Kroeger v Mornington Peninsula Shire Council

In *Kroeger v Mornington Peninsula Shire Council*, the applicant, Ms Kroeger, brought proceedings against her employer, the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, alleging a failure to correctly calculate and pay overtime. Ms Kroeger contended that her overtime entitlements should have been calculated by aggregating the hours worked across two separate positions she held with the respondent.

The central legal issue before Judge Blake was whether the respondent was obligated to calculate Ms Kroeger's overtime entitlements on a cumulative basis, taking into account the hours worked in both of her employment roles. This required the court to consider the application of established principles regarding the calculation of overtime, particularly in circumstances where an employee holds multiple positions with the same employer.

Judge Blake found the present matter to be indistinguishable from the decision in *Lacson*. Applying the principles established in *Lacson*, the court determined that the respondent was indeed required to calculate overtime by aggregating the hours worked across both of Ms Kroeger's positions. The court reasoned that the nature of the employment and the employer's obligation to pay overtime were not altered by the fact that the hours were accrued in separate roles. The court ordered that the respondent pay the applicant the overtime entitlements calculated on a cumulative basis.