Rained Off After Arrival: What Must a Farm Worker Be Paid?

Featured image: AI-generated fictional illustration of a weather-interrupted farm day.

The crew has arrived, rain stops the work and the supervisor sends everyone home. The field decision may be straightforward. The pay decision needs more information: who employs each worker, what employment conditions apply and whether they were required to attend.

Check the employment arrangement first

This guide concerns national-system employment and the Horticulture Award 2020. An enterprise agreement, a different award or an employment contract may affect the answer. Full-time, part-time, casual and piecework arrangements cannot all be treated as a single weather rule.

For labour hire workers, give the actual employer a clear attendance and interruption record. A host’s instruction to finish field work does not, by itself, determine the employer’s payroll obligation.

An hourly casual who is required to attend

Clause 11.3 of the Horticulture Award requires a casual employee to be engaged and paid for at least two consecutive hours on each occasion they are required to attend work.

In a hypothetical example, an hourly paid adult casual is required to start at 7 am on a weekday, works for 30 minutes and is sent home because of rain. Paying only the 30 minutes would not satisfy that two-hour minimum. Calculate the payment using the applicable classification and casual rate, together with any other relevant entitlement.

Two hours is a minimum, not a cap on payment for a longer shift. The Award also contains a three-hour minimum for employees required to work on Sunday, at clause 21.3(e). Check the relevant provision and rate for the actual day. Pieceworkers have separate daily minimum-pay provisions under clause 15.2; do not simply apply this hourly example to a piecework arrangement.

A cancellation before attendance is a different question

Suppose the provider tells a worker before they leave that the proposed shift is cancelled. That is a different set of facts from requiring someone to attend and then sending them home. Check the roster, engagement arrangements, agreed hours and applicable instrument before deciding the payment.

Do not use the absence of attendance as a blanket reason to remove the pay of an ongoing full-time or part-time employee. Equally, do not promise every cancelled casual shift the same payment without checking what was agreed and what the relevant rules require.

Bad weather does not automatically permit unpaid stand down

The Fair Work Ombudsman’s weather guidance explains that pay depends on the applicable employment instrument. It also warns that an employer cannot stand employees down simply because business is quiet or there is insufficient work due to bad weather.

An unpaid stand down needs a proper legal basis. Establish that basis before applying it to payroll; a description such as “rained off” on a timesheet does not establish it. Safety decisions and employment entitlements should both be assessed, without making the crew continue unsafe work to avoid a pay question.

Keep the facts needed for a correct pay decision

Use a short weather interruption record rather than a vague note:

• The worker, actual employer and employment arrangement.
• The required start, arrival, work, waiting and finish times.
• Who issued the cancellation or finish instruction, and when.
• What work stopped, why, and whether other suitable work was available.
• The award or agreement and the payment treatment confirmed by payroll.

Where a worker disputes the record, preserve both accounts and check the supporting messages and supervisor notes. Our payroll records handover guide explains why a clear transfer of information matters.

For PALM workers, also check the scheme and placement obligations. Our PALM weather disruption guide addresses that additional layer. Resolving an Award minimum alone does not settle every responsibility arising from a disrupted placement.

Rules checked 2 October 2026 against the Award consolidated through 1 July 2026 and current FWO guidance. General information; assess the actual employment instrument and facts before processing pay.

About the author

Hari Yellina is Chief Executive Officer at Orchard Tech. View his profile and more articles.