Pharmacy Award pay guide 2026/2027

Casual rates for ordinary weekday hours, generated from the current Fair Work pay guide:

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

• The Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 [MA000012] covers pharmacy assistants (Levels 1–4), students, interns and pharmacists (including experienced, in-charge and manager).
• Minimums are reviewed each July. The FY2026/27 pay guide took effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, lifting all rates by 4.75%.
• Example 2026/27 adult minimum pay:
  • Pharmacy assistant level 1: full-time/part-time $27.81/hr, casual $34.76/hr.
  • Pharmacist: full-time/part-time $41.74/hr, casual $52.18/hr.
• Penalties: evening and Saturday +25%, Sunday +50%, public holidays +125% (full-time/part-time); casual rates are higher again.
• Junior rates apply for assistants under 21; time bands (morning, late evening) attract higher rates.
• Get classification, age, employment type and shift time right for every employee.

The Pharmacy Award — full name the Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 [MA000012] — is the modern award that sets the legal minimum pay and conditions for its industry. It covers community and retail pharmacies and their employees — retail and dispensary assistants, dispensary technicians, interns, pharmacists and pharmacy managers. Hospital pharmacists employed by a public hospital are covered by a different instrument.

Pay is built from four things, in this order: the classification level the employee’s duties fall into (10 in this award), their employment type (full-time, part-time or casual — casuals receive a 25% loading instead of paid leave), when the shift was worked (weekend, public holiday, evening or overtime penalties), and any allowances that apply. Get one of the four wrong and the pay is wrong.

The Pharmacy Award covers employers and employees in community and retail pharmacies:

• Pharmacy assistants (Levels 1–4) — retail and dispensary assistants and supervisors.
• Pharmacy students and interns — provisionally registered, working towards registration.
• Pharmacists — including experienced pharmacists, pharmacists in charge and pharmacist managers.

Important — who’s covered by other awards: hospital/public-sector pharmacists are often covered by health-sector awards; allied-health and health-support staff → Health Professionals & Support Services Award; general shops → General Retail Award. Confirm coverage with Fair Work’s PACT tool before applying rates.

A snapshot of the current FY2026/27 rates, generated from the same data that powers the calculator above. Pharmacy students are paid at the equivalent assistant-level rates by year of course.

Ordinary weekday rates for assistants, interns and pharmacists:

Casuals receive the same base rate plus a 25% loading. Ordinary weekday casual rates:

Below is the 2026/27 ordinary hourly rate for each classification in the Pharmacy Award (full-time and part-time), with the casual rate (base + 25% loading) in brackets. Weekend, public-holiday and overtime penalties apply on top. Classification follows duties, qualifications and responsibility — not the job title.

Pharmacy assistant – level 1 — $27.81/hour full-time/part-time (casual $34.76/hour, $1056.80/week full-time). Entry-level retail/dispensary assistant.

Pharmacy assistant – level 2 — $28.45/hour full-time/part-time (casual $35.56/hour, $1081.00/week full-time). Assistant with experience / Certificate II.

Pharmacy assistant – level 3 — $29.45/hour full-time/part-time (casual $36.81/hour, $1119.10/week full-time). Senior assistant / Certificate III.

Pharmacy assistant – level 4 — $30.66/hour full-time/part-time (casual $38.33/hour, $1165.10/week full-time). Supervisor / dispensary technician.

Pharmacy intern – 1st half — $33.99/hour full-time/part-time (casual $42.49/hour, $1291.50/week full-time). Provisionally registered intern (first half).

Pharmacy intern – 2nd half — $35.14/hour full-time/part-time (casual $43.93/hour, $1335.50/week full-time). Provisionally registered intern (second half).

Pharmacist — $41.74/hour full-time/part-time (casual $52.18/hour, $1586.30/week full-time). Registered pharmacist.

Experienced pharmacist — $45.72/hour full-time/part-time (casual $57.15/hour, $1737.40/week full-time). Pharmacist with experience.

Pharmacist in charge — $46.80/hour full-time/part-time (casual $58.50/hour, $1778.40/week full-time). In charge of a pharmacy.

Pharmacist manager — $52.15/hour full-time/part-time (casual $65.19/hour, $1981.60/week full-time). Manages a pharmacy.

Classification follows role, qualifications and registration:

• Pharmacy assistants Levels 1–4 progress from entry-level retail/dispensary work to supervisory and dispensary-technician roles.
• Students are paid by year of course; interns by half of their intern year.
• Pharmacists progress from registered pharmacist to experienced pharmacist, pharmacist in charge and pharmacist manager.
• Juniors (under 21) apply to pharmacy assistants — about 45% under 16 up to 90% at 20.

Write each employee’s classification, age (for junior assistants) and employment type into your payroll/rostering system. If unsure, confirm the right level.

Here’s how the most common roles map to classifications and 2026/27 rates. Use these as a starting point, then confirm the level against the employee’s actual duties.

A pharmacy assistant starts at Level 1 — $27.81/hr (casual $34.76/hr), moving to Level 2 — $28.45/hr with experience or a Certificate II, and Level 3 — $29.45/hr with a Certificate III.

A dispensary technician or assistant supervising the dispensary sits at Level 4 — $30.66/hr (casual $38.33/hr).

A pharmacy intern is paid $33.99/hr in the first half of the internship and $35.14/hr in the second half.

A registered pharmacist is paid $41.74/hr (casual $52.18/hr), an experienced pharmacist $45.72/hr, a pharmacist in charge $46.80/hr and a pharmacy manager $52.15/hr.

Pharmacy Award penalties are based on the time of day as well as the day of week (on the ordinary rate):

• Evening (Mon–Fri 7pm–9pm): 125% (full-time/part-time), 150% (casual)
• Saturday (8am–6pm): 125% (full-time/part-time), 150% (casual)
• Sunday (7am–9pm): 150% (full-time/part-time), 175% (casual)
• Public holiday: 225% (full-time/part-time), 250% (casual)
• Narrower bands attract higher rates: morning work (7am–8am) and late-evening work (9pm–midnight) Mon–Fri, and Saturday evening (6pm–9pm) and late evening (9pm–midnight). Sunday before 7am / after 9pm is paid at the higher band too.
• Overtime: time-and-a-half for the first 2 hours then double time; double time on Sundays and public holidays.

The calculator above covers ordinary, evening, Saturday (8am–6pm), Sunday (7am–9pm) and public-holiday rates. For the narrower bands and overtime, use Fair Work’s PACT tool or award-interpreting software.

• Full-time is around 38 hours per week, ongoing; part-time has a regular agreed pattern.
• Both receive paid annual and personal/carer’s leave (pro-rata for part-time) and other NES entitlements. Part-time hours should be agreed in writing.

• Paid a 25% casual loading instead of paid leave, with a minimum engagement per shift.
• Casual evening, weekend and public-holiday rates are higher than the permanent rates because the loading is added to the penalty (for example, casual Sunday is 175% of the base rate).

Common allowances under this award include:

• Laundry – about $6.42/week (full-time) or $1.28 per shift (part-time/casual).
• Meal (overtime) – about $24.72, with a further $22.15 after more than 4 hours of overtime.
• Motor vehicle – about $1.01 per km.
• District (Broken Hill) – about $47.90 per week.

Exact amounts update each pay guide — see the Fair Work pay guide.

Leave comes from the National Employment Standards (NES), which apply on top of the award and cannot be reduced by it. Casual employees receive the loading instead of paid leave, but still get unpaid carer’s and compassionate leave, and paid family and domestic violence leave.

Four weeks per year for full-time employees, pro-rata for part-time, accruing progressively from the first day. Employees the award defines as shiftworkers receive a fifth week. Most awards also add annual leave loading — check the leave clause of this award for the rate that applies. See our annual leave guide for how accrual, cash-out and payout on termination work.

• Personal/carer’s leave: 10 days per year for full-time employees, pro-rata for part-time. It accrues and carries over year to year.
• Compassionate leave: 2 days per occasion.
• Family and domestic violence leave: 10 days per year, available to casuals as well, renewing each year rather than accruing.
• Parental leave: 12 months unpaid with a right to request a further 12, alongside the government paid parental leave scheme.
• Public holidays: employees are entitled to be absent on a public holiday; if they work it, the award’s public-holiday penalty applies.

Tracking accruals across mixed full-time, part-time and casual teams is where spreadsheets break down — leave management software keeps balances, requests and approvals in one place.

• Confirm the award applies (community/retail pharmacy; not hospital pharmacy or general retail).
• Download the latest pay guide (FY2026/27).
• Classify each employee by role, registration and age (for junior assistants).
• Set base rates and apply evening/weekend/public-holiday penalties by time band, plus overtime.
• Use award-interpreting software so the time bands are calculated automatically, and keep records for 7 years.

These are the errors that show up most often when employers audit their own Pharmacy Award payroll.

Awards classify on what the employee actually does, their qualifications and their level of responsibility. Two people with the same title can sit on different levels, and someone doing higher duties is owed the higher rate for those hours.

Casual weekend and public-holiday rates are not the permanent penalty plus 25% bolted on afterwards. The award publishes a single casual figure for each penalty — use the rate sheet or the calculator above rather than stacking percentages by hand.

Junior rates are a percentage of the adult rate that steps up on each birthday, and stop applying entirely at 21. A birthday that passes unnoticed in payroll becomes an underpayment from that day.

This award carries 4 common allowances. They are easy to overlook because they are not part of the hourly rate, but they are still legally owed — the rate sheet above lists every one.

Whenever a pharmacist is the one in charge of the pharmacy — including covering the manager’s day off — the higher in-charge rate applies for those hours. It is a per-shift entitlement, not a job title.

• Four groups: assistants (Levels 1–4), students, interns and pharmacists.
• Time-of-day bands drive penalties — evening, late evening, morning, Saturday and Sunday bands.
• Standard rates: evening and Saturday +25%, Sunday +50%, public holidays +125%.
• Junior assistant rates step up with age — review on each birthday.
• Update every July and keep good records.

For official guidance, visit the Fair Work Ombudsman website.