Overview
- Casual
- Weekly
- Factory
- Touring
A shift or Job cancellation may be due; to
- A Job being entirely cancelled by a Client; or
- A Job being postponed by a Client; or
- The work requirements of the Job, warehouse or office change; or
- A major delay forces a complete stoppage of work (but work on the Job will resume later)
Shift and Job cancellations
Weekly employees
- Weekly
- Factory
- Touring
Weekly employees scheduled to undertake work on a Job or other non-Job-specific shifts that are cancelled may be scheduled to attend another Job or may be assigned to work in the warehouse or on administration tasks.
If an employee is due RDOs or owed Rest Days, these may also be allocated instead.
Payment for shift or Job cancellation
Salaried employees’ weekly wage does not change if shifts or Jobs are cancelled.
Casual employees
- Casual
- Factory
- Touring
The company appreciates that casual employees rely on scheduled work for their livelihood. Of course, casual employees understand that the company has a limited capacity and no legal obligation to pay casual employees when they have not worked (provided the notice periods have been met).
When necessary, MPH can cancel a casual employee’s shifts at short notice but MPH schedules casual staff on a best effort and good-faith basis, and cancellations are rare; typically, only occurring when circumstances are beyond MPH’s control.
If a shift is being cancelled, the company will offer alternate work options if available.
See also: Payment for Job cancellation
Payment for Job cancellation
- Casual
- Touring
If an MPH Job is cancelled within 14 business days of an employee’s scheduled start date and time, and MPH will receive full or part payment for the Job, casual employees who had been scheduled on that Job will receive the same percentage of payment the company is due to receive, based on their usual hourly rate. For example,
➡️ Alex was scheduled to work a Job. It was cancelled 13 days before the scheduled start date. MPH and the Client agree that 50% payment is acceptable. Alex was scheduled to earn $1506 for the work. Alex receives a Job Cancellation payment of $753 (50% of $1506).
Cancellation Payments occur after the agreed MPH invoice for that Job has been paid by the Client.
Confirmation of negotiated terms with our Client will be provided to employees via email by the Managing Director (the Payroll Officer is CCd) once the terms have been settled.
For example,
MPH had the Lewis Capaldi 2023 tour scheduled months in advance, with five casual crew booked for a total of 10 workdays (at 10h per day). 13 days before the first show, the promoter advises the artist has cancelled for health reasons.
It takes MPH four weeks to negotiate and confirm cancellation terms with the promoter and it’s agreed MPH will receive 25% of the Job value as a cancellation fee.
The Managing Director emails the five casual crew who were booked on the Job to advise them of the good news.
It takes a further two weeks for the promoter to pay MPH. Upon receiving payment, the five casual crew who were booked on the Job are paid in the next pay run e.g.,
(10h x $46.48) x 10 days = $4,648 * 0.25 (25%) = $1,162 cancelation fee paid to each casual employee.
This example uses the casual Technical Supervisor hourly rate. For other hourly rates, substitute $46.48 for the applicable rate.
Shift cancellation notice period
- Casual
- Touring
- Factory
When an employee is not engaged to undertake work for an entire Job but instead, is working “standalone” shifts (for example, those associated with a Job, Admin, Service or Warehouse duties) the following shift cancellation notice periods apply:
| Notice period | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 3 or more hours before the shift is scheduled to start | No payment received |
| 2.99 or fewer hours before the shift is scheduled to start | Employee receives payment for the Minimum Call Time (3 hours). |
| During a shift (3 or fewer hours worked) | Employee receives payment for the Minimum Call Time (3 hours). |
| During a shift (3+ hours worked) | No notice required |
For example,
✅ Jaan has a series of shifts booked for work in the Warehouse starting 09:00 Tuesday (then, 09:00 Wed and 09:00 Thu). MPH calls to cancel all their shifts at 16:00 Monday – 17h before the first shift is due to start. Jaan does not receive any payment for the cancelled shift.
✅ Arri has a 7h shift booked for 09:00 Tuesday. MPH calls to cancel the shift at 08:00 Tuesday morning – one hour before the shift is due to start. The Crew and Logistics Manager revises the shift to be 3h in Workforce. Arri gets paid for three hours, but does not have to work for that pay, due to the late notice shift cancellation.
✅ Haro was scheduled for an 8h workday today and has worked six of those hours. The required work was completed sooner than expected, so Haro’s services are no longer required. Haro has worked more than the Minimum Call Time so is paid for the hours they worked (but not the full 8 hours as originally scheduled).
The company works to design shifts and organise work so shifts are not cancelled at all (or cancelled part-way through), but sometimes it is necessary.
On-Job Paid Standdown
- Casual
- Weekly
- Touring
An On-Job Paid Standdown applies when a major delay forces a complete but temporary stoppage of work on a Job.
An On-Job Paid Standdown is not the same as a Paid Standdown such as an employee being placed on Gardening Leave.
In this context, an employee is placed on an On-Job Paid Standdown if:
- They are rostered to work; and
- There are no duties MPH can assign the employee to; and
- They are instructed to clock-off by a manager or supervisor; and
- One of these events has occurred;
- Major delays to the Job (days); or
- Force Majeure (for example, natural disaster; pandemic)
MPH employees are only placed on an On-Job Paid Standdown with the approval of the Job’s Technical Supervisor, the Crew and Logistics Manager and Managing Director.
When placed on an On-Job Paid Standdown employees are paid for their scheduled hours or for 10h, whichever is less.
When an On-Job Paid Standdown occurs, the same amount of work typically still needs to be completed just at a later stage. MPH may assign additional crew in these circumstances or equipment on the Job may be cut to accommodate the shorter time frames.
Often the result is longer subsequent shifts than originally scheduled for after an On-Job Paid Standdown, for example,
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Hours | RDO | 8h | 8h | 10h | 10h | 12h | 12h | 60h |
| Hours Worked | RDO | 8h | 8h | 10h Paid Standdown |
10h Paid Standdown |
15h | 15h | 66h |
Employees who find themselves on an On-Job Paid Standdown may be assigned other duties, but managers consider that the Job usually requires the same work to be done in a condensed timeframe. Offering Paid Standdown as a rest period may be appropriate to account for this.
Employees are expected to hold themselves In Readiness for Work when on Paid Standdown as they may be called back to work at short notice.
For example:
👉🏽 Example 1: A full two-day stoppage of work
On Jay Chou 2024 Sydney, there were major delays due to issues with the stage setup, resulting in a complete stoppage of the LX load-in. This meant the scheduled MPH work of two 10h days was not able to be done, but the load-in will still need to be completed when work can resumes on site.
Outcome – Casual employees: Placed on a two-day Paid Standdown and paid for two 10h days plus all subsequent hours when work resumes.
Outcome – Weekly employees: Placed on a two-day Paid Standdown. Though no work is undertaken, two 10h shifts are entered in the employee’s timesheets with these hours counting toward offset payments but not toward Maximum Working Times.
👉🏽 Example 2: A planned two-day stoppage but work resumes on Day 2
There’s a high fire danger alert and all work on a festival site is stopped. Day 1 of the stoppage was scheduled for an 8h day and Day 2 for 12h. On Day 2, the fire danger has passed and work on the Job resumes with employees working for 5h on that day.
Outcome – Casuals: Placed on Paid Standdown. Paid 10h for Day 1 and for Day 2 employees are paid for 5h work and receive a 5h “top up” so they are paid a total of 10h for Day 2.
Outcome – Weekly employees: Placed on Paid Standdown. 10h entered in timesheets for Day 1 and for Day 2, 5h of work clocked by the employee and an additional 5h “top up” added. These hours count toward offset payments but not Maximum Working Times.
Some employees on the same Job may still be scheduled to work, while others are on Paid Standdown; the Fatigue Management Policy and employees’ skillsets are considered when making these decisions.
Those working while others on the same Job are on Paid Standdown are paid for the hours they work or for 10h, whichever is greater.
For Weekly employees, hours on Paid Standdown contribute toward Offsets.
For all employees Paid Standdown hours do not contribute toward Maximum Working Times.