Registered and Licensed Clubs Award Rates 2025/2026

The Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020 [MA000058] sets minimum pay and conditions for employees working in many registered and licensed clubs in Australia, and the current consolidated version incorporates amendments up to 1 July 2025.

This is a practical, plain-English compliance guide for Australian registered and licensed clubs including RSLs, sporting clubs, community clubs and similar venues.

Quick summary for time-poor club managers and committees

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

• The Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020 [MA000058] sets minimum pay and conditions for employees working in many registered and licensed clubs in Australia.
• These minimums are typically reviewed annually (often after the Fair Work Commission wage review process), so rates can change year to year.
• You must get four things right for every staff member:
  • Award coverage – does MA000058 actually apply to your club and this employee?
  • Classification level – Introductory, Levels 1–6 (club employees), Maintenance/Horticulture levels, or Manager levels (6–13 / A–G).
  • Employment type – full-time, part-time, casual.
  • When they work – weekdays vs weekends/public holidays, late nights/early mornings, overtime.

Example adult minimum hourly rates (ordinary hours):

Indicative only: The following examples are provided as a high-level reference point only and must be verified against the current Fair Work pay guide or consolidated Award wage tables before use.

• Level 1: $24.95/hr (FT/PT), $31.19/hr (casual)
• Level 3: $26.70/hr (FT/PT), $33.38/hr (casual)

Weekend/public holiday penalties (adult club employees, non-maintenance/horticulture):

• Saturday: 150%
• Sunday: 175%
• Public holiday: up to 250% (depending on classification and hours worked)

Note: Public holidays are state/territory based. Apply the public holiday rate for the employee's work location, not your club's head office or registered address.

Late/early penalties (employees other than maintenance/horticultural):

• Mon–Fri 7:00 pm–midnight: +$2.81/hr
• Mon–Fri midnight–7:00 am: +$4.22/hr

Penalty rates are generally not cumulative unless the Award expressly allows it. In most cases, where more than one penalty could apply, the employee receives the penalty that results in the higher payment rather than multiple penalties being added together.

Award coverage (start here)

Coverage checklist

Answer these questions to help determine if the Clubs Award applies to your situation:

Which Award applies? – Quick comparison

Not sure which award applies? Use this decision tree first.

What the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award actually is

Think of this Award as the minimum "rulebook" you can't go below. It sets:

• Minimum wages (hourly/weekly/annual depending on role)
• Penalty rates and overtime
• Allowances (e.g., first aid, broken periods of work, meal allowance, vehicle allowance)
• Rules about rosters, breaks, employment types, and classifications
• How Award conditions sit alongside the National Employment Standards (NES)

You can always pay more, but you generally can't pay less than the Award minimums when it applies.

Who the Award covers

Typical venues

This Award commonly applies to workplaces like:

• Registered clubs (e.g., RSLs, leagues clubs, sporting clubs, community clubs)
• Licensed clubs operating with a club licence / liquor licence and meeting the Award's club definition

Typical roles (examples)

From the Award's wage table and classification structure, roles commonly include:

• Food & beverage / bar (attendants, supervisors)
• Gaming (food & beverage and gaming attendant classifications)
• Kitchen (kitchen attendants; cooks including tradesperson cooks)
  Note: Where food service operates as a quick-service or standalone restaurant business (even within a club), employees may instead be covered by the Restaurant Industry Award or Fast Food Industry Award, depending on the service model and legal entity: Restaurant Award | Fast Food Award
• Guest services/front office (where relevant)
• Security/doorperson roles (where directly employed by the club)
• Clerical/admin
• Maintenance and horticultural (grounds, gardening, handyperson, trades roles)
• Fitness instructors
• Child care workers (where the club operates child care)
• Club managers (Levels 6–13 / A–G manager stream)

On-hire / labour hire

The Award includes coverage rules for on-hire (labour hire) employees placed with a club.

2025 pay rates overview (snapshot)

These pay rates apply only where the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020 applies. If part or all of your operations are covered by a different award, refer to the relevant guide below for correct rates and penalties:

• Hospitality Industry Award – hotels, pubs, taverns and bars
  View our Hospitality Award guide
• Restaurant Industry Award – restaurants and cafés
  View our Restaurant Award guide
• Fast Food Industry Award – quick service food businesses
  View our Fast Food Award guide

All figures below are minimums and are based on the Award as consolidated up to 1 July 2025.

Adult minimum hourly rates (ordinary hours) – common club employee levels

Important: Exact minimum rates must be checked against the applicable Fair Work pay guide for the relevant year. Small annual variations can occur as a result of Annual Wage Review decisions. Use the official Pay Guide – Registered and Licensed Clubs Award [MA000058] for the current year.

These are useful "sanity check" numbers for weekday ordinary hours:

Rates drawn from the Award wage tables (clause 18.3 and Schedule B). If there is any inconsistency between this table and the Fair Work pay guide, the pay guide prevails.

Club managers (annual salary stream)

The Award includes minimum annual rates for managers (Levels 6–13 / A–G). Examples:

If there is any inconsistency between this table and the Fair Work pay guide, the pay guide prevails.

Note: Manager classifications and minimum annual salaries depend on the detailed classification descriptors in Schedule A of the Award. Club size, scope of responsibility, staffing levels and operational complexity are all relevant factors.

Weekend & public holiday penalties (adults) – headline view

For many adult employees (non-maintenance/horticulture), Schedule B shows:

• Saturday: 150%
• Sunday: 175%
• Public holiday: up to 250% (depending on classification and hours worked)

For maintenance and horticultural employees, weekend penalties are structured differently (e.g., Saturday after 12 noon has a first-2-hours and after-2-hours rate; Sunday 200%; public holiday 250%).

Overtime (headline view)

Schedule B's overtime table (for full-time and part-time adult employees) shows the common pattern:

• Mon–Fri: 150% first 2 hours, then 200%
• Saturday: 175% first 2 hours, then 200%
• Sunday: 200%
• Public holiday: up to 250% (depending on classification and hours worked)

(Always confirm the exact trigger rules in the overtime clause; the percentage alone isn't enough. Public holiday overtime may be 250% and minimum payment rules may apply — check the Award clause for public holidays.)

Juniors (under 20) – critical club-specific trap

Junior employees – quick compliance check

Because junior tables are detailed (age + level + employment type), the safest approach is:

1. Confirm the worker's classification level
2. Confirm whether they are a liquor service employee (adult rates may apply)
3. Use the Award tables / PACT for the exact minimum

How to classify your staff (without losing your weekend)

Employee classification streams under the Clubs Award

Getting classification wrong is one of the biggest drivers of underpayments in clubs.

Step 1: Identify which "stream" the employee belongs to

In clubs, you'll commonly be classifying staff into one of these buckets:

• Club employees (bar/F&B, gaming attendants, kitchen, reception/guest services, clerical/admin, storeperson)
• Maintenance and horticultural employees (grounds, gardening, maintenance, trades)
• Managers (club manager levels / A–G manager stream)
• Special streams (e.g., golf professional roles, child care roles where applicable)

Step 2: Match duties (not job title) to the level/grade

Use Schedule A classification definitions and the wage table in clause 18.3 to match:

• Skill/experience
• Supervision responsibility
• Trade qualification requirements
• Scope/complexity of duties

Step 3: Document it

For each employee, keep a clear record such as:

"Employed under the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020 [MA000058] as Level 3 Food & Beverage and Gaming Attendant – part-time."

This should be reflected in:

• The employment contract/letter
• Payroll/HR system
• Roster/time and attendance system

Full-time vs part-time vs casual (club reality)

Full-time

• Typically based on 38 hours per week (plus Award rostering patterns)
• Paid leave entitlements under the NES apply

Part-time (where clubs often slip up)

Part-time arrangements must be controlled and documented, because overtime can trigger when staff work outside what's agreed.

Key rule examples include:

• Part-time employees must generally work within their agreed pattern of hours, subject to the variation rules permitted by the Award
• Part-time shifts are subject to minimum and maximum daily hours rules under the Award (including minimum engagement requirements and limits on daily hours)
• The Award includes minimum rest and roster requirements, including provisions about days off, which must be checked when building weekly rosters

Casual

• Casuals are paid a 25% casual loading (reflected in the casual "ordinary hours" rates)

Minimum engagement rules apply under the Award:

• 2-hour minimum per engagement (general)
• 3 hours if employed as a bingo employee
• 1 hour if employed as a fitness instructor

Casual conversion

The Award links casual employment status/conversion processes to the NES / Fair Work Act framework (including the provisions dealing with casual employment status and disputes).

Penalty rates & overtime (where clubs get exposed)

Penalties, overtime and allowances – what's the difference?

Penalties are not usually cumulative

If multiple penalties could apply at once, the Award generally applies the penalty most advantageous to the employee rather than stacking them (with limited exceptions).

Late & early work penalties (big one in clubs)

For employees other than maintenance/horticultural employees, there are additional penalties:

• Mon–Fri 7:00 pm–midnight: +$2.81/hour
• Mon–Fri midnight–7:00 am: +$4.22/hour

These late and early penalties apply to ordinary hours only and do not apply to overtime hours.

Maintenance & horticultural: different weekend rules

Maintenance/horticultural employees have different weekend penalty triggers (e.g., Saturday after 12 noon rules).

Overtime: use the trigger rules, not memory

Schedule B provides overtime percentages (e.g., 150% then 200% etc.).

But the most important compliance step is ensuring you're applying overtime when it triggers (e.g., working beyond rostered/ordinary hours, exceeding certain daily/weekly limits, or special part-time rules).

Worked examples (logic, not exact pay)

Allowances (the "small" amounts that cause big backpay)

Common allowances and entitlements to look out for include:

Compliance note: Allowance amounts are particularly sensitive to annual variation and should always be confirmed against the current Fair Work pay guide before payment.

Leave entitlements (Award + NES) + club-specific extras

NES leave basics (permanent employees)

Full-time and part-time employees generally get (among other NES entitlements):

• Paid annual leave
• Paid personal/carer's leave
• Compassionate leave, parental leave, family & domestic violence leave, etc.

Casuals generally don't receive paid annual/personal leave (instead they receive the casual loading).

Club manager professional development leave

The Award includes professional development leave provisions for club managers.

Accommodation arrangements for club managers

The Award includes an accommodation clause for club managers (relevant if the club provides accommodation and makes deductions under agreed arrangements).

Step-by-step compliance plan (clubs edition)

1. Confirm the Award applies to your club and to each worker
   • Check the Award's definition of a club and the exclusions
   • Check whether any workers are employed by contractors (cleaning/security) and therefore not covered by this Award
2. Classify every employee (and document it)
   • Don't assume bar staff are "Level 1" forever
   • Don't assume junior bar staff can be paid junior rates (liquor service rule)
3. Set the correct base rate
   • Use clause 18.3 (and Schedule B) for the correct level
4. Decide whether any salaried manager arrangements are valid
   • If paying a salary to managers, check whether it meets the Award's salary thresholds and what Award provisions may or may not apply at that salary level
   • Remember: salary must equal or exceed the Award minimum, and doesn't automatically remove penalty/overtime obligations unless the Award allows it
   • Set up an annual or quarterly reconciliation process to confirm salary covers all entitlements
5. Apply penalties, late/early loadings, and overtime
   • Check weekends, public holidays, late nights, early starts, and overtime triggers
6. Apply allowances
   • First aid, broken periods, meal allowance, vehicle, etc.
7. Review casuals
   • Minimum engagement compliance
   • Conversion requests (follow NES/Act process)
8. Keep clean records

   Minimum record-keeping requirements include:

   • Hours worked, rosters, and breaks taken
   • Classification level, pay rate, and allowances paid
   • Leave balances and leave taken
   • Payslips with separately itemised allowances and penalty payments
   • Contracts and classification documentation

Clubs Award compliance self-check

Use this interactive checklist to track your compliance progress:

Common mistakes in clubs

• Using the wrong award because "we're basically a pub"

  Registered and licensed clubs are often covered by the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award, while hotels, pubs and taverns are typically covered by the Hospitality Industry Award. Where a venue does not meet the Award's definition of a club, pay rates and penalties should be set using our Hospitality Award guide.

• Underpaying junior bar staff

  The liquor service adult-rate rule is a major trap.

• Missing late-night/early-morning penalties

  Those +$2.81/hr and +$4.22/hr add up fast in gaming/bar operations.

• Assuming penalties "stack" (or stacking them incorrectly)

  Penalties are generally not cumulative; apply the most advantageous penalty where required.

• Broken periods of work not paid (split shifts)

  Clubs that roster split periods often miss the daily broken period allowance.

• Maintenance/grounds staff treated like bar staff

  Maintenance/horticultural employees have different weekend penalty triggers and ordinary-hour spans.

• Paying a "salary" to managers that doesn't meet Award thresholds

  If the salary doesn't meet the Award's thresholds, managers may still be entitled to overtime/penalties/allowances.

Final takeaways

• Confirm coverage first: MA000058 applies to many registered/licensed clubs, but exclusions and contractor arrangements matter.
• Classify properly: Levels and manager streams drive pay, overtime, and entitlements.
• Don't forget clubs-specific traps: Junior liquor service rule, late/early penalties, broken periods, and maintenance/horticulture differences.
• Keep records: If you can't prove it, you're exposed.
• Check award coverage: If the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award does not apply to part or all of your operations, refer to the relevant Hospitality, Restaurant or Fast Food Award guide to ensure correct coverage and pay rates.

This guide is intended as a practical compliance aid only. It does not replace the need to refer to the current consolidated Award, Fair Work pay guides, or to obtain professional advice where interpretation or coverage is uncertain.