Penalty Rates Explained 2026
Penalty rates are higher rates of pay for hours worked at less sociable times, such as weekends, public holidays, evenings and certain shifts. They are set by the modern award that covers the job.
For ordinary hours worked at difficult times, many awards lift the hourly rate above the base. Common triggers are Saturday and Sunday work, public holidays, early mornings, late nights and rotating shift patterns. Each award decides for itself which times attract a penalty and how large it is, so the same Sunday shift can pay quite differently from one industry to the next.
The rate also depends on whether the employee is permanent or casual. A casual usually has the casual loading folded into the penalty rate, which is why casual penalty figures tend to sit above the permanent ones for the same hour. Reading a penalty rate correctly therefore means reading it for the right award and the right employment type, not just for the day of the week.
Rather than list a penalty as a bare multiplier, AwardScale shows the published resulting hourly for each time band for 2026. So a Sunday rate appears as the actual figure for that hour, for both permanent and casual, taken straight from the award. That makes it easy to see what a given shift pays without working the multiplication yourself.
Penalty rates are not fixed forever. Because most are calculated from the base rate for the classification, they move whenever the underlying minimums change in the Annual Wage Review. When the base rate rises, the weekend and public holiday rates built on it rise with it. The figures shown here follow each award's own rules, using the Fair Work Commission minimums current for 2026.
Awards can also attach penalties to things beyond the clock, such as working through a rostered break or being called back after finishing for the day. Those extra cases are set out in the award itself. AwardScale focuses on the main time-based penalties for each classification, shown as the resulting hourly, so the everyday weekend and evening rates are easy to find, with the less common penalties left to the award text where they are defined in full.
Work out a weekend or public holiday shift
Common questions
What times attract penalty rates?
Commonly weekends, public holidays, evenings, early mornings and shift work, though which times count and by how much is set by each award.
Are penalty rates the same in every job?
No. They vary by award and by whether the employee is permanent or casual, so the same day can pay differently across industries.
Do casuals get different penalty rates?
Usually yes. A casual penalty rate generally has the casual loading folded in, so it tends to sit above the permanent rate for the same hour.
Rates current as of 1 July 2026. Source: Fair Work Commission — Modern Awards Pay Database. Last checked .
General information only — not legal, industrial or financial advice. These are the published minimum rates for information. Your modern award or enterprise agreement prevails if there is any inconsistency. Check the official source above or the Fair Work Ombudsman for your situation.