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Am I Being Paid Correctly? Award Rates and Penalty Rates Explained
Your minimum pay comes from the award or agreement that covers your job, your level in it and when you work. Weekends and late nights can pay more, so check every shift against Fair Work's Pay and Conditions Tool, not just your weekday rate.
By MarnixPublished Sources
Someone at work mentions what they got for last Sunday's shift, and it's more than you'd have earned for the same hours. You both do the same job, so either they're on a different deal or one of you is being paid the wrong amount. It isn't obvious where the right number comes from.
Your award or agreement sets the minimum. Once you know which covers your job and your level, you have a starting point for checking your payslip.
Your minimum rate comes from an award
Most jobs in Australia are covered by an award: a legal document that sets the minimum pay and conditions for an industry or kind of work, such as hospitality, retail or fast food. Your employer can pay you more than the award, but not less. It can also set extras such as leave loading, paid when you take annual leave.
Some workplaces have a registered enterprise agreement instead, made for that business and approved by the Fair Work Commission. If one covers you, its rates replace the award's. A job with no award or agreement at all is paid at least the national minimum wage, which is $26.44 an hour for adults from 1 July 2026. The minimum wage guide explains what that comes to in a week.
If you don't know your award, payroll can tell you, and it's often printed on your payslip. Fair Work's awards page also has a short Find my award form that works it out from your industry and the work you do.
Your level and your hours set the rate
Inside each award, jobs are sorted into levels, called classifications. Your level depends on the duties you actually do, not your job title, and it can go up when your duties or qualifications change. Waiting tables and taking payments in a pub, for example, is Level 2 under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award.
Then the time you work changes the rate. If you're casual, every hour includes a casual loading, generally an extra 25% on top of the base rate in place of paid leave. The guide to casual versus part-time pay compares what that loading is worth over a year. On top of that, penalty rates are higher rates for working at certain times, such as weekends, late nights or public holidays. Here's what one casual hour pays at Level 2 of the hospitality award.
One casual hour, Hospitality Industry (General) Award, Level 2, adult rates
Base rate $27.08. Casual rates include the 25% loading. Rates from 1 July 2026, Fair Work Commission.
The Sunday hour pays $13.54 more than the weekday one for the same work. Other awards use different percentages and times, so the ladder for a retail or fast food job won't match this one exactly. Public holidays sit at the top of most ladders, and the public holiday pay guide covers how they work for casuals and part-timers. Hours beyond your award's limits can count as overtime, which has rates of its own, explained in the overtime guide.
Check the week, not just the hourly rate
A rate that sounds generous can still come up short. Some employers pay one flat hourly rate for every shift, which needs a valid arrangement covering the award entitlements, with enough pay for the hours worked. A flat rate that beats the weekday rate can fall behind as soon as you work weekends.
Here's a made-up example. Jess is 23 and works casually behind the bar of a pub, at Level 2 of the hospitality award. She's paid a flat $35 an hour, which is more than the award's weekday rate. Last week she worked a five-hour daytime shift on Thursday and six hours on each of Saturday and Sunday.
Made-up example. Award rates from 1 July 2026.
Jess's total pay is $102 below the award total. That's about $5,300 across 52 identical working weeks. The amount owed depends on any valid arrangement covering the entitlements; underpayment can also leave super unpaid.
That's why it helps to check a full pay period against your payslip, shift by shift. Our payslip guide shows where the hours, rates and gross pay sit on a payslip, so you know which lines to compare.
Look up your exact rate
Fair Work's free Pay and Conditions Tool, often called the Fair Work pay calculator, works out your minimum rate for each shift. It helps to have these ready:
- your award and your level, or a description of what you do
- whether you're casual, part-time or full-time
- your age, because many awards pay lower junior rates under 21
- the date of each shift and its start and finish times.
The tool works from awards, so its result won't match an enterprise agreement's rates. Keep a note of each shift as you work it, with breaks, because your own record is what you'll compare against.
If your pay comes up short
A wrong level can cause a pay mistake. Payroll is a useful first contact: point to your shifts and the rates you found. If that doesn't sort it out, Fair Work suggests putting it in writing and then calling its Infoline on 13 13 94. Asking about your pay is a workplace right, so your employer can't treat you worse for raising it.
Back pay for the missing amount, and the super on it, is owed to you even if the mistake has run for months. The payslip guide includes an example of how to word that first message to payroll.
Plan around the pay you can count on
Penalty rates mean a roster heavy on weekends pays very differently from a weekday one, so your pay can swing from week to week even when the hours don't. A useful habit is to plan the regular costs around a lighter week and give the extra from weekend-heavy weeks a job when it arrives. Budgeting on an irregular income walks through that.
Clova, the budgeting app we're building, gives each pay its own plan for bills, spending and goals as it lands, whatever size that pay turns out to be.
Checking your rate once, properly, means every payslip after it is quicker to read. You'll know your award, your level and what a Sunday should pay, and that's enough to spot when something is off.
A note from us
A pay rate you've looked up yourself is one you can plan around with confidence. Clova starts every plan from the pay that actually lands, which is why we care that it's the right amount.