 day workweek – 3 days worked). This results in a 12 hour reduction (2 days x 6 hours). Therefore, the minimum hours for week 1 are 18 (30 hours – 12 hours). The remaining three weeks each have the standard 30 minimum hours. The total minimum hours required are 108 (18 for week 1 + 90 for the remaining 3 weeks). With a minimum hourly rate of $23.50, their minimum pay is $2,538. If the employee received $2,715, no top-up is required as the amount paid exceeds the minimum pay.

Employee started during week 1 and received less than the required minimum pay:

The employee started on the third day of week 1 and worked for 1 day. The report calculates minimum hours based on a 5 day workweek at 6 hours per day. If the employee worked 1 day, their hours are pro-rated by 4 days (5 day workweek – 1 day worked). This results in a 24 hour reduction (4 days x 6 hours). Therefore, the minimum hours for week 1 are 6 (30 hours – 24 hours). The remaining three weeks each have the standard 30 minimum hours. The total minimum hours required are 96 (6 for week 1 + 90 for the remaining 3 weeks). With a minimum hourly rate of $23.50, their minimum pay is $2,256. If the employee received $2,162, a top-up of $94 is required as the minimum pay exceeds the amount paid. If the employee’s hourly rate is $23.50, an additional 4 hours must be paid to the employee.

Employee started at the beginning of week 2 and received more than the required minimum pay:

The employee started on the first day of week 2 and worked for 5 days. The report calculates minimum hours based on a 5 day workweek at 6 hours per day. If the employee worked 5 days, their hours are only pro-rated for week 1. This results in a 30 hour reduction, making the minimum hours for week 1 zero. The remaining three weeks each have the standard 30 minimum hours. The total minimum hours required are 90 (0 for week 1 + 90 for the remaining 3 weeks). With a minimum hourly rate of $23.50, their minimum pay is $2,115. If the employee received $2,250, no top-up is required as the amount paid exceeds the minimum pay.

Employee started at the beginning of week 2 and received less than the required minimum pay:

The employee started on the first day of week 2 and worked for 5 days. The report calculates minimum hours based on a 5 day workweek at 6 hours per day. If the employee worked 5 days, their hours are only pro-rated for week 1. This results in a 30 hour reduction, making the minimum hours for week 1 zero. The remaining three weeks each have the standard 30 minimum hours. The total minimum hours required are 90 (0 for week 1 + 90 for the remaining 3 weeks). With a minimum hourly rate of $23.50, their minimum pay is $2,115. If the employee received $2,044.50, a top-up of $70.50 is required as the minimum pay exceeds the amount paid. If the employee’s hourly rate is $23.50, an additional 3 hours must be paid to the employee.

Employee started during week 2 and received more than the required minimum pay:

The employee started on the fourth day of week 2 and worked for 2 days. The report calculates minimum hours based on a 5 day workweek at 6 hours per day. If the employee worked 2 days, their hours are pro-rated by 3 days (5 day workweek – 2 days worked). This results in an 18 hour reduction (3 days x 6 hours). Therefore, the minimum hours for week 2 are 12 (30 hours – 18 hours). The remaining two weeks each have the standard 30 minimum hours. The total minimum hours required are 72 (12 for week 2 + 60 for the remaining 2 weeks). With a minimum hourly rate of $23.50, their minimum pay is $1,692. If the employee received $1,935.72, no top-up is required as the amount paid exceeds the minimum pay.

Employee started during week 2 and received less than the required minimum pay:

The employee started on the fourth day of week 2 and worked for 1 day. The report calculates minimum hours based on a 5 day workweek at 6 hours per day. If the employee worked only 1 day, their hours are pro-rated by 4 days (5 day workweek – 1 day worked). This results in a 24 hour reduction (4 days x 6 hours). Therefore, the minimum hours for week 2 are 6 (30 hours – 24 hours). The remaining two weeks each have the standard 30 minimum hours. The total minimum hours required are 66 (6 for week 2 + 60 for the remaining 2 weeks). With a minimum hourly rate of $23.50, their minimum pay is $1,551. If the employee received $1,386.50, a top-up of $164.50 is required as the minimum pay exceeds the amount paid. If the employee’s hourly rate is $23.50, an additional 7 hours must be paid to the employee.