When a cleaner’s week at a home passes 30 hours
The ATO’s pages for this rule are written for the person who pays the worker, and the rule itself is one sentence: “Domestic or private workers are eligible for super guarantee if they work for you for more than 30 hours in a week, regardless of how much you pay them.”
The count is the actual hours of one week, not a monthly or yearly rhythm. In its section on employees under 18, the ATO cites SGD 93/1: the number of hours worked is the actual number of hours worked in that week, and the hours cannot be averaged across fortnightly or monthly pay periods.
The ATO’s line for a domestic or private worker: 30 hours in one week.
Filled: a labour hire licence. A business that supplies workers to clean a commercial premises needs a labour hire licence, the Labour Hire Authority says.
Outlined: no licence. A cleaning business needs no labour hire licence for a home, the Authority says, and a place used as someone’s residence is not part of a commercial premises.
The fine diagonal: long service. For a covered worker in contract cleaning, the portable scheme counts the industry’s years, not the employer’s.
The tally: when a home pays its cleaner directly. The ATO rule for a domestic or private worker: eligible for super guarantee if they work for you more than 30 hours in a week, regardless of pay.
One week, read on its own
The rule’s shape is one week against one line. A domestic or private worker is eligible for super guarantee if they work for the payer for more than 30 hours in a week, regardless of how much they are paid. Nothing on the ATO’s page asks for an average, a rolling figure or a yearly total. In its section on employees under 18, the ATO cites SGD 93/1: the number of hours worked is the actual number of hours worked in that week, and the hours cannot be averaged across fortnightly or monthly pay periods.
The amount being paid does not change the test. The ATO makes the same point twice: super guarantee applies regardless of how much the worker is paid, up to the maximum contribution base. The same 30-hours-in-a-week shape appears elsewhere on the page for another group, in the same words: employees under 18 are eligible if they work for their employer more than 30 hours in a week, regardless of pay. The page’s general rule sits above both: all employees are generally eligible for super guarantee.
The worked example: a short week, then a longer one
Take a cleaner working at a home, paid directly, with two weeks in front of the arrangement. In the first week the work adds up to 25 hours. In the second it adds up to 32. Both figures are the ATO’s own kind of count, the actual hours in that week, and they are read side by side rather than pooled.
Week one, at 25 hours: under the line. The first week’s hours do not reach the ATO’s mark for a domestic or private worker, and the second week does not reach back to change that.
Week two, at 32 hours: over the line. The second week’s hours pass the mark, and the ATO’s test for that week is met on its face, regardless of what the work paid.
The fortnight taken together: 57 hours, and an average of 28.5. That average is not the ATO’s unit. In its section on employees under 18, the ATO cites SGD 93/1: the number of hours worked is the actual number of hours worked in that week, and the hours cannot be averaged across fortnightly or monthly pay periods.
Example figures are used above to walk the rule; the rule is the ATO’s and the tests on its page are the ones that decide an arrangement. The hours, not the calendar and not the total, are what the page asks the payer to count.
Once the week is over the line
When a worker is eligible, the ATO says contributions must be worked out using at least the super guarantee rate, and if enough is not paid on time and to the right fund, the payer becomes liable for a tax called the super guarantee charge. The rate the page states is 12%, with a note that Norfolk Island’s rate is 11% from 1 July 2026 and reaches 12% from 1 July 2027. The contribution is worked out on the worker’s qualifying earnings.
The clock changed recently. From 1 July 2026, super guarantee is paid to the worker’s fund for each payday, and the ATO says it generally needs to be received by the fund, with enough information to allocate it, within 7 business days after pay.
The ATO also carries categories that widen the rule’s reach. Independent contractors paid mainly for their labour are eligible for super guarantee, and the contribution is calculated on the labour component of their invoice, even when they quote an Australian business number, and regardless of how much they earn. A worker who is a temporary resident, such as a backpacker or a working holiday maker, is eligible too. And the page draws the boundary on its own far side: a self-employed person, a sole trader or a partner, does not have to pay super guarantee for themselves.
The ATO’s mark, and the hours counted against it
30 hours in a week is the ATO’s mark for a domestic or private worker, and the hours a home pays for are counted against it. The example week’s home hours are example figures, and they fall below the mark.
The threshold is read on one week, and the hours it counts are the payer’s count of the actual hours worked. In its section on employees under 18, the ATO cites SGD 93/1: the number of hours worked is the actual number of hours worked in that week, and the hours cannot be averaged across fortnightly or monthly pay periods.
The two arrangements a home can have are set side by side in the second guide, and the licence side, the one that never touches a home, is the first guide’s ground. Here the count is the whole subject: hours, one week, and the ATO’s mark across it.