Horticulture Award Pay Rates 2026-27

Horticulture Award Pay Rates by Level

Hourly adult minimum rates (the rate a time-paid worker, or a pieceworker's floor, must receive) for full-time and part-time employees under the Horticulture 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 11.2(a)).

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

Which level am I?

• Level 1: A new employee doing routine manual work under direct supervision, including general labouring and fruit or vegetable picking, thinning or pruning. Progresses to Level 2 after no more than 3 months' industry experience (Schedule A.1).
• Level 2: Has 3 months' industry experience; works under general supervision with established routines and exercises limited discretion (Schedule A.2).
• Level 3: Performs work above and beyond Level 2 under routine supervision and exercises discretion within their skills and training (Schedule A.3).
• Level 4: Coordinates work in a team or works individually under general supervision, with knowledge of the production process (Schedule A.4).
• Level 5: Works under minimal supervision, coordinates and schedules approved work in a team, and uses a trade qualification in their duties (Schedule A.5).

Worked example: a casual picker on piece rate versus the hourly floor

Ahmed is a casual Level 1 picker. His hourly rate including the 25% loading is $32.18 ($25.74 × 1.25). On a 7-hour day he picks and is paid by the kilogram.

1. The floor for the day is $32.18 × 7 hours = $225.26. If his piece-rate earnings come to less, the employer must top him up to this amount (cl 15.2(f)).
2. The piece rate itself must be set so that an average-productivity competent picker earns at least $37.01 an hour (115% of $32.18), which is $259.05 over 7 hours.
3. If the same day were a public holiday and Ahmed were on the hourly rate, it would be paid at 225% of $25.74: $57.92 an hour, $405.44 for 7 hours. A pieceworker is paid 200% of the piece rate on a public holiday (cl 27.3).

Slow days, poor crops or a new task can push earnings below the 15% target, but never below the hourly floor. The award requires the employer to keep a record of hours and the piece rate in force for each pieceworker.

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.

Horticulture 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.

Horticulture Award Penalty Rates

There is no Saturday or Sunday penalty for ordinary hours. Ordinary hours for full-time and part-time employees are worked Monday to Friday, or Monday to Saturday by agreement, between 6.00 am and 6.00 pm unless varied by agreement (cl 13.1). Work outside them is overtime.

A casual's ordinary hourly rate is the minimum plus 25% for any hour worked on any day of the week (except public holidays) between 5.00 am and 8.30 pm (cl 13.2(b)), with a further 15% of the ordinary rate between 8.31 pm and 4.59 am.

For a pieceworker the ordinary hours, meal allowance and overtime clauses do not apply (cl 15.2(b)); what applies instead is the hourly-rate floor on each day worked (cl 15.2(f)).

Horticulture Award Overtime Rates

For full-time and part-time employees overtime is all time beyond ordinary hours or outside the 6.00 am to 6.00 pm span (cl 13.1(a)(iv), cl 21.1). Anyone required to work on a Sunday is paid for at least 3 hours (cl 21.3(e)).

A casual's ordinary hours can be worked at any time and any day (cl 13.2(a)), so a casual is paid overtime only for hours beyond 12 in an engagement or day, or beyond 304 ordinary hours over 8 weeks. That overtime is 175% of the ordinary rate, inclusive of the loading (cl 21.4).

Overtime on a public holiday is paid at the public holiday rate: 200% (casuals 225%) (cl 27.3–27.4).

Horticulture Award Junior Rates

Junior rates are a percentage of the adult rate for the classification (cl 15.3), and apply to the adult rate for the classification. The dollar columns apply the percentage to Level 1 ($978.10 a week), round the weekly figure to the nearest $0.10 as the award requires, and divide by 38. The full adult rate applies from age 20.

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

Horticulture Award Allowances

Fixed-dollar allowances in cl 18, 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).
• Full-time and part-time ordinary hours are up to 152 over 4 weeks, up to 8 a day (up to 12 by agreement) (cl 13.1). Casual ordinary hours are up to 304 over 8 weeks and 12 a day (cl 13.2).
• Pieceworkers: the employer must give a written piecework record before the task starts, stating the date, task, piece rate and the hourly rate for the pieceworker (cl 15.2(h)).

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:

• Piece rates: the award sets no dollar piece rate. It requires one that lets an average-productivity worker earn at least 15% more than the hourly rate (cl 15.2(d)), so what a picker is actually paid per bucket, punnet or kilogram is set by the employer and not published here
• Apprentice and trainee rates (the National Training Wage is in Schedule E to the Miscellaneous Award) and the supported wage system (Schedule D)
• Annualised wage arrangements (cl 17) and accident pay (cl 19)

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 PR799309 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