How to Configure RDO Rules

What This Feature Does

RDO Rules let you automatically accrue Rostered Day Off entitlements based on the hours a worker completes. When a worker meets an hours threshold (daily or weekly), a configurable amount of RDO is accrued and applied to their pay — either by splitting it out of regular time or by adding it as a separate deduction line.

This automates a common award/EBA requirement where part of each shift (or week) is set aside as RDO entitlement, coded to a dedicated cost code.

RDO rules are configured within Rule Groups inside a pay rate document.

Two different RDO features

"RDO" means two separate things in Pay, set up in different places. They work together, and most awards use both.

If your question is "why didn't an RDO timesheet appear for a day nobody worked?", that's the calendar feature — see RDO calendar days and auto leave timesheets below.

Key Concepts

Threshold Window

RDO can accrue on one of two cycles:

Threshold Hours & Accrual Value

• Threshold Hours: The minimum hours that must be worked before any RDO accrues (e.g. 7.2 daily, 36 weekly).
• Accrual Value: The hours of RDO accrued once the threshold is met (e.g. 0.8).

Weekdays Only

Controls which days RDO can accrue on. This is off by default, so RDO accrues on every day (including weekends) unless you turn it on.

Use this for awards/EBAs where RDO is earned on ordinary weekday work only and weekend work is paid separately (e.g. at penalty rates) without contributing to RDO.

Existing rules created before this option was added behave as Off (accrue every day), so turning it on is an explicit, opt-in change.

Hours Bucket

Controls which hours count toward both the threshold and the accrual:

Most awards apply RDO to regular hours only, but the other buckets are available for unusual agreements.

Include Leave in Threshold

Controls whether leave hours count toward the accrual threshold. This is on by default.

• On (default): Leave counts toward the threshold — both leave logged on a worked timesheet and, for weekly rules, separate leave-day timesheets (e.g. annual or sick leave). This lets a worker who takes leave during the week still reach the threshold and accrue RDO.
• Off: Only worked hours count toward the threshold.

Has no effect on the Overtime Only bucket, which never counts leave. For weekly rules, a separate leave day counts toward the worker's primary worked rule group for that week (so it can never accrue twice).

Application Method

How the accrued RDO is applied to the worker's pay:

Pay Amount Override

By default, RDO is paid at the rule group's regular-time rate. You can optionally enter a Pay Amount Override to pay the RDO line at a different hourly rate:

• Leave it empty to use the default regular-time rate.
• Enter a value (including 0) to override the default with that hourly rate.

Cost Code Source

RDO entries need a cost code, sourced one of two ways:

• Cost Code: Select a specific cost code that all RDO lines for this rule use.
• Shift Tree: Use the RDO cost code from the matched rate tree node. This supports systems that require different RDO codes based on the role worked for that shift. Assign an RDO cost code to each role in the Rate Tree review (an RDO cost-code field appears on each node once a rule in the group uses Shift Tree). If a matched node has no RDO cost code assigned, the entry falls back to that node's normal cost code.

Employment Type, Role & Activity Linking

RDO rules can be scoped so they only apply to certain work:

• Employment Types: e.g. accrue RDO only for full-time/part-time workers.
• Roles: e.g. casuals accrue based on the role completed on the day.
• Activities: trigger the rule only for specific timesheet activities (matched by cost code).

Leaving a link empty means the rule applies to all employment types, roles, or activities.

Enable/Disable Toggle

Each RDO rule has an enabled/disabled toggle, allowing you to temporarily turn off a rule without deleting it.

How to Create an RDO Rule

1. Open a pay rate document from the Pay Rate Documents tab
2. Navigate to the Rule Groups section
3. In the RDO rules area, click "Add RDO Rule"
4. Fill in the form fields described below
5. Click "Save" to create the RDO rule

Basic Details:

• Name: Descriptive name (e.g., "Daily RDO Accrual", "Weekly RDO")
• Description / Notes: Optional context for the rule

Threshold & Accrual:

• Threshold Window: Daily or Weekly
• Threshold Hours: Minimum hours before RDO accrues
• Weekdays Only: Restrict accrual to weekdays — weekends never accrue (daily) or weekend hours are excluded from the threshold (weekly). Off by default.
• Accrual Value: Hours of RDO accrued per period
• Hours Bucket: All, Regular Only, or Overtime Only
• Include Leave: Whether leave hours count toward the threshold (on by default)

Application:

• Application Method: Split Time or Deduction Line
• Pay Amount Override: Optional hourly rate (leave empty for the default regular rate)

Cost Code:

• Code Source: Cost Code or Shift Tree
• Cost Code: Select the cost code (when using a specific cost code). AI suggestions provide recommended matches with confidence percentages.

Linking (optional):

• Employment Types, Roles, Activities: Restrict which work the rule applies to

How to Edit an RDO Rule

1. In the RDO rules section, find the rule you want to edit
2. Click the actions menu (three dots) on the right side of the row
3. Select "Edit"
4. Modify the threshold, accrual, application method, cost code, or linking as needed
5. Click "Save" to apply changes

How to Enable or Disable an RDO Rule

1. In the RDO rules table, find the rule
2. Toggle the enabled/disabled switch in the row
3. Disabled rules are preserved but won't apply during rate calculation

Understanding the RDO Rules Table

The RDO rules section displays a table with:

• Name: The rule name
• Window: Daily or Weekly
• Threshold / Accrual: The hours threshold and accrued value
• Method: Split Time or Deduction Line
• Enabled: Toggle switch showing active/inactive status

Examples

Daily RDO Accrual (Split Time)

• Window: Daily
• Threshold Hours: 7.2
• Accrual Value: 0.4
• Hours Bucket: Regular Only
• Application Method: Split Time
• Cost Code: RDO
• Any shift over 7.2 regular hours sets aside 0.4h as RDO at the start of the shift; the remaining regular time follows standard pay logic.

Weekly RDO Accrual (Split Time)

• Window: Weekly
• Threshold Hours: 36
• Accrual Value: 0.8
• Hours Bucket: Regular Only
• Include Leave: On
• Application Method: Split Time
• Cost Code: RDO
• Once a worker reaches 36 regular hours for the week, 0.8h of RDO is accrued and applied to their first timesheet of that week. With Include Leave on, a worker who works 4 days and takes 1 day of leave still reaches 36 hours and accrues RDO; turn it off to require 36 worked hours.

RDO as a Deduction Line

• Window: Daily
• Threshold Hours: 7.6
• Accrual Value: 0.5
• Application Method: Deduction Line
• Cost Code: RDO
• The original regular time is coded normally, and a separate RDO line is added at the start of the shift with a positive 0.5h quantity and a negative dollar value (e.g. -$25.00). It appears in both the table view and the calendar view (as a distinct "RDO Deduction" card).

Weekday-Only Daily Accrual

• Window: Daily
• Threshold Hours: 7.6
• Accrual Value: 0.4
• Weekdays Only: On
• Hours Bucket: Regular Only
• Cost Code: RDO
• A Monday–Friday shift over 7.6 regular hours accrues 0.4h of RDO as usual. A Saturday or Sunday shift accrues nothing, even if it exceeds the threshold — weekend work is excluded from RDO.

Role-Based RDO Code (Shift Tree)

• Window: Daily
• Threshold Hours: 7.2
• Accrual Value: 0.4
• Code Source: Shift Tree
• Linked Roles: Casual roles
• Casual workers accrue RDO coded to the RDO cost code defined on the matched tree node for the role they worked that day.

Tips

• Match your award: Configure the window, threshold, and accrual to match your award document or EBA.
• Regular Only is the common case: Most RDO calculations apply to regular hours only.
• Weekdays Only for weekday awards: Turn on Weekdays Only when RDO is earned on ordinary weekday work and weekend work shouldn't accrue (daily) or count toward the weekly threshold (weekly). It's off by default, so weekends accrue unless you enable it.
• Leave counts by default: With Include Leave on, a worker who takes leave mid-week still reaches the threshold (including a full leave day for weekly rules). Turn it off to count worked hours only.
• Use Split Time for true RDO: Split Time reclassifies part of the shift to RDO without changing total pay; Deduction Line is for agreements that track RDO as a separate reduction (positive quantity, negative dollar value).
• Set an override only when needed: Leave Pay Amount Override empty unless RDO must be paid at a rate different from regular time.
• Disable instead of delete: If a rule is temporary, disable it rather than removing it.
• Test after applying: Review timesheets after applying rates to confirm RDO lines appear at the start of the shift and totals are correct. Deduction Line entries show in both the table view and the calendar view (as a distinct "RDO Deduction" card with a negative amount).

RDO calendar days and auto leave timesheets

Separately from accrual, you can mark specific dates as RDO days on a public holiday calendar. That does two things.

Workers who work that day are matched to the RDO calendar rate in their rule group, the same way a public holiday date is matched.

Workers who have the day off can have an RDO leave timesheet created for them automatically — RDO calendars behave like public holiday calendars in this respect. Pay processing creates a leave timesheet coded RDO at standard hours (7:36, 7:00–14:36), so the day reaches the payroll summary without a manager or worker entering it through site diary or a leave request. Pay for it comes from the RDO leave rule in your pay rate document — configure leave rules in each rule group to match the leave type RDO.

When an RDO leave timesheet is and isn't created

Auto-creation is deliberately conservative. All of the following must be true:

• Pay processing has run over that date. These timesheets are created during pay rate processing, not by the import itself. That means either clicking Apply Pay Rates for a period covering the RDO date, or having Auto-apply pay rates switched on, in which case importing timesheets kicks processing off for you. With auto-apply off, importing a week of timesheets on its own creates nothing.
• The RDO date is on the calendar that worker actually uses. Each worker uses exactly one calendar. If your RDO dates sit on a different calendar from the one a worker resolves to, those dates are never seen for them — see Workers in more than one calendar.
• The worker worked during the period. They need at least one real (imported or manually entered) labour timesheet somewhere in the date range being processed. Someone with no timesheets at all that period gets nothing, so workers who have left or were away for the whole period don't collect phantom RDO days.
• The date is completely empty for that worker. Any existing timesheet on the RDO date — labour or leave — stops creation. This is stricter than public holidays, which only check for a labour timesheet. If your imported timesheets already cover the RDO day (for example coded to an RDO activity), nothing is added on top.
• The worker's employment type is included. The RDO auto leave timesheets card on the Public Holiday Calendars settings page limits which employment types are eligible. It is set separately from the public holiday card — configuring one does not configure the other. Under include only, workers with no employment type set are excluded.

If a real timesheet later arrives for a date an auto leave timesheet was created for, the auto one is removed on the next processing run so the day isn't counted twice. Picnic day dates are never auto-created.

What's Next

• Set up Public Holiday Calendars to mark RDO dates and enable RDO auto leave timesheets
• Return to Rule Groups to configure other rule types
• Set up Allowance Rules for activity-based payments — including allowances that are payable on leave timesheets such as RDO taken
• Configure Shift Rules for time-based rate multipliers
• Learn about Cost Code Linking for accurate project costing