A new casual once asked me why her Sunday pay wasn’t 25% higher than her Saturday pay, since she’d heard casual loading was 25%. She wasn’t wrong about the loading, she just didn’t realise her award already builds it into the weekend rate instead of stacking it on top.
Quick answer: Casual loading is an extra 25% added to the minimum hourly rate for your job, paid instead of annual leave, sick leave, notice of termination and redundancy pay. What trips people up is weekends and public holidays, depending on your award, that 25% might already be baked into your penalty rate, or added on top of it separately. Same loading, two very different pay cheques.
What Casual Loading Actually Is
Casual loading is a higher pay rate casual employees get instead of the paid leave and job security that full-time and part-time employees have. It’s a legal entitlement, not a bonus, and it has to appear as its own line item on your payslip, not folded invisibly into a single hourly figure.
How Much Is Casual Loading Right Now
For employees not covered by an award or agreement, the default is 25% on the National Minimum Wage. From 1 July 2026 the National Minimum Wage is $26.44 an hour, so an award-free casual’s minimum rate works out to roughly $33.05 an hour once the loading is added. Most casual hospitality, retail and fast food workers are on a modern award instead, and the same 25% figure shows up there too, the Hospitality, Retail, Fast Food and Restaurant awards all set casual loading at 25% on top of the minimum rate for your classification. The exact dollar figure depends on your classification level, so the honest way to check yours is the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool rather than a single number here.
The Part Most People Get Wrong: Loading vs Penalty Rates
According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, there are three different ways an award can handle a weekend or public holiday penalty rate for casuals: the penalty and the loading get calculated separately and both added to the minimum rate, no loading gets paid at all when the penalty applies, or the loading is included in your ordinary hourly rate for all purposes and the penalty is then calculated on that combined, already-loaded amount. Which one applies depends entirely on your specific award.
In the General Retail Industry Award, the pattern is the third one, the loading is already baked into the penalty rate. Casuals get paid 150% of the minimum hourly rate for evenings (Monday-Friday after 6pm) and Saturdays, 175% on Sundays, and 250% on public holidays, and all of those figures already include the 25% loading, you don’t add it again. The Hospitality Award works the same way for evening and night work, casuals get 125% of the ordinary hourly rate for work between 7pm and 7am, and that 125% already has the loading built in.
If you’re on the Fast Food or Restaurant award, don’t assume the same pattern automatically applies, some awards calculate the penalty on the base, non-loaded rate instead. It’s worth two minutes on the Pay and Conditions Tool to confirm which method your award uses before assuming your payslip is wrong, or right.
Does Loading Apply to Overtime, Super, or Public Holidays You Don’t Work?
Superannuation, yes, the ATO treats casual loading as ordinary time earnings, so your employer’s compulsory super contributions (12% from 1 July 2026) are calculated on your loaded rate, not just your base rate. Overtime depends on your award’s specific overtime clause, some calculate it on the loaded rate, some on the base rate, don’t assume either way. And loading only applies to hours you actually work, since casuals don’t get paid leave, you’re simply not paid for a public holiday you’re rostered off, the loading is what compensates for that gap in the first place.
A Worked Example
Say your minimum classification rate is $28.00 an hour under the Retail Award and you work a Sunday shift. Your Sunday casual rate is 175% of $28.00, which is $49.00 an hour, and that already includes your loading, you don’t add another 25% on top. Compare that to an ordinary Monday shift at the same job, $28.00 x 1.25 = $35.00 an hour, where the loading is the only adjustment happening.
Curious what notice period you would be entitled to if you moved to a permanent role instead? See our guide on notice periods in Australia.
Thinking about converting to permanent instead of staying casual? See exactly how the trade-off works in our guide to the employee choice pathway.
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Worth noting if you’re a student stacking casual shifts: casual loading affects your rate, but it doesn’t change your 48-hour fortnightly work limit under Condition 8105 — that cap applies regardless of how you’re paid.
Still job hunting? Here’s where backpackers actually get hired in Australia — it’s rarely just one job board.
Casual loading and overtime are often confused — they’re different things. See when overtime rules actually apply to casual employees for the full breakdown.
Final Thoughts
Casual loading is a legal entitlement, not a bonus, and whether it also applies on top of your weekend or public holiday rate depends entirely on your award, not a single national formula. If your weekend pay looks lower than you expected, that’s usually the loading already being built into the penalty rate, not underpayment, but it’s always worth confirming against your specific award if the numbers still don’t add up. Check your exact rate with our Award Pay Calculator, and if you’re new to casual work, see our guide on casual employee break rules.
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This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Award rates and rules are reviewed regularly, always confirm your current entitlements against your specific award before relying on them.