Hospitality Awards Rates 2025-2026

Quick summary for time-poor owners

If you only skim one section, make it this one:

• The Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 [MA000009] ("Hospitality Award") sets minimum pay and conditions for many hospitality workers in Australia.
• These minimums are typically reviewed each July following the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review. The current pay guide took effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2025.
• You must get four things right for every staff member:
  • Award coverage – does the Hospitality Award actually apply?
  • Classification level – Introductory, Level 1–6, casino streams, managerial staff – hotel, etc.
  • Employment type – full-time, part-time, or casual.
  • When they work – weekday, nights, weekends, public holidays, overtime.
• Example of 2025 adult minimum pay (non-casino):
  • Level 1 Food & Beverage Attendant, Guest Service or Kitchen Attendant:
    • Full-time/part-time: $24.95 per hour
    • Casual: $31.19 per hour (includes 25% casual loading)
  • Level 3 Cook/Food & Beverage Attendant/Front Office:
    • Full-time/part-time: $26.70 per hour
    • Casual: $33.38 per hour
• Junior rates are lower, but still fixed by the Award. Example:
  • A 17-year-old full-time Level 1 Food & Beverage Attendant must get $14.97 per hour.
  • The same worker as a casual must get $18.71 per hour.
• On top of base rates, you may also have to pay:
  • Penalty rates for weekends, late nights, early mornings and public holidays
  • Overtime when staff go beyond their ordinary hours or span of hours
  • Allowances (split shift, uniform, laundry, tools, meals, travel & more)
• Casuals with regular, ongoing hours can request conversion to permanent under updated casual conversion rules (Hospitality Award clause 11.6 plus the Fair Work Act changes in the Closing Loopholes No. 2 Act 2024).

What the Hospitality Award actually is

Think of the Hospitality Award as a standard contract template that you can't go below.

It sets:

• Minimum hourly rates for different jobs and ages
• Extra pay for weekends, nights, public holidays and overtime
• Allowances (broken shift, laundry, tools, meals etc.)
• Rules about casuals, rostering, breaks and classification
• Links into the National Employment Standards (NES) for leave and other basic rights

You can always pay more or offer better conditions, but you can't legally pay less than the Award.

The Hospitality Award is reviewed continually and updated roughly every July after the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review. That's when base rates typically go up.

Your job as an employer is to:

1. Work out whether your staff are covered by this Award.
2. Classify them correctly.
3. Pay at least the Award minimum, including penalties and allowances.
4. Update rates when the pay guide changes.

Who the Hospitality Award covers (and who it doesn't)

In simple terms, the Hospitality Award covers many — but not all — hospitality businesses. It commonly applies to:

• Hotels, motels and serviced apartments
• Pubs, bars, taverns and wine bars
• Function centres and catering operations
• Some hospitality venues with gaming or accommodation components

Important: Many cafés and restaurants are instead covered by the Restaurant Industry Award or the Fast Food Industry Award. Award coverage depends on the primary nature of the business and the employee's duties, not just what the venue looks like.

Typical roles under the Award include:

• Front of house: Food & Beverage Attendants, bar staff, baristas, front office/reception, guest services, door staff and security officers employed directly by the hospitality business
• Back of house: cooks, apprentice cooks, chefs, kitchen hands/attendants, storepersons, gardeners/maintenance
• Casino / gaming: table gaming employees, electronic gaming employees, surveillance operators, casino equipment technicians
• Support roles: clerical/admin, reservations, some supervisors and managerial staff – hotel

Who might not be covered?

You may need a different award (or an agreement) if:

• The person is a senior executive or very senior manager whose duties are clearly above Award level.
• The business is more retail than hospitality (e.g. supermarket with a café corner – they might fall under the Retail Award).

When in doubt, check:

• The Hospitality Award on the Fair Work website; and
• Fair Work's Pay and Conditions Tool (PACT) for award coverage; or
• An employment adviser or lawyer for a formal opinion.

If your venue mainly prepares and serves food without accommodation or gaming, do not assume the Hospitality Award applies — confirm coverage first.

Hospitality Award vs Restaurant Award

Side-by-Side Comparison for Small Business Owners

2025 pay rates overview: what you must pay

This section gives you a practical snapshot of the main 2025 rates so you can sanity-check your current payroll. All figures below are minimums and come from the official pay guide effective 1 July 2025.

The rates below assume correct award coverage and classification.

Adult – Full-time & part-time (non-casino)

For adult employees (usually 20+), ordinary weekday hours:

Adult – Casual (non-casino)

Casuals receive the same base rate plus 25% casual loading to make up for not getting paid leave.

Adult casual rates for ordinary weekday hours:

Juniors (under 20)

Junior rates are a percentage of the relevant adult rate. They depend on both:

1. Age (16, 17, 18, 19)
2. Classification (Level 1, Level 2, etc., and sometimes "office only" roles)

A couple of real-world examples from the 2025 guide:

• 17-year-old Level 1 Food & Beverage Attendant:
  • Full-time/part-time: $14.97 per hour
  • Casual: $18.71 per hour
• 18-year-old Level 2 Cook Grade 1 (FT/PT): $18.10 per hour
• 19-year-old Level 1 Food & Beverage Attendant (FT/PT): $21.21 per hour

Because the junior tables are long and very specific, the safest approach is:

• Download the latest pay guide for the Hospitality Award from Fair Work.
• Find the Junior – Full-time & Part-time and Junior – Casual sections.
• Match age + classification + employment type.

Apprentices

Apprentice cooks have separate rates and rules (including special provisions when they reach certain years or proficiency levels). The exact figures are set out in the pay guide and the Award clauses on apprentices.

If you employ apprentices, don't guess: check both the Award text and the latest pay guide, or get specific advice.

How to classify your staff (without going insane)

Getting the classification wrong is one of the most common causes of underpayment.

When the Award talks about "Level 1, Level 2, Level 3" etc., it's not just jargon – it's how Fair Work expects you to decide who gets which rate.

Step 1: Work out the job stream

Most employees will fall into one of these broad groups:

• Food & Beverage (baristas, bar staff, waiters, bartenders)
• Guest Service / Front Office (hotel reception, concierge, guest service)
• Kitchen (kitchen attendants, cooks, apprentice cooks, chefs)
• Gaming / Security (casino staff, door staff, security officers)
• Leisure / Maintenance / Gardening
• Clerical / Office / Admin
• Storeperson / Warehouse

Step 2: Match duties to the Level

Within each stream, the Award describes what each level typically does – things like:

• How much experience they have
• Whether they supervise others
• Whether they use trade qualifications (e.g. a qualified cook)
• How complex their duties are

Roughly:

• Introductory – brand new starters doing basic tasks under close supervision, usually for a limited time.
• Level 1 – basic tasks with some routine and direction.
• Level 2–3 – more skilled work, may operate equipment, handle money, or have more responsibility.
• Level 4–5 – trade-qualified staff and supervisors.
• Level 6 – highly skilled or senior trade roles.
• Managerial staff – hotel – specific managerial roles still covered by the Award.

Step 3: Write the classification down

For each employee, you should have something like:

This classification should appear in:

• The employment contract / letter of engagement
• Your HR or payroll system
• Any roster or award interpretation software you use

If you're really unsure, read the classification definitions in the Award and, if needed, get an employment adviser to confirm you've picked the right level.

Full-time vs part-time vs casual in practice

The Award itself doesn't change the basic national definitions, but it works together with them.

Full-time

• Usually around 38 hours per week, ongoing
• Guaranteed regular hours
• Entitled to paid annual leave and paid personal (sick & carer's) leave, plus other NES leave

Part-time

• Less than 38 hours per week, but with a regular pattern of hours
• Also entitled to paid leave, but on a pro-rata basis
  • Example: 20 hours/week → 4 weeks' annual leave = 80 hours per year

Under the Award, part-time hours and patterns should be agreed in writing so there's clarity about what counts as ordinary hours vs overtime.

Casual

• No firm advance commitment to ongoing work with an agreed pattern of work
• Paid a 25% casual loading on top of the base rate instead of paid leave
• Can be cancelled or changed more easily (subject to the Award and any applicable minimum engagement rules)

Casual conversion: when a casual stops being very casual

Recent changes to the law mean casual conversion now mainly operates through the employee choice pathway, rather than mandatory employer offers in all cases. The Hospitality Award (clause 11.6) still applies alongside the Fair Work Act.

In simple terms, a casual may be able to request conversion if:

• They have been employed for at least 6 months (or 12 months for small businesses); and
• Their work pattern has become regular and ongoing, and could continue as a part-time or full-time arrangement.

If they convert:

• They lose the 25% casual loading
• They gain paid leave entitlements
• You must treat them as permanent going forward (with the usual rules around hours, overtime, etc.)

Transitional rules apply depending on when the casual was hired and the size of the business.

Casuals employed before 26 August 2024 may still fall under older conversion pathways during the transition period. For these employees:

• Employee choice conversion generally becomes available from 26 February 2025 (or 26 August 2025 for small businesses).
• Some older employer-offer obligations may continue to apply until 26 August 2025.

Because the rules depend on hire date and business size, get advice before refusing a conversion request.

Penalty rates, overtime & loaded rates

This is where many small hospitality businesses lose the plot – and where underpayments often happen.

The Award sets different pay for:

• Weekday ordinary hours
• Evenings / nights
• Saturdays
• Sundays
• Public holidays
• Overtime (hours beyond the ordinary roster or outside the span of hours)

The idea is simple: the less popular the time, the higher the pay.

Why you probably shouldn't try to memorise penalty percentages

The actual penalty percentages vary depending on:

• Whether the employee is full-time/part-time or casual
• Which day of the week
• What time of day
• Whether the hours are ordinary hours or overtime

Because these details are fiddly and change over time, the safest options are:

• Use Fair Work's Pay and Conditions Tool (PACT) when calculating wages; or
• Use award-interpreting payroll/rostering software with roster warnings and time and attendance that already has the Hospitality Award rules built in.

Overtime in real life

Overtime can be triggered when:

• An employee works more than their agreed ordinary hours (for part-timers)
• They exceed 38 hours per week (for full-timers) or daily limits specified in the Award
• They are required to work outside the span of ordinary hours (e.g. too many late nights in a row)

The Award sets overtime penalties (e.g. time and a half, double time) depending on the situation. These must be applied on top of base rates.

If you roster people long hours or do a lot of last-minute changes, you should absolutely be checking overtime rules, not just base rates. Tools like live attendance tracking and a kiosk time clock can help you stay on top of actual hours worked.

Allowances: the little extras everyone forgets

Beyond hourly pay and penalties, the Award also has a shopping list of allowances – extra payments that kick in for specific situations.

Common hospitality allowances include:

• Split shift / broken shift allowance – when an employee's working day is split with a long gap in the middle.
• Uniform or special clothing allowance – if you require particular clothing and don't supply it.
• Laundry allowance – if staff have to wash special uniforms themselves.
• Meal allowance – if staff work beyond a certain number of hours without a meal break, or stay back for overtime under specific conditions.
• Tool allowance – for trades roles that must supply their own tools.
• Travel or vehicle allowances – for using their own vehicle or travelling between sites.

The exact amount in dollars is updated with each pay guide and is listed under "Allowances" in the Fair Work document.

Leave entitlements under the Award & NES

The Award sits on top of the National Employment Standards (NES), which set minimum leave entitlements for permanent employees.

Full-time & part-time

They are entitled to, among other things:

• Paid annual leave– generally 4 weeks per year, based on their ordinary hours.
  • Example: 20 hours per week → 4 weeks' leave = 80 hours per year.
• Paid personal/carer's leave (sick leave) – also based on their ordinary hours.
• Compassionate leave, parental leave, family and domestic violence leave, and other NES entitlements.

Casuals

• No paid annual leave or paid personal/carer's leave.
• Instead, they receive the 25% casual loading on their hourly rate.

The Award may add extra detail (e.g. how leave interacts with public holidays, additional annual leave in certain shift patterns etc.), so it's important to read the relevant clauses or seek advice for complex situations.

Step-by-step compliance plan

Here's a simple process you can actually follow in your business.

Step 1: Confirm the Award applies

• Check that your venue and staff fit within the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 [MA000009] coverage.
• If you're not sure, get advice – being on the wrong award can make all your calculations wrong.

Step 2: Download the latest pay guide

• Grab the official Hospitality Award pay guide for 1 July 2025 from Fair Work.
• Save it somewhere obvious – this is your "price list".

Step 3: Classify every employee

For each staff member, write down:

1. Award: Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 [MA000009]
2. Stream (F&B, kitchen, guest service, clerical, gaming, etc.)
3. Level (Introductory, Level 1–6, or specific casino classification)
4. Employment type (full-time, part-time or casual)
5. Age (for juniors)

Make sure this matches their actual duties, not just their job title.

Step 4: Set correct base rates in payroll

• Use the pay guide to enter the correct base rate for each classification and age.
• Double-check adult rates like:
  • Level 1 adult FT/PT – $24.95
  • Level 1 adult casual – $31.19
• And any juniors, e.g. a 17-year-old Level 1 casual at $18.71.

Step 5: Make sure penalties & overtime are calculated

You have two realistic choices:

• Use Fair Work's Pay and Conditions Tool each pay run (time-consuming, but possible for very small teams); or
• Use award-interpreting rostering/payroll software with payroll integration that understands the Hospitality Award and automatically calculates penalties and overtime based on the roster and timesheets.

Step 6: Add allowances where necessary

• Review the Allowances section of the pay guide.
• Decide when each allowance applies in your business (split shifts, uniforms, meals, etc.).
• Update payroll so that allowances are easy to add (or automated if using software).

Step 7: Review casuals for conversion

• Once or twice a year, check which casuals have regular patterns of work over 6–12 months.
• If they look "permanent", look into casual conversion obligations and options.

Step 8: Keep records & payslips tidy

• Keep copies of rosters, timesheets, pay records and contracts. Consider using HR software with digital employment contracts and employee onboarding to keep everything organised.
• Make sure payslips clearly show:
  • Ordinary hours vs overtime
  • Different penalty rates
  • Allowances

Good records are your best defence if there's ever a dispute or audit.

Common mistakes we see all the time

Here are the traps that trip up a lot of small venues.

1. "Everyone gets the same rate"

Example: every casual gets $30 per hour, regardless of age, classification or weekend work.

• That might underpay some staff (e.g. Level 4 or Level 5 adults), and overpay others.
• It almost certainly ignores Sunday/public holiday penalties and allowances.

2. Long-term "casuals" who are really permanent

• Staff on fixed rosters for years, with regular hours, who still get a casual loading and no paid leave.
• This creates risk around backpay and casual conversion disputes.

3. Ignoring allowances and broken shifts

• Using lots of split shifts in a day but never paying a split shift allowance.
• Making staff provide and launder uniforms without uniform/laundry allowances.

4. Not updating rates each July

• Still paying last year's rates because "that's what we've always paid".
• Fair Work and many advisors recommend you download the new pay guide every July and compare it to your payroll.

5. Bad or missing records

• No written classification.
• No record of agreed part-time hours.
• Rosters and timesheets stored in random places or never kept at all.

If Fair Work investigates, poor records make it hard to prove you've done the right thing.

Final takeaways

Understanding and applying the Hospitality Award correctly isn't optional – it's a legal requirement. But it doesn't have to be overwhelming.

Here's what to remember:

• Get the basics right: Know which award applies, classify your staff correctly, and use the right base rates.
• Don't ignore penalties and allowances: These are where most underpayments happen. Use tools or software to help.
• Review your casuals: If they've been working regular hours for months, consider casual conversion obligations.
• Update every July: Download the new pay guide and compare it to your payroll.
• Keep good records: Written classifications, agreed hours, rosters, timesheets and payslips are your best protection.

For official guidance, visit the Fair Work Ombudsman website.