Local Government Award.

Local Government Industry Award 2020 (MA000112) covers local government, council-controlled corporations. Common roles include operational and trades work, parks, gardens and garbage services, library services, recreation centres and golf courses. The federal award reaches far fewer council workers than its name suggests. Local government employees in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia sit in their state industrial relations systems and are not covered by it at all; Victorian council staff are covered by the Victorian Local Government Award 2015 (MA000132), which carries the same dollar rates but is a separate instrument. Beyond that, coverage turns on two things this award cannot answer for you: whether your council is a national system employer, and whether a State reference public sector instrument already covers you, which excludes this award. Northern Territory councils are national system because the Territory has no separate industrial system. For Tasmania, check before relying on this award: the FWO records that referring states kept their powers over state and local government employees, and we could not verify from a primary source that Tasmanian councils sit inside the national system. Penalties turn on the span of hours for the employee's work area, not on the day alone: most staff work 6.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday, while cleaners, garbage, community services, recreation centres, aerodromes and similar areas run 5.00am to 10.00pm seven days. Saturday is 150% and Sunday only 175%, which is lower than most awards, and recreation centre and community services employees get no weekend penalty at all for ordinary hours between 5.00am and 10.00pm. Ordinary hours outside the span attract 120%. There are no afternoon or night shift loadings. Public holidays are 250%. Annual leave loading is a flat 17.5% but is capped at 70% of the Level 11 weekly rate per year of service, $1,305.92 from 1 July 2026. Casual loading is 25% with a two-hour minimum engagement, and it is not paid on overtime. Chief executive officers, nurses, doctors and university-qualified early childhood teachers are excluded.

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 175% of the base hourly rate (1.75x) for Sunday work. Casuals receive 200% (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 who works a roster and who, over the roster cycle, may be rostered to work ordinary shifts on any of the 7 days of the week and who is regularly rostered to work on Sundays and public holidays (clause 23.2). Both limbs must be satisfied. The 5-week entitlement comes from NES s.87(1)(b), which the Local Government Award classifies eligibility for. Calculate annual leave accrual →

Yes. 17.5% loading is paid on the minimum hourly rate during periods of paid annual leave. There is no shift-worker variation in this award, so the loading is a flat 17.5% across employee types. 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 Local Government 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.

Pay rates by classification under MA000112 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 →