Commercial Sales Award Pay Rates 2026-27

Commercial Sales Award Pay Rates by Level

Adult minimum rates for full-time and part-time employees under the Commercial Sales Award 2020. Part-time employees are paid the same hourly rate as full-time employees at their classification — the difference is hours, not rate. The casual column adds the 25% loading (cl 11.1(a)).

Weekly rates are the award’s minimum weekly rate for a full-time employee (cl 15.1); hourly is the weekly rate divided by 38.

Which level am I?

• Probationary Traveller: Paid 90% of the Commercial Traveller / Advertising Sales Representative weekly rate (cl 15.1 footnote).
• Merchandiser: Stocks, displays and promotes product in outlets (cl 4.1).
• Commercial Traveller / Advertising Sales Representative: Sells goods or advertising to customers away from the employer's premises. A Commercial Traveller can never be paid solely by commission, salary or retainer below this minimum rate (cl 15.4).

Worked example: a sales rep's Saturday trade show

Chen is a full-time Commercial Traveller ($29.55 an hour) who works 8 hours on a Saturday at a trade show.

1. Saturday work is paid at 150% of the minimum hourly rate, with a minimum payment of 2 hours (cl 19.1(b)): $29.55 × 1.5 = $44.33 an hour.
2. 8 hours × $44.33 = $354.64 before tax.

A casual Commercial Traveller doing the same shift is paid 175% ($51.71 an hour, $413.68). If Chen also travelled to the event on a public holiday, the travel time is paid at 150% with a 3-hour minimum (cl 25.4).

Try your own hours in the overtime pay calculator or the casual loading calculator, add up a full week in the weekly pay calculator, or check the public holiday pay guide.

Commercial Sales Award Pay Guide 2026-27: Every Level, Every Day

The hourly rate for each classification at each penalty band, in the layout of the Fair Work pay guide. Find your level, then the day you worked.

Full-time and part-time

Casual

Casual figures are the award's casual percentages, which already include the 25% loading where it applies. Figures are rounded to the cent. A dash means the column does not apply to that classification.

Commercial Sales Award Penalty Rates

The Commercial Sales Award lets ordinary hours be worked on any day of the week (cl 13.3), but pays a higher rate for any work after 6.00 pm on a weekday, on a Saturday or on a Sunday. In practice these are the overtime-style rates the pay guide prints in its ordinary and penalty rates table.

Casual rates are the permanent percentage plus the 25% loading: 150% becomes 175%, 200% becomes 225%, 250% becomes 275% (cl 19.2 NOTE, Schedule A.2.1).

Commercial Sales Award Overtime Rates

Full-time and part-time employees: 150% of the minimum hourly rate after 6.00 pm or beyond ordinary hours Monday to Friday, 150% on a Saturday and 200% on a Sunday (cl 19.1). Casuals: 175%, 175% and 225% (cl 19.2).

Ordinary hours are an average of 38 a week with a maximum of 152 over 28 consecutive days and no more than 10 on any day (cl 13.2–13.4).

Commercial Sales Award Junior Rates

Junior rates are a percentage of the Commercial Traveller / Advertising Sales Representative rate (cl 15.3), and apply to the Commercial Traveller / Advertising Sales Representative rate. This award applies the percentage to the adult hourly rate, so the dollar columns are the percentage of Commercial Traveller / Advertising Sales Representative ($29.55 an hour). The full adult rate applies from age 21.

For how junior scales compare across awards and against the National Minimum Wage, see our junior pay rates guide.

Commercial Sales Award Allowances

Fixed-dollar allowances in cl 17.2, operative from 1 July 2026. Each is paid only where the clause’s conditions are met.

Minimum Shifts and Hours

• A casual must be engaged and paid for at least 2 consecutive hours each time they attend work (cl 11.3).
• Employers must reimburse reasonable expenses actually and properly incurred, including parking, 3-star accommodation, meals when away overnight and the cost of garaging for an employee on the living-away allowance (cl 17.2(f)).
• A Commercial Traveller or Probationary Traveller cannot be paid solely by commission, salary or retainer lower than the minimum rate (cl 15.4).

What This Page Does Not Cover

These parts of the award carry rules or rates we have not verified line by line, so we publish no figures for them:

• Whether this award covers you: it does not cover employees under the Clerks—Private Sector, Contract Call Centres or Graphic Arts, Printing and Publishing awards, and it gives way to any other modern award with a classification for the work (cl 4)
• Trainee rates (Schedule E to the Miscellaneous Award) and the supported wage system (Schedule C)
• Commission arrangements, which sit above the minimum rate and are set by contract

An enterprise agreement, if one covers your workplace, replaces these award rates — though it must leave you better off overall.

When These Rates Took Effect

Applies from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026, not universally 1 July. If your pay period began before 1 July 2026, the previous rate lawfully applies to that whole period and the rise starts with the next one. The award was varied by determination PR799363 following the Annual Wage Review 2026. If you have been paid below these rates, our backpay calculator works out what is owed.

Frequently Asked Questions