Work guides

Find your award before you check your pay.

Updated 29 October 2026 · Australia · Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)

The short answer

Most employees in Australia are covered by an award: a legal document setting minimum pay and conditions for an industry or occupation. If an enterprise agreement applies to you, it replaces the award, but its base rates cannot be lower than the award's. If neither covers you, the National Minimum Wage applies: $26.44 an hour, or $1,004.90 for a 38-hour week, from 1 July 2026. Your contract can pay you more than any of these, never less. One exception: if you earn above the high income threshold ($190,100 from 1 July 2026) under a written guarantee of annual earnings, the award does not apply to you.

The three layers

What covers youWhere your minimum pay comes from
An enterprise agreementThe agreement's rates, which cannot have a base rate below the award (or the National Minimum Wage if no award covers you)
An award, no agreementThe award's rate for your classification, plus its penalty rates, loadings and allowances
NeitherThe National Minimum Wage: $26.44 an hour, or $33.05 an hour for casuals including the 25% casual loading

Underneath all three sit the National Employment Standards in the Fair Work Act: annual leave, sick leave, notice, redundancy pay and the rest. Nothing can give you less than those.

How to find your award

  • Start with your pay slip or contract. Many name the award or agreement.
  • Use the Fair Work Ombudsman's Find my award tool. Awards are organised by industry (what your employer does) and occupation (what you do). If you are a cook in a hospital, both matter.
  • Check for an enterprise agreement on the Fair Work Commission's agreement search, using your employer's legal name.
  • Find your classification. Each award has levels with descriptions of the work. Your level sets your base rate, so match it to what you actually do, not to your job title.

The Fair Work Ombudsman publishes a pay guide for each award, and its Pay and Conditions Tool works out penalty rates, overtime and allowances for a given shift.

What changed on 1 July 2026

  • Award minimum wages rose by 4.75%, from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026.
  • The National Minimum Wage rose to $26.44 an hour ($1,004.90 a week).
  • The lowest award rate for ongoing employment must be at least $26.44 an hour, and an entry-level rate for the first six months or less at least $25.74 an hour.

If your pay did not change in July, ask why. It may be that you are already paid well above the minimum, or it may be an underpayment.

Things that catch people out

  • Wrong classification. Being kept at a starting level after your duties have grown.
  • Penalty rates. Weekend, public holiday, evening and overtime rates are separate entitlements, and each needs checking.
  • Casual loading. Casuals get a loading instead of paid leave. Under the National Minimum Wage it is 25%; awards set their own, commonly also 25%.
  • Junior rates. Some awards and the National Minimum Wage order pay a percentage of the adult rate by age.
  • "Salary covers everything". A salary can stand in for award overtime and penalty rates only where the award has an annualised wage clause or your contract validly sets the salary off against award amounts, and only if it is enough to cover them. Check the arithmetic against the award.

If the numbers do not add up, read underpaid wages.

What the law says

  • Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) Part 2-2 the National Employment Standards
  • Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) Part 2-3; s 47(2) modern awards, and why they do not apply to high income employees
  • Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) Part 2-6 minimum wages and the annual wage review

The 2026-27 rates and the 4.75% award increase are from the Fair Work Ombudsman's 1 July 2026 announcement and its minimum wages page, following the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review decision of 2 June 2026. Read the Act at legislation.gov.au.

The law for matters like yours

This page is the law in general. Ask Atuny about the law for matters like yours in plain English and the short answer is free. It reads the Act, not a forum thread.

Ask a free question
Underpaid? You can go back six yearsHow to check whether you have been underpaid, the records your employer must keep, the small claims route up to $100,000, and when underpayment becomes a crime.Casual for six months? You can ask to go permanentThe employee choice pathway: who can notify, the 21-day response, the only grounds for refusal, and what changes if you convert.Can your boss take it out of your pay?The four ways a deduction can be lawful, why till shortfalls and breakages rarely qualify, and the extra rule for workers under 18.Your final pay, and when it is dueWhat has to be in your last pay (wages, unused annual leave and loading, notice, redundancy), what is not paid out, and the deadlines.

Who this covers. This guide is about people in the national workplace system, which is most people working in the private sector in Australia. Depending on your state, if you work for a state government department or a council, or in Western Australia for a sole trader, partnership or some trusts, state laws may apply instead, although some federal protections, such as unlawful termination, still cover you. The Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) can tell you which system you are in.

This is general information about the law, not advice about your situation. It was checked against the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) as compiled on 7 July 2026 and the Fair Work Commission and Fair Work Ombudsman figures for 2026-27. Atuny is not a law firm.