Hospitality Award pay rates 2026-27, and what each level takes home

Hospitality Award pay rates 2026-27 by level

The award sets a weekly rate for 38 ordinary hours and an hourly rate for each level. Every classification on the same level earns the same rate, so a Level 2 cook and a Level 2 waiter are paid alike. The last two columns show what a full-time week leaves after the ATO weekly tax table.

Hotel managers (the award's "managerial staff (hotels)", commonly an assistant or duty manager) are on a minimum annual salary of $63,617 instead of an hourly level. Casino gaming staff have their own table in clause 18.3.

How much tax comes out of hospitality pay

Your employer withholds tax each pay using the ATO's Schedule 1 tables. On a full-time Level 1 week of $1,004.90, that is $139 when you have claimed the tax-free threshold. The threshold can only be claimed with one employer, so a second hospitality job is withheld on the no-threshold scale: $250 on the same week, leaving $754.90. The second job tax calculator runs that for any pair of jobs.

At these pay levels weekly withholding runs slightly ahead of the real annual bill. Over 2026-27, a full-time Level 1 year of $52,254.80 costs $7,025.36 in tax and Medicare levy, while 52 weeks of withholding comes to $7,228. The $203 difference comes back when you lodge. It is larger lower down the scale, because the weekly table does not build in the whole low income tax offset: a casual working 20 hours every week at Level 2 has $3,172 withheld over the year against $2,554.68 of actual tax, about $617 back. The tax refund calculator works out your own figure from your income statement.

Employer super sits on top of all of these: 12% of ordinary earnings, or $6,270.58 a year at full-time Level 1. For any other salary, the PAYG calculator gives the same annual breakdown.

Level 1 is the minimum wage: what it takes home

Hospitality Level 1 equals the national minimum wage to the cent, so these are also the minimum wage after-tax figures for 2026-27. The minimum wage is a before-tax amount.

The minimum wage as a yearly salary, and what other hourly rates come to, are on the hourly to salary calculator.

Casual hospitality rates 2026-27

Casual rates already include the 25% casual loading, and the weekend and public holiday percentages for casuals are loading-inclusive too. Casual Saturday is 150% of the base rate, not 150% of the casual rate. Casuals must be paid for at least 2 consecutive hours each time they start work.

Casual weeks rarely look alike, so here is what three common Level 2 weeks leave after tax. The second-job column applies when you have claimed the tax-free threshold with another employer.

A casual on 30 hours at Level 2 grosses $1,015.50, almost the $1,029.10 a full-timer earns for 38. That is the casual loading paying for the annual leave and sick leave casuals do not get. The casual tax calculator shows how loading and penalties combine under other awards.

Saturday, Sunday and public holiday rates

For full-time and part-time staff, Saturday is 125% of the base rate, Sunday 150% and a public holiday 225%. Overtime is 150% for the first 2 hours Monday to Friday (the same dollar figure as the Sunday column) and 200% after that, and all weekend overtime is 200%.

Only one penalty applies to any hour: where two could, the award pays the highest and no other (clause 29.3). Full-time and part-time staff called in on a public holiday are paid for at least 4 hours; casuals for at least 2. Casual overtime is worked out on the ordinary rate without the loading, so a Level 1 casual's first 2 hours of weekday overtime pay $39.66, not much above their normal $33.05. The overtime pay calculator handles time and a half, double time and time off in lieu.

Evening and night loadings

Monday to Friday work after 7pm earns a flat dollar loading on top of the hourly rate, not a percentage: $2.95 an hour from 7pm to midnight and $4.42 an hour from midnight to 7am. It is paid for each hour or part of an hour, so 20 minutes past 7pm earns the full $2.95. Casuals, juniors and apprentices get the full amount. Weekends and public holidays take the weekend or holiday rate instead.

If this is a second job, $247 is withheld instead and $747.66 lands. To check the lines on a real payslip, the payslip generator lays out each rate the way an employer must.

Which level am I?

Your level comes from the duties you perform, not your job title. The award's classifications for each level are in Table 3 and Schedule A; the typical jobs column is our reading of those duty descriptions. The Level 2 and Level 3 split for bar and floor staff turns on training: food and beverage attendant grade 2 is someone who "has not achieved the appropriate level of training".

Bar staff

Level 2 at $27.08 an hour ($33.85 casual) until you reach the appropriate level of training, then Level 3 at $27.97 ($34.96 casual). Gaming, TAB and cellar duties and mixing a range of sophisticated drinks are Level 3 work. Bar work is liquor service, so an 18-year-old behind the bar is paid the adult rate.

Cooks and chefs

Cook grade 1 (breakfasts and snacks) is Level 2 at $27.08; a trained cook grade 2 is Level 3 at $27.97. Trade-qualified cooks start at Level 4: commis chef $29.45, demi chef $31.30 and chef de partie $32.13. Cooks who supply their own tools get an allowance on top (see allowances below).

Waiters

The same split as the bar: Level 2 while in training, Level 3 once trained. A waiter who has completed an apprenticeship in waiting or passed the trade test and works in fine dining is Level 4 at $29.45.

Kitchen hands and room attendants

Kitchen attendant grade 1 (cleaning, pantry work, helping the cooks) is Level 1 at $26.44. Room attendants, porters and courtesy bus drivers are guest service grade 2, Level 2, at $27.08.

Hospitality Award junior rates

Employees under 21 who are not apprentices or trainees are juniors. They are paid a percentage of the adult rate for their level: 50% under 17, 60% at 17, 70% at 18 and 85% at 19. At 20 the full adult rate applies. Two exceptions pay the adult rate at any age: liquor service employees (anyone selling or serving alcohol in a bar, bottle shop or cellar), and juniors with a trade qualification. Under-18s cannot be required to work more than 10 hours in a shift.

Junior office and front office staff (clerical and reception roles) use a separate scale: 45% under 16, 55% at 16, 65% at 17, 75% at 18, 90% at 19. Weekend, holiday and evening rates apply to the junior rate the same way they apply to the adult rate, and the flat evening loading is paid in full. Most junior weeks fall under the tax-free threshold: withholding is nil up to $364 a week when the threshold is claimed.

Apprentice cook rates

Apprentice rates are a percentage of the Level 4 weekly rate ($1,119.10, a trade-qualified cook). These are the rates for apprentices who start as juniors, and the same percentages apply to other apprentices except waiting apprentices, who have their own table.

Adult apprentice cooks who started after 1 January 2014 are paid at least:

Hospitality Award allowances

The allowances most staff will see, 2026-27 amounts from the pay guide:

Split shift allowances are not paid to casuals. Annual leave is 4 weeks for full-time and part-time staff with a 17.5% loading; the annual leave loading guide covers how it is paid and taxed, and the annual leave payout calculator works out the tax when unused leave is paid out.

Hospitality Award or Restaurant Award?

The business decides the award, not your job. A waiter in a pub is on the Hospitality Award; the same waiter in a standalone cafe is on the Restaurant Industry Award [MA000119].

The Restaurant Award pays the same base rates at every level. Two differences cost cafe staff money: its evening loading only starts at 10pm (and the night loading ends at 6am), and casuals at Introductory to Level 2 get 150% on Sunday instead of 175%. A Level 1 casual waiter earns $39.66 an hour on a Sunday in a cafe against $46.27 in a pub.

Are hospitality award rates different in QLD, NSW, Victoria or WA?

No. The Hospitality Award is a national award, so the rates above apply in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory alike. There is no separate Queensland or Victorian hospitality rate. The one exception is Western Australia, where sole traders, partnerships, other unincorporated businesses and non-trading corporations sit in the WA state system instead. Work for a WA pub run by a partnership and your rate comes from a WA state instrument, not this award.

What changed on 1 July 2026

The 2026 Annual Wage Review lifted minimum award wages by 4.75% from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026. It also set a floor of $1,004.90 a week for the lowest ongoing award rate and $978.10 for entry-level rates that last 6 months or less, which is why Level 1 now equals the national minimum wage and the Introductory rate sits at $25.74. The next change is due with the 2027 review, from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2027.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Fair Work Ombudsman: Pay guide, Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 [MA000009] (published 24 June 2026; every rate, junior, apprentice and allowance figure on this page)
• Fair Work Commission: Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 (coverage clause 4, casual engagement 11, juniors 13 and 18.4, overtime 28, penalty rates and loadings 29, classifications Schedule A, loaded rates Schedule I)
• Fair Work Commission: Restaurant Industry Award 2020 (coverage, the 10pm evening loading and the casual Sunday rates)
• Fair Work Ombudsman: Minimum wages increase from 1 July 2026 (the 4.75% increase, the $1,004.90 national minimum wage and the $978.10 entry-level floor)
• Fair Work Commission: Junior rates decision issued (the decision covers the Retail, Fast Food and Pharmacy awards)
• Fair Work Ombudsman: The Fair Work system (who is in the national system, and the Western Australian exception)
• ATO: Schedule 1, statement of formulas for calculating amounts to be withheld (NAT 1004, the weekly, fortnightly and monthly withholding figures)

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