‹ Australian Award CalculatorsFREE CALCULATOR · MA000094

Fitness Award Pay Calculator

Work out what a week under the Fitness Award actually pays — the right level, weekend penalties, the 30% casual weekend loading and super, calculated the way the award says.

How the Fitness Award is applied

Minimum rates are set per level — the calculator uses the adult rates from clause 15.1, current from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.
Casual loading is 25% Monday to Friday — and 30% on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. A payroll system set to a flat 25% underpays every weekend shift.
Full-time and part-time weekend/PH pay is tiered — 125% Saturday, 150% Sunday, 250% public holiday. Casuals work differently: they get a flat 130% (the minimum hourly rate plus the 30% loading) for any ordinary hour on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday — not the permanent tiered rate with 30% added on top.
Overtime applies beyond 38 ordinary weekly hours: 150% for the first 2 hours, then 200% — note the first tier is 2 hours, shorter than most awards. Casual loading is not paid on overtime, so casual overtime equals the same 150%/200% as full-time and part-time.
Public holiday work for full-time/part-time staff is 250% with a 4-hour minimum engagement; for casuals it’s the flat 130% weekend/PH rate with a 3-hour minimum engagement.
Superannuation (12%) applies to ordinary-time earnings, including penalty rates — but not to overtime.

Who the award covers

Gyms, health clubs and fitness centres — instructors, personal trainers and floor staff
Swim schools — swimming and water safety teachers and coaches
Gymnastics clubs and accredited gymnastics coaches
Tennis coaching and tennis centre professionals
Pool lifeguards and aquatic centre staff
Reception, front desk and administrative staff in fitness businesses

Leisure and recreation centres where fitness classes aren’t the main activity sit under the Amusement, Events and Recreation Award, and registered clubs have the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award — check before you classify.

Which level is your team member?

The Fitness Award has nine pay points — Levels 1 to 7, plus two “A” levels (3A and 4A) that recognise AQF Certificate III and IV qualifications. Most gym and aquatic teams sit between Levels 1 and 4A; Levels 5 to 7 are for diploma-qualified specialists and genuine supervisors. Swim teachers and coaches climb the ladder by logged teaching hours and professional development, not just time served.

Level	Per hour	Per week (38h)	Typical roles	The test
Level 1	$25.74	$978.10	Counter/reception assistant · Trainee swim teacher · General assistant	Works under direct supervision after in-house training: counter duties, bookings, member enquiries, tidying and structured learning alongside senior staff.
Level 2	$26.44	$1004.90	Beginner swim teacher · Junior/assistant swim coach · Accredited gymnastics coach · Pool attendant	Six months (or 456 hours) at Level 1, a swim-teacher or coach qualification, or a Gymnastics Australia accreditation — works to instructions under direct supervision.
Level 3	$27.97	$1062.90	Experienced swim teacher · Bronze Licence swim coach · Qualified pool lifeguard	Works under general supervision within defined responsibility, supervising Level 1–2 staff when asked — or has banked the award’s teaching/coaching hour thresholds.
Level 3A	$29.45	$1119.10	Fitness instructor (Cert III) · Tennis coach (Cert III)	Does Level 3 work and holds a relevant AQF Certificate III in Fitness or Sport Coaching — and actually uses it.
Level 4	$30.66	$1165.10	Senior swim teacher/coach · Senior pool lifeguard (team leader)	Works under limited supervision, exercising initiative and judgment; receives broad instructions with work checked only intermittently.
Level 4A	$32.13	$1221.10	Personal trainer (Cert IV) · Tennis centre Club Professional	Does Level 4 work and holds a relevant AQF Certificate IV in Fitness or Sport Coaching — and actually uses it.
Level 5	$33.87	$1287.20	Fitness Trainer / Fitness Specialist (Diploma) · High performance tennis coach	Diploma-qualified, able to build programs for special groups, exercising high initiative — and can supervise Level 4 staff when asked.
Level 6	$33.58	$1276.00	Front desk supervisor · Floor supervisor · Trade-qualified person	Supervises, trains and rosters the staff in their work area — or oversees the day-to-day activities of the business.
Level 7	$34.89	$1325.70	Centre coordinator · Senior supervisor · In-house training developer	Substantial responsibility and independent judgment: maintains service and operational standards and directs the work of others across the centre.

The “A” levels are qualification gates: a Certificate III fitness instructor who instructs is at least Level 3A, and a Certificate IV personal trainer who trains is at least Level 4A.
Swim teachers, swim coaches and gymnastics coaches progress by accumulating recognised qualifications and paid teaching or coaching hours — disputes about a level can go to the Fair Work Commission.
The ladder isn’t strictly monotonic: Level 5 ($33.87/hr, the Diploma specialist) actually pays more than Level 6 ($33.58/hr, the working supervisor). Classify by the definitions, not the order.
Level 1 is genuinely entry-level — but anyone responsible for any part of swim teaching without direct supervision must be Level 2 or above.

Allowances that can apply on top

Base rates and penalties aren’t the whole pay picture. The Fitness Award adds allowances for particular duties and situations — being the designated first aid officer, working overtime without notice, using your own car. They’re small lines individually, but they’re legal entitlements and they add up. The common ones (1 July 2026 amounts):

Broken shift allowance$18.07/day, plus $2.15/day for excess fares

First aid allowance$3.40/day

Leading hand/supervisor allowance (Levels 1–4A) — in charge of 1–5 / 6–10 / more than 10 employees$31.89 · $43.58 · $58.46 per week (full-time/part-time); $0.84 · $1.15 · $1.54 per hour, capped at the same weekly maximums (part-time/casual)

Meal allowance — overtime worked without notice, more than 1.5 hours after ordinary hours$15.59

Sleepover allowance3 hours’ pay at the minimum hourly rate

Vehicle allowance — own car used for work$1.00/km

Vehicle allowance — own motorcycle used for work$0.33/km

Fares, laundry and special clothing reimbursementReimbursed at reasonable cost

Annual leave loading17.5% on paid annual leave

The calculator below doesn’t include allowances — add the ones that apply to your team on top of the result. The full list lives in the award’s allowances clause.

Break entitlements under the Fitness Award

Breaks are part of the award too — and missed or worked-through breaks usually carry a penalty rate, so they belong in the roster, not just the tea room. Here’s what the Fitness Award requires:

Meal breakAn unpaid meal break of 30–60 minutes, no later than 5 hours after starting work (and no more than 5 hours after any previous meal break).

Working through a meal breakPaid at 200% of the minimum hourly rate until a break is allowed.

Rest breaksA paid 10-minute rest break in each half of the day — except casuals on shifts of 3 hours or less.

From the award’s breaks clause (clause 14). Verify the current award text before relying on it.

Calculate a week under the Fitness Award

Enter the week as it’s actually rostered. Weekend, evening and public-holiday hours are paid at the award’s penalty rates; anything beyond 38 hours is priced as overtime; super is applied to ordinary-time earnings only.

Classification levelEmployment typeState or territoryWeekday hoursSaturday hoursFull-time/part-time: 125% penalty rate. Casual: a flat 130% (minimum hourly rate + the award’s 30% weekend/PH loading) — not the permanent penalty plus 30% on top.Sunday hoursFull-time/part-time: 150% penalty rate. Casual: the same flat 130% that applies to any Saturday, Sunday or public holiday ordinary hour.Public holiday hoursFull-time/part-time: 250%, minimum 4 hours. Casual: the same flat 130% as Saturday/Sunday, minimum 3 hours — confirmed against the FWO pay guide, not a standard-reading guess.

Rates current as of 1 July 2026 (adult minimums, MA000094) — first full pay period on or after that date.

This week’s numbers

Nothing is stored or sent — the maths runs on this page.

Are these the exact legal rates?

The classification minimums are the adult rates from clause 15.1, current at 1 July 2026 (confirmed against the FWO’s official MA000094 pay guide). Treat the result as a planning number and confirm against the award or your payroll adviser.

What’s the difference between Level 3 and Level 3A?

A certificate. Level 3A is Level 3 work plus a relevant AQF Certificate III — Fitness or Sport Coaching — that the employee actually uses. The same pattern repeats at Level 4A with a Certificate IV. If your instructor is Cert III-qualified and instructing, 3A is the floor.

My casual works Saturdays — is the loading still 25%?

No — 30%. But it doesn’t work like the full-time/part-time penalty table: instead of 125% Saturday, 150% Sunday and 250% public holiday, a casual simply gets a flat 130% (the ordinary rate plus the 30% loading) for any of those three days. It’s a genuinely different mechanism, not the permanent rate plus 30% on top — mixing the two overpays casuals on Sundays and public holidays.

Does super apply to penalty rates?

Yes — weekend and public-holiday pay on ordinary hours is ordinary-time earnings, so the 12% super guarantee applies. True overtime is excluded. The calculator applies exactly that split.

This is a general calculator, not legal advice. It applies the award’s published adult minimums to the hours you enter — it can’t see your enterprise agreement, allowances or individual arrangements, and junior, apprentice and shiftwork rates differ. Always confirm pay against the award, your agreement or your adviser. If you believe something here is materially wrong or out of date, please contact us — we’ll review it promptly.

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Tommy applies the right award rates to every shift as you roster — penalties, loading and super included. Start with your email and your numbers come along.