Part Time Penalty Rates 2026-27
A part-time employee is paid penalty rates at the same percentage as a full-time employee at the same classification. The awards do not print a part-time percentage, because they do not have one. What is genuinely different for a part-timer is which hours count as ordinary hours, and that turns on the pattern of hours agreed when they were engaged.
The short answer
Yes, at the same percentage. Each award prints one column for full-time and part-time employees together, so a part-time Saturday is 125% of the base hourly rate, a Sunday 125% to 150% and a public holiday 225%.
In retail, hours beyond your agreed pattern are overtime. Clause 10.8 pays them at the Table 11 overtime rate, 150% for the first 3 hours and 200% after, so a Retail Employee Level 1 earns $41.72 then $55.62 an hour, unless you agreed to vary your hours and it was recorded in writing under clause 10.6. Clause 10.9 sets a minimum of 3 consecutive hours a day.
A casual is 25 points higher on the same hours. That is the 25% casual loading, not a better penalty rate, and a part-timer receives paid leave in its place.
The award prints one column for both, and that is the answer.
There is no interpretation involved here. Each award’s rates schedule puts full-time and part-time employees in the same table, names them both in the heading, and then puts casuals in a separate table. The headings below are the awards’ own words.
General Retail Industry Award 2020 (MA000004)
B.1.1 · percentage of the minimum hourly rate
Full-time and part-time adult employees other than shiftworkers—ordinary and penalty rates
Saturday 125%, Sunday 150%, public holiday 225% for both. A casual at the same classification is paid Saturday 150%, Sunday 175% and public holiday 250%.
Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 (MA000009)
B.2.1 · percentage of the ordinary hourly rate
Adult full-time and part-time employees—ordinary and penalty rates
Saturday 125%, Sunday 150%, public holiday 225% for both. A casual at the same classification is paid Saturday 150%, Sunday 175% and public holiday 250%.
Fast Food Industry Award 2020 (MA000003)
A.1.1 · percentage of the minimum hourly rate
Full-time and part-time adult employees—ordinary and penalty rates
Saturday 125%, Sunday 125% to 150%, public holiday 225% for both. A casual at the same classification is paid Saturday 150%, Sunday 150% to 175% and public holiday 250%.
A retail employee level 1 is paid $27.81 an hour for ordinary hours and $34.76 an hour on a Saturday, whether they are full-time or part-time. Every percentage on this page, and the hourly figure each award prints against it, is on Penalty Rates. Retail Employee Levels 1 to 3 are the assistant-level classifications, and what each pays is set out on Retail Assistant Pay Rate.
What changes for a part-timer is which hours are ordinary hours.
A penalty rate is paid on ordinary hours that fall at a time the award treats as unsociable. A part-time employee is engaged on an agreed regular pattern of hours, so the question that decides the pay is not what percentage applies but whether the hour was an ordinary one.
Inside the agreed pattern
These are ordinary hours. If they fall on a Saturday, a Sunday, a public holiday or inside an evening window the award names, the penalty percentage applies in full, at the same rate a full-time employee would receive.
Beyond the agreed pattern
In retail and fast food these are overtime unless the change was agreed and recorded in writing. In hospitality an employer can roster hours beyond the guaranteed ones at ordinary rates, and overtime starts past the rostered hours.
Every one of the 16 penalty conditions in these three awards is defined by a day and a time of day, never by how many hours a week the employee is contracted for. That is why the percentage does not move when the roster does.
Pay for hours beyond your agreed hours, award by award.
Each award’s part-time clause decides when an extra hour is overtime, and its overtime table sets the rate. The dollar figures are the ones each award prints for its lowest adult level.
General Retail Industry Award 2020 (MA000004)
Minimum 3 consecutive hours, clause 10.9
Clause 10.8: "For any time worked in excess of their guaranteed hours agreed under clause 10.5 or as varied under clause 10.6 or clause 10.11, the part-time employee must be paid at the overtime rate specified in Table 11". Under clause 10.6 the guaranteed hours can be varied by agreement recorded in writing, for a single shift before it ends, and the award's own example pays those extra hours at ordinary rates including any penalty rates.
General Retail Industry Award 2020 overtime rates for a part-time Retail Employee Level 1, Table 11, clause 21.2(c). Overtime worked Rate Retail Employee Level 1 Monday to Saturday, first 3 hours 150% $41.72 Monday to Saturday, after 3 hours 200% $55.62 Sunday 200% $55.62 Public holiday 250% $69.53 Table 11, clause 21.2(c); dollars from Schedule B.1.3, against $27.81 an hour ordinary.
Fast Food Industry Award 2020 (MA000003)
Minimum 3 consecutive hours on any shift, clause 10.2
Clause 10.9: "All time worked in excess of the number of ordinary hours agreed under clause 10.3 or varied under clause 10.5 or 10.7, is overtime". A variation for one shift has to be recorded in writing by the end of that shift, and under clause 10.6, if there is no record, the extra hours are paid at overtime rates. Clause 20.3 also makes hours before the rostered start or after the rostered finish overtime.
Fast Food Industry Award 2020 overtime rates for a part-time Fast food employee level 1, Table 5, clause 20.6. Overtime worked Rate Fast food employee level 1 Monday to Saturday, first 2 hours 150% $41.72 Monday to Saturday, after 2 hours 200% $55.62 Sunday 200% $55.62 Public holiday 250% $69.53 Table 5, clause 20.6; dollars from Schedule A.1.2, against $27.81 an hour ordinary.
Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 (MA000009)
Minimum 3 ordinary hours on any day, clause 15.2(a)
Clause 10.6 lets the employer roster a part-time employee for their guaranteed hours "and any additional hours", inside the availability they gave (clause 10.7). Overtime under clause 10.13(b) is paid for time beyond 38 hours a week, beyond the daily limit of 11.5 ordinary hours in clause 15.2, or beyond the rostered hours. After 12 months of regularly working more than the guaranteed hours, clause 10.8 lets the employee ask in writing for them to be increased.
Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 overtime rates for a part-time Introductory level, Table 13, clause 28.4. Overtime worked Rate Introductory level Monday to Friday, first 2 hours 150% $38.61 Monday to Friday, after 2 hours 200% $51.48 Weekends and rostered days off 200% $51.48 Public holiday 225% $57.92 Table 13, clause 28.4; dollars from Schedule B.2.2, against $25.74 an hour ordinary.
The Overtime Calculator prices a week of those hours at time and a half and double time.
Three traps that catch part-time rosters in particular.
Two penalties on one shift, in hospitality
A part-timer rostered on a Sunday evening is not paid the Sunday percentage plus the evening one. Clause 29.3 of the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 says: “Subject to clause 29.3(c), where more than one penalty rate would be payable for hours worked at a particular time, the employer must pay the employee the highest applicable penalty rate, but no other applicable penalty rate is payable.”
A late finish is not a shift rate, in retail
Clause 23.1 of the General Retail Industry Award 2020 says: “Part 6 applies only to persons specifically employed to do shiftwork.” A part-time employee rostered onto a late shift without being engaged as a shiftworker is on the ordinary penalty percentages, which are the ones on this page. The shiftwork tables are priced separately and are published on the retail award page.
Your Sunday percentage depends on your level, in fast food
The Fast Food Industry Award 2020 prints two Sunday percentages: 125% at level 1, and 150% at levels 2 and 3. A part-time level 1 employee is paid 125% on a Sunday, and a page that prints one fast food Sunday figure has it wrong for them.
A part-time employee is not a casual, and the gap is the loading.
The two are often used as though they meant the same thing, and on a payslip they do not. A casual is paid 25 points more on the same hours in every condition these three awards publish, and receives none of the entitlements that 25% is compensating for.
| Award | Saturday | Sunday | Public holiday | Casual, same hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Retail Industry Award 2020MA000004 | 125% | 150% | 225% | 150% / 175% / 250% |
| Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020MA000009 | 125% | 150% | 225% | 150% / 175% / 250% |
| Fast Food Industry Award 2020MA000003 | 125% | 125% to 150% | 225% | 150% / 150% to 175% / 250% |
The casual column is Saturday, Sunday and public holiday in that order, and every figure in it already includes the loading. How the loading works, and which awards print it rather than leaving it to be worked out, is on Casual Loading.
Where these figures come from.
- General Retail Industry Award 2020 (MA000004), clause 22, Table 12—Penalty rates, consolidated to 1 July 2026, retrieved 6 September 2026. Read the award text.
- Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 (MA000009), clause 29, Table 14—Penalty rates, consolidated to 1 July 2026, retrieved 6 September 2026. Read the award text.
- Fast Food Industry Award 2020 (MA000003), clause 21, Table 6—Penalty rates, consolidated to 1 July 2026, retrieved 6 September 2026. Read the award text.
Every percentage on this page was read from the award text at those three sources and checked against the dollar figures the same table prints. The full source record, with the determinations behind each figure, is on Penalty Rates.
What this page does not cover.
Notice to change a roster
The part-time clauses also set how much notice an employer must give to change the start and finish times of an agreed pattern. This page covers what extra hours are paid, not those notice rules.
Overtime above the lowest level
The overtime dollars here are for the lowest adult level in each award. Every other level is in the same schedule of the award, at the same percentages.
Shiftwork
Retail limits its shiftwork rates to employees specifically employed as shiftworkers under clause 23.1, and those tables are not published here. A part-timer on a late roster is not automatically on a shift rate.
SCHADS and every other award
Three awards are read for this page. MA000100 publishes no penalty table and states its overtime in words, so no SCHADS figure appears. A percentage from one award is not evidence about another.
Pro rata leave and entitlements
A part-time employee accrues leave in proportion to their ordinary hours. This page is about what an hour of work pays, not about what accrues on it.
Hospitality all-purpose allowances
The hospitality percentages apply to the ordinary hourly rate, which includes all-purpose allowances. The dollar figures its schedule prints are calculated on the minimum hourly rate alone, so they are a floor for anyone carrying one.
Part Time Penalty Rates questions, answered.
Do part time workers get penalty rates?
Yes, at the same percentage as a full-time employee at the same classification. Each award prints one column headed for full-time and part-time employees together, and none prints a part-time percentage of its own. A part-time Saturday is 125% of the base hourly rate, a Sunday is 125% to 150% and a public holiday is 225%, exactly as for a full-timer.
Are part-time penalty rates lower than full-time penalty rates?
No. Being part-time reduces how many hours you are rostered, not what each hour is worth, and every penalty condition is defined by a day and a time of day, never by contracted hours. A part-timer can still end up with less than expected, because fewer of their hours fall inside a penalty window. The one level-based exception is fast food, where the Sunday percentage is set by classification, full-time or part-time alike. Since 30 August 2025 the Fair Work Commission must ensure penalty rates are not reduced, as Penalty Rates Protected by Law explains.
What happens if I work hours outside my agreed part-time pattern?
Under the General Retail Industry Award 2020, clause 10.8 says time worked beyond your guaranteed hours "must be paid at the overtime rate specified in Table 11": monday to saturday, first 3 hours 150%, monday to saturday, after 3 hours 200%, sunday 200%, public holiday 250%. For a Retail Employee Level 1 that is $41.72 an hour for the first 3 hours and $55.62 after, against $27.81 ordinary. The exception is clause 10.6: if you agree to vary your guaranteed hours and it is recorded in writing (for one shift, before that shift ends), the extra hours are paid at ordinary rates plus any penalty. The Fast Food Industry Award 2020 works the same way under clauses 10.9 and 10.5, with overtime at 150% for the first 2 hours. The Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 lets an employer roster extra hours beyond your guaranteed hours at ordinary rates, and pays overtime only beyond 38 hours a week, the daily limit or your rostered hours (clause 10.13(b)). Those overtime hours can be taken as time off instead under clause 21.3 of the retail award, at the overtime rate, so 2 hours at 150% is 3 hours off, which the Time in Lieu Calculator works out.
Is there a minimum shift for a part-time employee?
Yes, 3 hours in all three awards. Retail clause 10.9 sets a minimum daily engagement of 3 consecutive hours, fast food clause 10.2 requires rostering for a minimum of 3 consecutive hours on any shift, and hospitality clause 15.2(a) sets a minimum of 3 ordinary hours on any day, excluding meal breaks.
Do part-time employees get penalty rates on a public holiday?
Yes, at 225% of the base hourly rate, the same as a full-time employee at that classification. A casual is paid 250%, and that figure already includes the 25% casual loading rather than adding to it. Whether you are entitled to be paid at all for a public holiday you do not work is a separate question about your ordinary hours, not about the penalty percentage.
Why is a casual paid more per hour than a part-time employee for the same shift?
Because of the casual loading, not because of a better penalty rate. In all 16 conditions across these three awards the casual percentage is the full-time and part-time percentage plus exactly 25 points. A part-time employee is paid the lower figure and receives paid annual leave, paid personal leave, notice of termination and an agreed pattern of hours instead. The 12 casual tables in these awards are separate tables for that reason. What that leave comes to on part-time hours is worked out on the Annual Leave Calculator and the Sick Leave Calculator.
See what an hourly rate leaves you with.
The calculator works on the hourly rate you enter, so put a penalty figure from this page into it to see the after-tax result for those hours.
Open the pay calculator