Black Coal Mining Award.

Black Coal Mining Industry Award 2020 (MA000001) covers open cut and underground black coal mining, coal handling and processing plants on or adjacent to a coal mining lease, coal transport on a coal mining lease, mines rescue services. Common roles include dragline, truck, shovel and dozer operation, continuous miner, longwall and shuttle car operation, drilling, blasting and shotfiring, washplant, coal handling and train loading. Hourly rates under this award are built on a 35 hour week, not 38 (clauses 9 and 14), so every minimum hourly rate on this page is the weekly rate divided by 35. Only staff classifications in Schedule B can be employed as casuals (clause 8.1(c)). Production and engineering employees, from Mineworker - Induction Level 1 to Mineworker - Specialised, are full-time or part-time only, so the casual column in the penalty table applies to staff only, and the pay table shows no casual rate for those rows. A staff casual is paid for at least 4 hours each engagement (clause 11.1), and every penalty is a percentage of the loaded casual rate: 187.5% for the first 4 hours on a Saturday then 250%, 250% on a Sunday and 375% on a public holiday (Schedule D.2.1). The weekend and public holiday rates in the table are for day work. Afternoon and rotating night shift pays 172.5% for the first 4 hours on a Saturday then 230%, 230% on a Sunday and 330% on a public holiday. Permanent night shift (defined in clause 22.1(c)) pays 187.5% for the first 4 hours on a Saturday then 250%, 250% on a Sunday and 350% on a public holiday (clauses 23.1 and 29.4(c)). Every full-time employee gets 105 hours of paid personal/carer's leave, credited on starting and on each anniversary and accumulating without limit (clause 25.2). Redundancy runs on the award's own industry scheme: one ordinary week's pay (the award minimum weekly rate) for each completed year, plus 2 ordinary weeks' pay for each completed year, capped at 30 weeks, where the redundancy is caused by technological change, market forces or diminution of reserves (clauses 34.3 and 34.4). There is no long service leave clause in this award. Eligible black coal employees accrue long service leave under the Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave) Administration Act 1992, which counts qualifying service across employers, gives an entitlement after 8 years of it (section 39A) and applies instead of state and territory long service leave laws (section 39EA), so a state long service leave calculator does not apply. Graduate Engineer - Level 1 ($1,130.64) and Commercial Graduate - Level 1 ($1,115.52) are paid less than Group A ($1,168.60), because graduate rates are set as percentages of Group J and Group I (clause B.2.3). That is what the award says, not a transcription error. Metal and mineral mining is generally covered by the Mining Award, which excludes operations covered by this award (clause 4.3(b) of that award). This award does not cover head office or corporate staff (town offices tied to a local mine are covered), coal export terminals, construction work on or next to a mine site, catering, haulage of coal off the mining lease, shotfiring services from an employer outside the industry, or brown coal mining at a power station (clause 4.3).

Full-time and part-time employees are paid 150% of their base hourly rate for the first 4 hours worked on Saturday, then 200% for any hours after that. Casual employees receive 187.5% (this award applies the penalty to the CASUAL hourly rate, so the 25% loading compounds rather than adding), then 250% after 4 hours.

FT/PT employees are paid 200% of the base hourly rate (2.00x) for Sunday work. Casuals receive 250% (this award applies the penalty to the CASUAL hourly rate, so the 25% loading compounds rather than adding).

FT/PT employees who work on a gazetted public holiday are paid 300% of the base hourly rate (3.00x). Casuals receive 375% (this award applies the penalty to the CASUAL hourly rate, so the 25% loading compounds rather than adding). Employees who don't work the holiday receive their ordinary day's pay if it would otherwise have been a working day.

Every full-time employee gets 5 weeks of paid annual leave a year under the Black Coal Mining Award, above the NES minimum of 4. A 7 day roster employee, or an employee whose roster requires ordinary shifts on public holidays and at least 272 ordinary hours a year on Sundays, gets a sixth week: 210 hours in total (clause 24.2(b)). The award calls this group a shiftworker for annual leave purposes (clause 24.10(a)), but the test is the roster, so an afternoon or night shiftworker outside it stays on the 5 weeks (175 hours) that every full-time employee gets under clause 24.2(a). Calculate annual leave accrual →

You are paid the greater of your ordinary rate plus 20%, or your rostered earnings for the leave period. The 20% is calculated on your ordinary rate of pay (clause 24.6(a)). Rostered earnings include all rostered overtime and rostered public holidays at 200%, but leave out shift allowances unless you are a 7 day roster employee (clause 24.6(b)). Leave loading calculator →

25% on top of the base hourly rate, paid in place of entitlements a casual does not get, such as paid annual leave and paid personal/carer's leave. Under this award the casual loading does NOT simply add to the penalty rates: check the penalty table, because a casual can be paid a different rate from the FT/PT rate plus loading. Casual rates apply to Schedule B staff classifications only.

Yes, by roster rather than an accrual cycle. Rostered days off come from the roster, not an accrual cycle: ordinary hours average 35 a week over the roster cycle (clause 14). The employer must give at least 4 weeks notice of an RDO unless a shorter period is agreed with the majority of employees (clause 15.6(a)). Working ordinary hours on an RDO is paid either at ordinary rates with a day off in lieu before the end of the next roster cycle, or at overtime rates with no day in lieu (clause 15.6(c)). An RDO that falls on a public holiday is paid at the classification rate or credited as a day, at the employer's discretion (clause 15.6(f)).

Yes. Under this award, afternoon-shift work attracts 115% of the base hourly rate (1.15x); night-shift work attracts 115% of the base hourly rate (1.15x); permanent night shift attracts 125% of the base hourly rate (1.25x). For casuals, the casual loading does not simply add to these penalty rates: see the penalty table and coverage notes.

The Fair Work Commission reviews award minimum rates each year in the Annual Wage Review. The rates on this page took effect from 1 July 2026. The official source is the FWO Pay Calculator, which always reflects the current rates. Open the FWO Pay Calculator →