Receptionist Pay Rate 2026-27

The Clerks—Private Sector Award 2020 (MA000002) is an occupational award. Clause 4.1 covers private sector employers in relation to employees wholly or principally engaged in clerical work, and clause 2 defines clerical work to include receiving and answering calls, operating a telephone switchboard and attending a reception desk. Fair Work’s summary of the award gives receptionists, in a tax accounting firm for instance, as an example of who it covers. That is the office receptionist, and the Clerks table above is the scale. The rest of the award is on the Clerks Award Pay Rates page.

Clause 4.4 then lists the industry awards whose employers the Clerks Award does not reach. Item (n) is the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020, which is what takes a medical or dental practice receptionist out of the Clerks Award. The same list names the Hospitality Industry (General) Award, the Legal Services Award, the General Retail Industry Award, the Restaurant Industry Award and the Fitness Industry Award, so a hotel front desk receptionist, a law firm receptionist, a retail or restaurant receptionist and a gym receptionist are each on their industry award instead. Hotel front desk work is on the Hospitality Award Pay Rates page. A retail receptionist reads Retail Award Pay Rates, and a gym receptionist Fitness Award Pay Rates. A salon receptionist is not on that list but is outside the Clerks Award all the same: the Hair and Beauty Industry Award covers salon employers to the exclusion of any other modern award (its clause 4.1) and names a receptionist in its level 1 definition, set out on Hair and Beauty Award Pay Rates. A receptionist employed by a residential aged care home is named in the Aged Care Award's own general stream, set out on Aged Care Worker Pay Rate. Fair Work’s summary flags its list of what the Clerks Award does not cover as under review, so if a payslip turns on this boundary, check it against the award text rather than the summary.

The Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (MA000027) is an industry and occupational award. It covers employers in the health industry, which clause 4.2 defines as employers whose business is the delivery of health care, medical services and dental services. Fair Work’s library article K600075 puts receptionists in that award in one sentence, and its summary of the award lists medical receptionists among the general and administrative support services employees it covers. Receptionist is named once in the award’s own classification schedule, at support services Level 3 (Schedule A.1.3), alongside a general clerk or typist in a second or subsequent year of service. K600075 says a receptionist can start at Level 1 with less than three months’ experience in the health industry and progresses to Level 2 or 3 on responsibility, accountability, supervision, experience and training, which is why the table above runs Level 1 to 3 and stops. Every level of the award is on the Health Services Award Pay Rates page.

The two scales look alike at the ends, which is how the wrong award passes unnoticed. Clerks Level 1 Year 1 and Health Services Level 1 are both $1,024.70 a week, and Clerks Level 1 Year 3 and Health Services Level 3 are both $1,106.20. The step between differs: $28.24 an hour at Clerks Level 1 Year 2 against $28.03 at Health Services Level 2, and $35.30 against $35.04 casual. The progression rule differs too, years of service on one scale and level of responsibility on the other, and everything around the base rate, the span of ordinary hours, penalty rates, junior percentages and allowances, is set by each award separately. A Clerks figure quoted to a medical receptionist can be right at the floor and still be the wrong award.

How a receptionist moves up the scale.

Under the Clerks Award the years in Level 1 and Level 2 are years of service in the classification level, and clause 16.2 counts administrative and clerical experience with a previous employer towards them. A receptionist with two years of reception experience elsewhere starts a new Clerks Award job at Level 1 Year 3, $29.11 an hour, not at Year 1. The levels themselves are set by the competency and skill the work requires, not the duties as such. Level 1 is where an employee with limited relevant experience learns the basic clerical skills under close direction, and its typical duties are reception or switchboard work: directing callers, greeting visitors, issuing standard forms. Level 2 is for an employee with enough experience or training to work under general direction, adding responding to enquiries and operating business equipment. Level 3 is for specialised or non-routine work under general guidance only, which in reception terms is screening calls, making appointments and handling client problems within the employee’s own area. Adult rates apply from 21 under clause 16.1.

Under the Health Services Award the levels are not years. Level 1 is the entry level, for an employee with less than three months’ experience in the industry performing basic duties under direct or routine supervision. Level 2 is for an employee who prioritises work within established routines, works under limited supervision and has sound communication skills. Level 3 is where the award names a receptionist, and where an administrative or clerical employee undertakes a range of basic clerical functions within established routines. The award’s own signposts are its clerk or typist rows: between three months and one year of service at Level 2, second and subsequent years at Level 3. Above that, Level 4 names ward, casualty and medical records clerks, with qualifications, training or experience at Certificate III level, and Level 5 is where an administrative employee needs a comprehensive knowledge of medical terminology or health insurance schemes, which is where a senior practice administrator can sit. Those rows are on the award page, not here, because K600075 puts receptionists at Levels 1 to 3.