This feature helps ensure compliance with Modern Award requirements by automatically rounding partial hours up to the nearest whole hour for pay calculations. It simplifies award policy configuration for allowances and penalties, reduces the need for manual calculations, and minimises the risk of errors in employee pay.
Getting Started
Prerequisites
Before you can use Top Up to Whole Hours, your system administrator must configure the appropriate award policy rules. This feature is configured at the award policy level and applies to specific pay items within the policy.
For System Administrators:
Access to Award Policy configuration.
Understanding of Modern Award requirements for your organisation.
Knowledge of which pay items require full hour rounding.
For Payroll Officers:
No additional permissions required.
Top Up to Whole Hours is applied automatically when configured in the award policy.
Note: Top Up to Whole Hours is an optional feature that must be explicitly enabled in your award policy configuration. Existing calculations continue to work unchanged unless the feature is enabled.
Understanding Top Up to Whole Hours
The Problem with Partial Hours
Certain Modern Awards, such as the Hospitality Industry (General) Award (MA000009), require that specific allowances and penalties be paid for full hours rather than partial hours. When an employee works a partial hour, the allowance must be rounded up to the nearest whole hour.
Example: Shift Penalty Calculation:
Scenario | Actual Duration | Without Top Up | With Top Up |
Clock in 7:15pm, Clock out 8:30pm | 1.25 hours | 1.25 hours | 2 hours |
Clock in 9:01pm, Clock out 9:15pm | 0.23 hours | 0.23 hours | 1 hour |
Clock in 8:15pm, Clock out 10:15pm | 2.00 hours | 2 hours | 2 hours |
How Top Up to Whole Hours Works
Top Up to Whole Hours automatically rounds up any shift calculation ending in a partial hour to the next whole hour. If an employee has already worked a complete hour (or multiple complete hours), no rounding is applied.
Step-by-step calculation:
Calculate the actual duration worked for the shift
Determine if there are any partial minutes beyond complete hours
If partial minutes exist, round up to the next whole hour
Apply the rounded hours to the pay item calculation
Rounding Rules
The Top Up to Whole Hours feature uses a simple ceiling function to round up to the nearest whole hour.
Actual Duration | Rounded Duration |
0.01 - 1.00 hours | 1 hour |
1.01 - 2.00 hours | 2 hours |
2.01 - 3.00 hours | 3 hours |
3.01 - 4.00 hours | 4 hours |
Complete Examples:
Clock In | Clock Out | Actual Duration | Rounded Duration |
7:30 am | 10:30 am | 3.00 hours | 3 hours |
9:00 am | 6:00 pm | 9.00 hours | 9 hours |
9:30 am | 10:30 am | 1.00 hour | 1 hour |
3:30 pm | 7:00 pm | 3.50 hours | 4 hours |
8:30 am | 9:45 am | 1.25 hours | 2 hours |
9:01 am | 9:15 am | 0.23 hours | 1 hour |
Configuring Top Up to Whole Hours
Enabling Top Up to Whole Hours in Award Policies
Top Up to Whole Hours is enabled through the Award Policy configuration using the Top Up to Whole Hours action.
Navigate to Policies > Award Policies
Select the award policy you wish to configure
Edit the relevant rule where you want Top Up to Whole Hours to apply
Add the Top Up to Whole Hours action to the rule
Add sub-rules within the Top Up to Whole Hours action (such as Add Tag actions)
Save the award policy
Important: The Top Up to Whole Hours action wraps other actions (sub-rules) meaning that all sub-rules nested after the Top Up to Whole Hours action will have their time calculations rounded up to whole hours.
Using with Time of Day Conditions
Top Up to Whole Hours is commonly used in combination with Time of Day conditions to apply full hour rounding to specific time periods, such as evening or weekend shifts.
Configuration Example:
When configuring an award policy for shift penalties that require full hour payments:
Create or edit the rule for the shift penalty.
Add a Time of Day condition to specify the applicable time range.
Add the Top Up to Whole Hours action.
Within the Top Up to Whole Hours action, add the appropriate sub-rules:
Add Tag action to tag the hours.
Configure the tag with the appropriate pay item.
5. Add an Add Pay Item Per Tag action to generate the pay item from the tagged hours.
Example Award Policy Structure
A typical award policy rule using Top Up to Whole Hours might be structured as follows:
How Pay Runs Use Top Up to Whole Hours
Automatic Application
Once Top Up to Whole Hours is configured in an award policy, it is automatically applied during pay run processing. No additional steps are required by payroll officers.
During pay run calculation:
The system identifies timesheets that match the award policy conditions.
For matching timesheets, the Top Up to Whole Hours action rounds up partial hours.
The rounded hours are used for pay item calculations.
The final payment reflects the full hour amounts.
Viewing Calculated Hours
When reviewing a pay run, the calculated hours will reflect the Top Up to Whole Hours rounding. You can verify the hours by:
Opening the pay run.
Reviewing the employee’s pay details.
Checking the units column for pay items affected by Top Up to Whole Hours.
Note: The displayed units represent the rounded hours after Top Up to Whole Hours has been applied.
Backward Compatibility
Existing Pay Policies
Implementation of Top Up to Whole Hours does not affect existing pay policies or calculations that do not use this feature.
Key points:
Existing calculations continue to work unchanged.
Top Up to Whole Hours must be explicitly enabled for each award policy rule.
There is a clear distinction between rules with and without Top Up to Whole Hours.
No existing functionality is broken by the implementation.
Migration Considerations
If you need to add Top Up to Whole Hours to existing policies:
Review your current award policies.
Identify which Awards/Enterprise Agreements require full hour rounding.
Cease the current version of your award (Recommend ending to coincide with a pay period end date).
Create a new version of your award (Recommend starting to coincide with a pay period start date).
Update the relevant award policy rules to include the Top Up to Whole Hours action.
Test the updated policies in a non-production environment.
Deploy the changes during a suitable pay period transition.
Important: When adding Top Up to Whole Hours, be aware that calculated hours may increase from previous calculations. Review and communicate any changes to affected employees as required.
Troubleshooting
Hours Not Being Rounded Up
Problem: Partial hours are not being rounded up to whole hours.
Solution:
Verify that the Top Up to Whole Hours action is configured in the award policy rule.
Check that the action is properly wrapping the sub-rules (Add Tag, etc.).
Confirm the timesheet matches the conditions in the award policy rule.
Review the Time of Day or other conditions to ensure the timesheet falls within the specified range.
Unexpected Hour Calculations
Problem: Hours are being rounded when they shouldn’t be.
Solution:
Check the award policy configuration for the affected pay items.
Ensure the Top Up to Whole Hours action is only applied to rules that require it.
Verify the conditions (Time of Day, etc.) are correctly configured.
Review the timesheet times to confirm they match the expected conditions.
Hours Changed After Enabling Top Up to Whole Hours
Problem: Pay calculations changed after enabling Top Up to Whole Hours.
Solution:
This is expected behaviour when enabling Top Up to Whole Hours.
The difference reflects the rounding up of partial hours to whole hours.
Review the Modern Award requirements to confirm the new calculations are correct.
Document the changes for audit purposes.
Audit and Compliance
Reference Documentation
For more information on Modern Award requirements for full hour payments, refer to: Fair Work Commission - Hospitality Industry (General) Award
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does Top Up to Whole Hours apply to all pay items automatically?
A: No, Top Up to Whole Hours must be explicitly enabled in the award policy configuration. Only pay items processed through rules with the Top Up to Whole Hours action will have their hours rounded up.
Q: Will enabling Top Up to Whole Hours change my existing pay calculations?
A: Only for pay items where the feature is enabled. Existing calculations without the Top Up to Whole Hours action continue to use actual hours.
Q: How much difference does Top Up to Whole Hours make to calculations?
A: The difference depends on the actual hours worked. For example, 1.25 hours becomes 2 hours (an increase of 0.75 hours), while 2.00 hours remains 2 hours (no change).
Q: Can I use Top Up to Whole Hours for some pay items and actual hours for others?
A: Yes, Top Up to Whole Hours is configured at the rule level within award policies. You can have different rules using different calculation methods within the same policy.
Q: Does Top Up to Whole Hours affect leave calculations?
A: Top Up to Whole Hours applies to timesheet-based calculations where the feature is enabled. Leave calculations are typically handled separately and are not affected unless specifically configured.
Q: What happens if an employee works exactly whole hours?
A: If an employee works exactly whole hours (e.g., 2.00 hours), no rounding is applied. The calculation remains at 2 hours.
Q: Is Top Up to Whole Hours required for all Modern Awards?
A: No, Top Up to Whole Hours is required only for specific Modern Awards that mandate full hour payments for certain allowances or penalties. Check your specific Modern Award requirements to determine if this feature should be enabled.
Q: How do I verify that Top Up to Whole Hours is working correctly?
A: Review the pay run calculations and compare the units (hours) against the original timesheet entries. Partial hours should be rounded up to the nearest whole hour for affected pay items.
Getting Help
If you experience issues or have questions about Top Up to Whole Hours:
Review this guide for configuration and troubleshooting information
Contact your system administrator for award policy configuration questions
Refer to Fair Work Commission documentation for official Modern Award requirements
Check the online help within Definitiv for additional guidance
Contact support if you need assistance with configuration or calculations by raising a case online.