Retail & Hospitality Pay Guide — Award Rates, Penalties & Your Rights

What Retail and Hospitality Workers Are Paid

Almost everyone in these two industries is covered by one of two modern awards: the General Retail Industry Award (MA000004) for shops and supermarkets, and the Hospitality Industry (General) Award (MA000009) for cafes, restaurants, pubs and hotels. Each sets a minimum rate for every classification level, and each has its own penalty rates, overtime rules and junior scales.

The two awards are not interchangeable, and if you work across both — a bistro attached to a bottle shop, say — the differences matter. Hospitality pays evening and night work as a flat cash amount per hour; retail uses a percentage. Retail casuals receive the casual loading on overtime; hospitality casuals do not. And juniors aged 19 get 85% in hospitality against 80% in retail.

Full classification tables, penalty rates, overtime and junior scales for each are on the dedicated pages: retail award rates and hospitality award rates. For junior rates across all awards, see junior pay rates.

Penalty Rates

Both retail and hospitality awards include penalty rate provisions for work performed outside standard weekday hours. The following table shows the rate paid as a percentage of the ordinary (base) hourly rate. Casual percentages already include the 25% casual loading. Hospitality pays weekday evening and night work as a flat amount per hour instead.

Penalty rates make weekend and holiday shifts significantly more valuable. A Level 1 retail worker earning $27.81/hr base receives $41.71/hr on a Sunday shift (150%), and $62.57/hr on a public holiday (225%). Use the Overtime Pay Calculator to model your penalty rate earnings.

Your Rights

Retail and hospitality workers have specific rights under the Fair Work Act and their respective Modern Awards that employers must comply with:

• Minimum engagement: Casual employees must be engaged and paid for at least 3 hours per shift under the retail award and 2 consecutive hours under the hospitality award (cl 11.3), even if there is insufficient work.
• Roster change notice: Employers must provide at least 7 days' notice of any roster change under the retail award. The hospitality award also requires 7 days' notice, but allows changes with shorter notice by mutual agreement or in genuine emergencies.
• Casual conversion: Since 26 August 2024, a casual employee who has worked for their employer for at least 6 months (12 months for a small business employer) and believes they no longer fit the casual definition can notify their employer in writing that they want to change to full-time or part-time employment. The employer must respond in writing within 21 days and can refuse only on the grounds set out in the Fair Work Act.
• Breaks: Under the retail award, a shift of more than 4 hours earns a 10-minute paid rest break, and more than 5 hours adds an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes. The hospitality award uses a different table: an elective unpaid meal break for shifts over 5 hours, a compulsory 30-minute unpaid meal break over 6 hours, and a 20-minute paid rest break over 8 hours.
• Paid leave: Full-time and part-time staff accrue 4 weeks of annual leave a year (pro rata for part-time) plus 10 days of personal leave; casuals get the loading instead. Check what you have built up with the annual leave calculator.

Take-Home Pay Examples

Below are take-home pay estimates for common retail and hospitality scenarios at the 1 July 2026 award rates, using FY2026-27 tax rates (LITO and Medicare levy applied):

Frequently Asked Questions