The following is an excerpt from the Building and Construction General On Site Award 2020
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24. Inclement weather
24.1 Clause 24 applies to general building and construction and the civil construction sector only.
24.2 Inclement weather means the existence of rain or abnormal climatic conditions (whether hail, extreme cold, high wind, severe dust storm, extreme high temperature or the like or any combination of these conditions) where it is not reasonable or it is unsafe for employees to continue working in those conditions.
24.3 The employer or its representative, when requested by the employees or their representative, must confer within a reasonable time (which does not exceed 60 minutes) for the purpose of determining whether or not the conditions referred to in clause 24.2 apply.
24.4 The time work stops due to inclement weather and the resumption of work after a period of inclement weather has ended will be recorded by the employer.
24.5 When inclement weather conditions exist an affected employee is not required to start or continue to work where it is unreasonable or unsafe to do so. In cases where emergency work is required or it is necessary to complete a concrete pour already commenced to a practical stage, work may occur or continue provided that such work does not give rise to a reasonable concern on the part of an employee undertaking the work of an imminent risk to their health or safety.
24.6 Where a concrete pour is completed in accordance with clause 24.5,work will be paid at the rate of 200% of the ordinary hourly rate calculated to the next hour, and in the case of wet weather, the employee will be provided with adequate wet weather gear. If an employee’s clothes become wet as a result of working in the rain during a concrete pour the employee will, unless the employee has a change of dry working clothes available, be allowed to go home for the remainder of the day without loss of pay.
24.7 Where an employee is not able to perform any work at any location because of inclement weather, the employee will receive payment at the ordinary hourly rate for ordinary hours. Payment for time lost due to inclement weather is subject to a maximum of 32 hours pay in any 4 week period for each employee. Payment is subject to adherence to the terms of clause 24.
24.8 If an employee commences employment during a 4 week period the employee will be credited with:
(a) 32 hours where the employee commences on any working day within the first week;
(b) 24 hours where the employee commences on any working day within the second week;
(c) 16 hours where the employee commences on any working day within the third week; and
(d) 8 hours where the employee commences on any working day within the 4th week in any 4 week period.
24.9 The first period will be deemed to commence on the first Monday after 28 December 2009 and subsequent periods will commence at 4 weekly periods thereafter, provided that a calendar that was being used immediately before 15 July 2013 may still apply.
24.10 An employee working on a part-time basis pursuant to clause 11—Part-time weekly hire employees, will be entitled to payment on a pro rata basis according to the number of ordinary hours agreed to be worked in the 4 week period. The method of calculation of a part-time daily hire employee’s proportionate employment will be as follows:
| 32 x |
Number of hours agreed to be worked during the 4 week period |
|
152 |
24.11 Inclement weather occurring during overtime will not be taken into account for the purposes of clause 24 and employees will not be entitled to any payment for stoppages because of inclement weather that occurs outside of ordinary hours.
24.12 Employees on a portion of a site not affected by inclement weather must continue to work even though employees working on other areas of the site may have stopped work because of inclement weather.
24.13 Subject to the availability of alternative work in an employee’s classification, an employer may require employees to transfer:
(a) from a location on a site where it is unreasonable and/or unsafe to work because of inclement weather, to another area on the same site, where it is reasonable and safe to work; and/or
(b) from a site where it is unreasonable and/or unsafe to work because of inclement weather, to another site, where it is reasonable and safe to work, and where the employer, where necessary, provides transport.
