Casual loading in Australian hospitality is 25% on top of the ordinary hourly rate, so a Level 1 restaurant casual is on A$33.05 an hour from 1 July 2026 while a permanent on the same job is on A$26.44. Skai Solutions has set out every level below, plus the minimum shift, the two mistakes that cause most underpayments, and what the loading does to the cost of covering a phone.
The loading is 25%. It is paid instead of annual leave, paid sick and carer's leave, notice of termination and redundancy pay, which is why a casual who works a Tuesday lunch and never comes back costs you nothing beyond that shift.
These are the Restaurant Industry Award MA000119 adult rates from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, published by the Fair Work Ombudsman on 24 June 2026. The casual column is the ordinary hourly rate plus 25%.
| Level | Permanent hourly | Casual hourly | Difference per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introductory | A$25.74 | A$32.18 | A$6.44 |
| Level 1 (food and beverage attendant grade 1, kitchen attendant grade 1) | A$26.44 | A$33.05 | A$6.61 |
| Level 2 (food and beverage grade 2, cook grade 1) | A$27.08 | A$33.85 | A$6.77 |
| Level 3 (food and beverage grade 3, cook grade 2) | A$27.97 | A$34.96 | A$6.99 |
| Level 4 (tradesperson) | A$29.45 | A$36.81 | A$7.36 |
| Level 5 (food and beverage supervisor, cook grade 4) | A$31.30 | A$39.13 | A$7.83 |
| Level 6 (cook grade 5) | A$32.13 | A$40.16 | A$8.03 |
Rates from the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide for the Restaurant Industry Award MA000119, published 24 June 2026. Award minimums rose 4.75% in the Annual Wage Review 2026. An enterprise agreement can override all of this.
Read across one row and the loading looks small. Read down a roster and it does not. Four casuals on Level 1 covering four hours each, five nights a week, is 80 hours, and the loading alone on those hours is A$528.80 a month before a single penalty rate is added. The full breakdown of weekend and public holiday rates sits on the Skai Solutions page for hospitality award rates in Australia, and how the award decides which level a person sits on is covered in hospitality award pay levels.
Two consecutive hours on the Restaurant Award, and two on the Hospitality Industry (General) Award MA000009. Three on the Fast Food Award MA000003.
That difference changes what a short shift costs, because a sit-down cafe and the takeaway shop three doors down are on different awards. Calling someone in to cover a 90 minute gap costs the cafe two hours of pay and the takeaway three. If you run both formats under one company, you are running two minimums. The Skai Solutions page on minimum shift length for hospitality staff covers part timers and the New Zealand position as well.
Work out which award you are on before you work out anything else. The Restaurant Award covers businesses that mainly sell food and drink to be eaten on the premises, restaurants, cafes with table service, reception centres, tea rooms and night clubs. It does not cover a restaurant inside a hotel, motel or registered club, and it does not cover fast food. Source: the Fair Work Ombudsman summary of MA000119.
The first is stacking. The casual loading is not added on top of the Saturday, Sunday or public holiday penalty rate. The award sets casual weekend and public holiday rates separately, so a Level 1 casual on a Sunday is on the award's casual Sunday figure, not on A$26.44 multiplied by 1.5 and then by 1.25. Stacking overpays, unstacking incorrectly underpays, and both are the same conversation with an inspector.
The second is the late night loading, which people forget because it is a flat amount rather than a percentage. On ordinary hours Monday to Friday the Restaurant Award adds A$2.95 an hour between 10pm and midnight and A$4.42 an hour between midnight and 6am, and it applies to part of an hour. A kitchen that closes at 11pm and cleans down until 11.40pm is carrying that loading on every close.
For anything specific, a junior rate, an apprentice, an overtime band or a split shift, use the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool rather than a table on anyone's website, including this one.
The loading is what a casual hour costs. When you can move that hour, and the 2 consecutive hour minimum it has to fit inside, are on staff roster rules for Australian restaurants.
Fifteen minutes, your menu, your busiest service. Bring the hardest order you get.
Book a Free DemoUnder the employee choice pathway in the National Employment Standards, a casual can give written notice asking to change to full time or part time if they have been employed for at least six months, or twelve months if you are a small business employer, and they believe they no longer meet the definition of a casual. For small business employers the pathway started on 26 August 2025.
Most restaurants and cafes are small business employers, so twelve months is the number that matters to this industry. You can only decline on specific grounds: the person still meets the casual definition, there are fair and reasonable operational grounds, or accepting would breach a recruitment process required by law. "We have always done it this way" is not one of them. Source: the Fair Work Ombudsman guidance on becoming a permanent employee.
The practical point for a roster is that a casual who works the same four shifts every week for a year is the one most likely to be eligible, and that is usually your best person. Losing the loading on their hours is the price of keeping them.
Casual loading is why "just put someone on the phone" is more expensive than it sounds. Rostering one Level 1 casual for four hours across the dinner service, five nights a week, is 80 hours a month at A$33.05, which is A$2,644 before superannuation, before any weekend penalty and before the late night loading on a Friday close. That is Skai Solutions' own arithmetic on the award figures above, shown so you can put your own hours in.
The comparison people actually make is not casual against permanent. It is a person against nobody. Most venues do not roster a phone person at all, they let the phone ring and hope someone reaches it, which is why the calls that pay best, the ones at 6.15pm on a Friday, are the calls least likely to be answered. What an AI phone agent costs is set out on the Skai Solutions pricing page, and what an AI receptionist costs across the market compares the pricing models rather than the vendors.
Labour is the line this sits inside. If you want to know whether your total wage bill is where it should be, the Skai Solutions guide to restaurant labour cost percentage works through the calculation, and the state of hospitality staffing in Australia covers why casual hours got harder to fill. If you also operate in New Zealand, note that there is no award and no statutory weekend penalty there at all, which the Skai Solutions page on New Zealand hospitality wages explains.
If your venue runs on two owner operators and a chef, and you have never rostered a casual, the loading is not your problem and neither is an AI phone agent. Both matter once you are covering hours you cannot personally stand there for. And if you are checking your own pay rather than running the roster, the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool will answer your question properly and this page will not. Skai Solutions sells phone answering, not payroll advice, and this is general information rather than advice about your business.
It is 25% under both the Restaurant Industry Award MA000119 and the Hospitality Industry (General) Award MA000009. A higher figure usually comes from an enterprise agreement or from stacking the loading on top of a penalty rate, which the award does not do.
Two consecutive hours under the Restaurant Award and the Hospitality Award. The Fast Food Award sets three consecutive hours, so a takeaway shop and a sit-down cafe have different minimums.
No. The award publishes casual Saturday, Sunday and public holiday rates separately, so you use the published casual figure rather than multiplying the permanent penalty rate by 1.25.
Six months, or twelve months if you are a small business employer. The employee choice pathway began for small business employers on 26 August 2025 and the request has to be in writing.
More: all Skai Solutions guides and what to do when staff call in sick.