KFC Pay Rates 2026 — Hourly Wage by Age & Level

Which agreement sets KFC pay

KFC fast food staff are paid under the KFC National Enterprise Agreement 2020 (AG2019/4042, AE507798). It covers Team Members (including delivery drivers) and Shift Supervisors at KFC's company restaurants and at the franchisees named in the agreement when the Fair Work Commission approved it (77 employers). Managers are excluded. A franchisee that was not named, or that has its own agreement, is not covered — its staff are paid under that agreement or the Fast Food Industry Award.

• Approved by the Fair Work Commission: 22 April 2020 ([2020] FWCA 2020), operating from 29 April 2020
• Nominal expiry date: 29 April 2024 (passed — the agreement keeps operating until replaced or terminated)
• Employer: Kentucky Fried Chicken Pty Limited, its subsidiaries, and the franchisees named in the agreement when it was approved

Next scheduled increase: First full pay period on or after 1 December 2026 (juniors aged 18 to 20). The Fast Food Award's junior phase-in lifts 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds with more than 6 months' service to 75%, 85% and 95% of the award rate ($20.86, $23.64 and $26.42 an hour). That is more than KFC's fixed 70%, 80% and 90%, and an agreement cannot pay a base rate below the award, so those staff must get at least the award figure. Adult rates next move with the 2027 Annual Wage Review, because KFC's rates are tied to the award.

For the underlying award minimums across every employer in the industry, see Fast Food Award rates 2026.

KFC hourly pay rates by level (adults)

Base hourly rates before tax for adult employees. Casual rates include the 25% casual loading, paid instead of leave entitlements.

How the casual rate is worked out: the agreement's pay table (Table B) sets the casual rate at the Fast Food Award hourly rate plus 1 cent, plus the 25% loading — $34.78 for a Team Member — while permanent staff get the award weekly rate plus 0.5%. So the casual rate is not 25% on top of the $27.95 permanent rate. One clause (cl 5.4.2) could be read as 25% on top of the permanent rate ($34.94); the agreement's own printed 2020 casual figure follows the Table B method, so the table uses it.

KFC pay rates by age (junior rates)

Junior employees are paid a set percentage of the adult Team Member (Level 1) rate for their age. KFC's junior percentages (cl 6.1 Table A) apply to both classifications; the table shows Team Member. Casual juniors are paid at least the award rate plus 1 cent (Undertaking 3), which lifts ages 16 and 18 by a cent over the straight percentage.

The percentages are the instrument’s own. The dollar figures are our arithmetic — the percentage applied to the adult Team Member (Level 1) rate, rounded to the cent — because the instrument does not print junior dollars. Your payslip may differ by a cent.

For how junior rates work across every award, and when you move to the adult rate, see junior pay rates in Australia.

KFC penalty rates: evenings, weekends and public holidays

Penalty rates are a percentage of the base hourly rate for your level (or, where stated, a flat amount per hour) for hours worked at the times below.

• Penalties are paid on the ordinary hourly rate for your level (cl 7.1); casual figures include the 25% loading, added rather than multiplied. They are the same percentages as the Fast Food Award.
• For a permanent Team Member ($27.95) that is $30.75 an hour from 10pm to midnight, $32.14 from midnight to 6am, $34.94 on a weekend and $62.89 on a public holiday — our arithmetic.

Overtime

To price a mix of weekday, weekend and overtime hours, use the overtime and penalty rate calculator.

How much KFC pays a week

Gross weekly pay for an adult at Team Member (Level 1), with every hour at the ordinary weekday rate. Weekend and evening shifts push these figures up; tax comes off them.

A full-time year (38 hours × 52 weeks) at $27.95 is $55,229 before tax. See take-home pay on $55,000 (the nearest salary we publish) and $27.97 an hour as a yearly salary (the nearest hourly rate we publish).

Enter your hourly rate and hours in the weekly pay calculator to see tax withheld and what lands in your account. Casual or part-time with a second job? Check the second job tax calculator.

What this page does not show

We publish only what we could read from a primary source. Left off rather than estimated:

• The list of franchisees covered — KFC's own 2024 court defence says the Schedule A published on the Commission's website is blank, while the approval decision names 77 employers.
• Whether Collins Foods' KFC restaurants in Queensland and northern NSW, which had their own 2014 agreement, now fall under this agreement.
• Salaried and trainee manager pay — managers are excluded from the agreement.

KFC pay questions

Pay rates at other employers