Health Professionals Award.

Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (MA000027) covers health care, medical services, dental services, pathology and related industries. Common roles include allied health practice, hospital support services, pathology collection, dental assistance. Saturday and Sunday are both 150% for full-time and part-time employees (175% for casuals): clause 26.1 sets one rate for all ordinary hours between midnight Friday and midnight Sunday, so there is no premium for Sunday over Saturday. There is a single 115% shift loading rather than separate afternoon, night and permanent-night rates, triggered where ordinary rostered hours commence between 6.00pm and 6.00am or finish between 6.00pm and 8.00am (clause 26.3), and it does not apply on a weekend or public holiday. The day-worker span is 6.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday in general, but runs to 9.00pm plus Saturday morning in private medical and dental practices and 7.00am to 9.00pm seven days in 7-day medical imaging practices, so the same hours can be ordinary time in one workplace and penalty time in another. The rate table below is the support services grid; health professional employees sit on a separate 19-point grid in Schedule C, running from $1,174.00 a week at Level 1 pay point 1 to $2,705.10 a week at Level 4 pay point 4. Separate rate tables for dental assistants and pathology collectors took effect on 1 April 2026 and are expressed as applying until 31 December 2026. Excludes medical practitioners (clause 4.6(d)), nurses, aged care direct care workers and disability support workers, who each have their own award.

Full-time and part-time employees are paid 150% of the base hourly rate (1.50x) for working on Saturday. Casuals receive 175% (the FT rate plus the 25% casual loading).

FT/PT employees are paid 150% of the base hourly rate (1.50x) for Sunday work. Casuals receive 175% (the FT rate plus the 25% casual loading).

FT/PT employees who work on a gazetted public holiday are paid 250% of the base hourly rate (2.50x). Casuals receive 275% (the FT rate plus the 25% casual loading). Employees who don't work the holiday receive their ordinary day's pay if it would otherwise have been a working day.

Standard full-time employees get 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year under the NES. An employee regularly rostered to work Sundays and public holidays is a shiftworker for the NES and receives a 5th week of annual leave (clause 27.2). The 5-week entitlement comes from NES s.87(1)(b), which the Health Professionals Award classifies eligibility for. Calculate annual leave accrual →

Shift workers receive the GREATER OF 17.5% leave loading on the minimum hourly rate, OR the shift penalty they would have earned during the period of leave. The award protects shift workers from earning less on leave than they would have working the shifts. Leave loading calculator →

25% on top of the base hourly rate, in lieu of paid annual leave, paid personal leave and notice entitlements. Casual loading is added to the FT/PT rate when a casual works any of the penalty-rate hours above (Saturday, Sunday, public holiday, evening, night).

No. The Health Professionals Award does not include a formal RDO accrual cycle. Time off in lieu of overtime (TOIL) may still be available where the employer and employee agree, but it works differently from a formal RDO and is not automatically accrued.

Yes. Under this award, evening work shift commencing 6pm-6am or finishing 6pm-8am attracts 115% of the base hourly rate (1.15x); night-shift work attracts 115% of the base hourly rate (1.15x). Casuals receive an additional 25% casual loading on top of these penalty rates.

Pay rates by classification under MA000027 change quarterly with Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review decisions. The official source is the FWO Pay Calculator, which always reflects the current rates. Open the FWO Pay Calculator →