Special rates are used to allow you to override the base rate for the employee for a timesheet. These rates can be applied to either a part of or the whole of a shift. 


Please note: Prior to proceeding to ensure that the employee's requiring the rates have a Rate Set linked to their Employee setup, this is located on the Pay tab on their Employee Details screen.


The following example shows how to make the adjustment for the employee, for the purposes to show how this affects the costings it is being done within the payroll however these rates can be set prior to this point within the roster screen or directly through the timesheet screen.


The following shows an employee that is being paid a set $20 per hour and has an 8-hour timesheet, the employee is being paid a total of $160


Now say that the employee needs to be paid an additional amount for an extra duty that they perform.
For this purpose, we will adjust their rate to $25/h to allow for a one-off First Aid role that the employee is responsible for between 13:00-17:00.  


  1. Open the Timesheets screen

    Select the timesheet, then click the Edit button.

  2. Select the Rates button.

  3. Click the Add button and select the relevant option from the list, for beginner users we suggest using the Add using shift times option.

  4. This will add a Manual Rate for the full time of the shift for the employee,

    From there you can adjust the start and end time for the Rate as well as the payment type ie whether you want to base the payment on a
    - Flat $ amount,
    - Percentage,
    - + / - of the employee's base rate.

    For this example, we are going to use a flat rate of $25 and set the time to apply the rate between 13:00-17:00.

  5. Save and close to return back to the payroll screen.

    Note that now there is an additional line for the special rate that we just set up on the payroll screen for the time between 13:00-17:00 for $25


Custom Names for Special Rates at Payroll


You may have a scenario where you are required to set a custom name for the special rate on the timesheet to identify the payment to the staff member. To do this you will need to pre-define the rate for the employee. this can be done through the rates manager or directly from the timesheet rates screen.

  1. Follow the steps 1-4 from the above.

  2. If you have previously set a special rate you can select it from the list

    If it is not already in the listing, click the "..." button next to this listing

  3. This will open the employee's Rates Manager on the Special Rates tab, from there you can add and remove rates that relate to the employee attached to this rateset.

    We are going to add a custom First Aid rate for $25/h. To do this click the Add button.

    Give it a Name, Set the Type to "Flat $" and set the Rate to $25


    If desired you have the option to set a role against the rate for additional costing purposes.

  4. Save and close to the Time Sheet Breakdowns screen and set the Special Rate dropdown to the new option.

  5. Save and close back to the payroll screen.

    Note that now the text for the Manual Rate has now changed to the text provided for the special rate, in this case, it is "First Aid"


Special Rates Additional Payment Options


You may have a scenario where another payment condition is affecting the special rate and you wish to override this to prevent this from affecting your changes. The Timesheet Special Rate has the following options available to achieve this.


  1. Defer - Allows you to move the payment of the timesheet rate out of the payroll to a future period.
  2. Exclude from O/T - Allows you to ignore overtime conditions that may affect the base amount for this rate.
  3. Exclude from penalties/loadings - Allows you to ignore any penalties or loading conditions that will affect the base amount for this rate.
  4. Exclude from Super - Prevents this amount from being included in the super calculation.


These options are available from the Pay Options dropdown from the special rates screen.