Australian Award Calculators

How the award system works

Most Australian shift workers aren’t paid on a single national minimum — they’re covered by one of 122 modern awards, legal documents set by the Fair Work Commission that spell out the minimum pay and conditions for an industry or occupation. Hospitality has one. Retail has one. Care, construction, clerks — each has its own.

Every award answers the same three questions for each person on your roster:

• What level are they? Awards classify people by the skill and responsibility their work requires — each classification level has its own minimum hourly rate.
• When do they work? Evenings, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays attract penalty rates on top of the base rate, and hours beyond 38 a week become overtime. Casuals add a 25% loading.
• What sits on top? Superannuation (12% of ordinary-time earnings), allowances, and a 17.5% annual leave loading in many awards.

If nobody’s award covers an employee, the National Minimum Wage applies — $26.44 an hour from 1 July 2026. But for most shift businesses, the award is the number that matters, and getting the level or a penalty wrong is where underpayment claims begin.

These calculators do that work for you: each one is tuned to a specific award’s classification levels and penalty tables, current as of 1 July 2026.