If you run a community pharmacy and employ staff whose roles fit the Award’s classifications (like pharmacy assistants and pharmacists), you’re likely covered by the Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 [MA000012].
From 30 June 2025, the Fair Work Commission’s work value decision addressing gender-based undervaluation introduced a phased increase to minimum pay rates for pharmacists under the Pharmacy Award. In addition, from 1 July 2025, the Annual Wage Review increased all modern award minimum rates by 3.5%.
To ensure you pay your workers correctly and reduce the risk of underpayments later, our guide explains who the Award covers, how to match roles to the right level, and the key pay and rostering rules to factor in.
Key Takeaways
- The Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 sets the minimum pay rates and key working conditions for many community pharmacy roles, including pharmacy assistants, pharmacy students and interns, and pharmacists.
- To pay your employees correctly, you need to match each role to the right classification (including pharmacy assistant Levels 1–4), then apply the applicable minimum rates, casual loading (where relevant), overtime, penalty rates, and any allowances.
- Staying compliant also means following the rules on ordinary hours and breaks, paying annual leave loading, and keeping clear time and pay records (and checking you’re using the latest pay rates when they change).
Pharmacy Award Basics
The Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 sets the minimum pay rates and key working conditions for many employees working in Australia’s community pharmacy industry.
The Award helps ensure staff are paid fairly and receive the correct core entitlements. That includes minimum base rates, penalty rates (e.g., for weekends and public holidays), overtime, breaks, allowances, and leave, plus the general rights set out in the National Employment Standards (NES)—minimum standards that apply to most Australian employees.
Employees are grouped into classifications based on their work, skills, and responsibilities, such as Pharmacy assistant Levels 1–4, plus separate classifications for pharmacy students, pharmacy interns, and pharmacists.
Did You Know?
The Fair Work Commission is an independent tribunal that creates and changes (varies) modern awards under Australia’s workplace relations system. The Fair Work Ombudsman provides practical tools and pay guides that help you check minimum pay rates and common entitlements under an award in a more user-friendly way.
Who’s covered under the Pharmacy Industry Award?
Employers
You’re usually covered as an employer if you run a community pharmacy. This includes businesses registered as pharmacies under state or territory laws (or operating where no registration law applies). The business must dispense or compound prescriptions, or sell medicines to the public, often alongside other retail products.
The Award can also cover labour-hire businesses when they place employees into a community pharmacy workplace.
Employees
The Award also covers employees of community pharmacies whose roles fall within the Award’s classification list.
Examples include:
- Pharmacy assistants (including dispensary assistants).
- Pharmacists.
- Pharmacy students and interns.
- Shop assistants working in a community pharmacy.
Who isn’t covered under the Pharmacy Industry Award?
The Award doesn’t apply to everyone working “in or around” a pharmacy.
In particular, it doesn’t cover:
- Nurses (see the Nurses Award).
- Beauticians (usually covered by the Hair and Beauty Award).
Employees working in pharmacies that don’t sell goods or services to the public, such as:
- Pharmacies owned by a hospital or public institution.
- Pharmacies operated by the government.
Pro Tip
You can use the Fair Work Award Finder to confirm coverage based on your business type and the actual duties your employees perform.
Pharmacy Award Classifications and Levels
Under the Pharmacy Industry Award, employees are generally grouped in 2 main ways:
- By classification (based on the work they do and the skills, training, and responsibilities their role requires). This Award includes Pharmacy assistant Levels 1–4, plus separate classifications for pharmacy students, pharmacy interns, and pharmacists.
- By employment type (full-time, part-time, or casual).
Pharmacy assistant Levels:
| Levels | What this level usually covers and typical roles |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Entry-level pharmacy assistant work. Employees have not yet developed the competencies required for a community pharmacy qualification and typically perform basic tasks, such as front-of-store support, basic customer service, and stocking. |
| Level 2 | Pharmacy assistants who have developed competencies equivalent to a Certificate II in Community Pharmacy. They carry out routine day-to-day support tasks with greater confidence and independence. |
| Level 3 (incl. dispensary assistant level 3) | Pharmacy assistants with competencies equivalent to a Certificate III in Community Pharmacy. They may supervise Level 1–2 assistants and/or support dispensary activities (including compounding support) under a pharmacist’s direct supervision. |
| Level 4 | Senior pharmacy assistants with competencies equivalent to a Certificate IV in Community Pharmacy. They may supervise Level 1–3 assistants and take on broader responsibilities within the pharmacy. |
Other classifications:
| Classifications | What this usually covers and typical roles |
|---|---|
| Pharmacy student | A student working while undertaking an approved pharmacy program. |
| Pharmacy intern | An intern who has met exam requirements and is completing clinical training. |
| Pharmacist | A registered pharmacist (not a student). |
| Experienced pharmacist | A pharmacist with at least 4 years of community pharmacy experience (or equivalent part-time). |
| Pharmacist in charge | A pharmacist responsible for the day-to-day supervision and functioning of the pharmacy. |
| Pharmacist manager | A pharmacist responsible to the owner for the overall running of the business. |
Employment types
The Pharmacy Award covers 3 main types of employment: full-time, part-time, and casual.
Full-time
A full-time employee is engaged to work 38 ordinary hours per week (or 76 ordinary hours over 2 consecutive weeks). They’re ongoing staff with consistent schedules and get all the standard entitlements, including paid annual leave, personal leave, and public holiday rights.
Part-time
A part-time employee is engaged to work less than 38 ordinary hours per week (or less than 76 hours over 2 consecutive weeks) and their hours are reasonably predictable. They generally get the same core conditions as full-time employees, but key entitlements like annual leave and personal/carer’s leave are paid pro rata (based on the hours they work).
They must usually be rostered for at least 3 consecutive hours per shift. There’s a student-exception rule under which the minimum can be 2 hours (only if specific conditions are met, including supervision by a Level 3+ employee).
Casual
Casual employees are generally engaged as needed, and their ordinary hours are the lesser of an average of 38 hours per week or the hours you require them to work. They’re paid their base rate plus a 25% casual loading, so 125% (this higher rate is paid instead of receiving entitlements like annual leave and personal/carer’s leave).
Each time you roster a casual employee, you must pay them for at least 3 continuous hours, even if the shift is shorter. As with part-time, the same exception may apply to school students.
Did You Know?
Casual employees may, in some cases, request a conversion to permanent (part-time or full-time) employment under the NES. To check eligibility rules, timeframes, and the process for making a request, it’s best to refer to the NES and Fair Work’s guidance.
Pharmacy Award Pay Rates and Entitlements
Under the Pharmacy Industry Award, the current pay rates and entitlements set the minimum standards for what you must pay covered employees and the key conditions for hours, overtime, penalty rates, allowances, and leave.
Minimum base rates
Below are the adult minimum base rates for full-time and part-time employees:
| Classifications and levels | Minimum weekly rate (full-time) | Minimum hourly rate (full-time and part-time) |
|---|---|---|
| Pharmacy assistant level 1 | $1008.90 | $26.55 |
| Pharmacy assistant level 2 | $1032.00 | $27.16 |
| Pharmacy assistant level 3 | $1068.40 | $28.12 |
| Pharmacy assistant level 4 | $1112.30 | $29.27 |
| Pharmacy student—1st year | $1008.90 | $26.55 |
| Pharmacy student—2nd year | $1032.00 | $27.16 |
| Pharmacy student—3rd year | $1068.40 | $28.12 |
| Pharmacy student—4th year | $1112.30 | $29.27 |
| Pharmacy intern—1st half of training | $1180.00 | $31.05 |
| Pharmacy intern—2nd half of training | $1220.20 | $32.11 |
| Pharmacist | $1449.40 | $38.14 |
| Experienced pharmacist | $1587.50 | $41.78 |
| Pharmacist in charge | $1625.00 | $42.76 |
| Pharmacist manager | $1810.60 | $47.65 |
To put the minimum base rate into practice, let’s take a senior pharmacy assistant with Certificate IV competencies in a community pharmacy.
In this case, the employee would fall under Level 4. If they worked full-time, they’d earn the current minimum weekly rate of $1112.30.
If they worked 20 hours per week part-time, you’d pay them $29.27/hour, which would total $585.40/week (20 × $29.27).
And if they were engaged as a casual employee, they’d earn the same base rate of $29.27/hour, plus a 25% casual loading (which is $7.32/hour), bringing their casual base rate to $36.59/hour for ordinary hours. Over 20 hours, that would total $731.80 (20 × $36.59).
If you employ a pharmacy assistant Level 1 or 2 who is under 21, junior rates can apply. For the exact percentages by age, refer to the Award and Pharmacy Industry Award pay guide.
Pro Tip
Find the latest pay rates using the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Pay and Conditions Tool (PACT) or the Fair Work Commission’s Modern Awards Pay Database.
Penalty rates
Penalty rates are higher pay rates that apply when someone works ordinary hours at certain times (e.g., evenings, weekends, or public holidays). If a penalty applies, you pay the penalty rate instead of the usual base rate for those hours.
| When the ordinary hours are worked | Full-time & part-time (% of minimum hourly rate of pay) |
|---|---|
| Monday–Friday, 7.00 am–8.00 am | 150% |
| Monday–Friday, 7.00 pm–9.00 pm | 125% |
| Monday–Friday, 9.00 pm–midnight | 150% |
| Saturday, 7.00 am–8.00 am | 200% |
| Saturday, 8.00 am–6.00 pm | 125% |
| Saturday, 6.00 pm–9.00 pm | 150% |
| Saturday, 9.00 pm–midnight | 175% |
| Sunday, 7.00 am–9.00 pm | 150% |
| Sunday, before 7.00 am and after 9.00 pm | 200% |
| Public holidays (all day) | 225% |
To put this into practice, let’s use a Pharmacy assistant Level 2, whose minimum base rate is $27.16 per hour.
If they work on Saturday between 7.00 am and 8.00 am as a full-time or part-time employee, they’re paid 200% of their ordinary hourly rate.
So, their rate for that hour would be $54.32 (2 × $27.16).
Casual penalty rates are worked out using the casual penalty percentages, which already include the 25% casual loading. So you don’t add the casual loading on top again for penalty-rate hours.
Overtime rules and rates
Overtime is any time an employee works outside their ordinary hours (e.g., because they go over the weekly limit, work very long days, work outside the allowed span, or work outside the rostered arrangements).
Overtime rates for all types of employees are as follows:
| When overtime is worked | (% of minimum hourly rate of pay) |
|---|---|
| Monday–Saturday (first 2 hours) | 150% |
| Monday–Saturday (after 2 hours) | 200% |
| Sunday (all day) | 200% |
| Public holiday (all day) | 250% |
To put this into practice, let’s use an Experienced pharmacist, whose minimum base rate is $41.78 per hour.
If they work 2 hours of overtime on a weekday (Monday to Saturday), they are paid 150% of their regular rate, which is $62.67/hour (1.5 × $41.78). So, for 2 hours, they’d earn $125.34.
For time-off in lieu (TOIL) details, refer to the Award.
Breaks
Break rules set the minimum rest and meal breaks you must provide during a shift.
Key break rules:
| Hours worked per day | Duration and rules | Paid or unpaid |
|---|---|---|
| At least 4 hours but not more than 5 | 1 × 10-minute rest break. | Paid |
| More than 5 hours but less than 7.6 | 1 × 10-minute rest break and 1 × 30–60-minute meal break. | Rest break is paid Meal break is unpaid |
| 7.6 hours or more | 2 × 10-minute rest breaks (not in the first hour of work, or the first hour after returning from a meal break) and 1 × 30–60 minute meal break (taken within the first 5 hours, but not before the first 2.5 hours). | Rest breaks are paid Meal breaks are unpaid |
Allowances
Allowances are extra payments (or reimbursements) that apply in specific situations. Below, we highlight some typical examples. For the full list of allowances, refer to the Award.
| Allowance type | When it applies | Amount/details |
|---|---|---|
| Home medicine reviews/residential medication management reviews | When a pharmacist (including an experienced, in-charge, or manager) is required to perform these reviews. | $106.40 per week. |
| Meal allowance | When an employee has worked 6+ ordinary hours, is unexpectedly required to work overtime, or more than 1.5 hours past their usual finish time, and can’t reasonably get home for a meal. | $23.74 (or an adequate meal is provided). If the extra time exceeds 4 hours, an additional $21.28 applies. |
| Motor vehicle allowance | When an employee is asked to use their own vehicle for work duties. | $0.99 per km travelled. |
Leave
Most leave comes from the NES, which applies regardless of the award under which someone is covered. The Pharmacy Award then adds extra rules about certain leave types. Let’s look at annual leave.
Annual leave
Who gets this leave under the Award:
- Full-time employees get 4 weeks of paid annual leave each year, and part-time employees get the same amount on a pro-rata basis (based on the hours they work).
- Casual employees don’t get paid annual leave.
- Eligible “7-day shiftworkers” regularly rostered on Sundays and public holidays in a workplace with continuous 24/7 shifts can get 5 weeks.
Annual leave loading
When an employee takes annual leave, they get their base rate plus loading. Under this Award, the loading is 17.5%, or the relevant penalty/shift loading they’d have earned if they weren’t on leave (including weekend penalties), whichever is higher, but not both.
Annual leave in advance
Annual leave can be taken before it’s accrued, but only if there’s a written agreement specifying the amount of leave taken and the start date. If the employee is under 18, a parent or guardian must also sign.
Excessive leave accruals
Leave balances are “excessive” if more than 8 weeks have accrued (or more than 10 weeks for a shiftworker).
In that case, there are extra rules about how you and the employee can deal with the excess (i.e., when you can direct them to take leave and when they can require you to grant leave), along with notice periods and minimum balances that must remain.
Cashing out annual leave
Employees can cash out some of their accrued annual leave (get paid instead of taking time off), but only through a separate written agreement each time. There’s a 2-week cap per 12 months, and the employee must keep at least 4 weeks of accrued annual leave after cashing out.
Other NES leave
The NES sets most other leave types. The Pharmacy Award adds a few rules around evidence and casual employee protections. These apply as follows:
- Sick leave evidence: An employee can take 1 day of sick leave per year without providing evidence. If the absence is more than 3 consecutive days, the employer may require a medical certificate.
- Casual carer’s leave: Casual employees may be unavailable for work, or leave work, to care for someone due to illness, injury, or an emergency. They’re entitled to up to 48 hours per occasion unpaid (with more by agreement) and must not be refused re-engagement for using this leave.
- Family and domestic violence leave: Specific confidentiality and evidence requirements apply.
Pro Tip
You can use the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Leave Calculator to check how much leave applies to your role.
How To Determine the Right Pharmacy Industry Award Coverage
To work out whether the Pharmacy Award applies to your business and workers (and what to pay), you’ll want to check the pharmacy type, role, and the closest matching classification.
1) Check the business
This Award is built around community pharmacies. That generally means the business:
- Dispenses/compounds prescriptions and/or sells medicines or drugs to the public (often alongside other retail items).
- Is registered as a pharmacy where your state/territory requires it.
- Isn’t owned by a hospital/public institution and isn’t operated by the government.
If your workplace fits that “community pharmacy” definition, the Award generally applies.
2) Check the role
Even if you run a community pharmacy, you still need to check whether the employee’s job fits within the Award’s classification list (Schedule A).
A practical way to match the right classification is to look at:
- What the person does most of the time (not just their job title).
- Skills/training (e.g., their community pharmacy certificate competencies).
- Responsibility (e.g., whether they supervise others, or a pharmacist is “in charge” or in a “manager” role).
If someone’s duties sit across more than one classification, it’s usually safest to align them to the classification that best reflects the highest-level duties they regularly perform.
3) Check common exclusions and “overlap” situations
The Award won’t apply in some common situations, including where the employee is:
- Excluded from award coverage under the Fair Work Act (e.g., some high-income employees with a guarantee of annual earnings, or certain senior roles that are award-free).
- Covered by a modern enterprise award or an enterprise agreement (e.g., your pharmacy operates under an enterprise agreement that sets pay and conditions instead of the Award).
- Covered by certain state public sector award instruments (e.g., employees working in a state government or public hospital pharmacy system paid under a state public sector industrial instrument).
Pharmacy Industry Award: A practical, real-world example
Let’s take Sophie, a part-time employee working in a community pharmacy (a business that dispenses prescriptions and sells medicines to the public). This means her work is generally covered by the Pharmacy Industry Award.
She has the competencies for Certificate II in Community Pharmacy and performs routine day-to-day support tasks with confidence and independence, so Sophie is best classified as Pharmacy assistant Level 2.
As a Level 2 employee, Sophie’s minimum base pay must be at least $27.16 per hour. If she works 20 hours per week part-time, that works out to $543.20 per week (20 × $27.16).
Employer Obligations, Record-Keeping, and Common Mistakes
Under the Pharmacy Award, you’ll generally need to:
- Classify employees correctly based on what they actually do (e.g., pharmacy assistant Levels 1–4, student, intern, pharmacist).
- Pay at least the right minimum base rate for that classification.
- Apply overtime and penalty rates correctly when they come up.
- Apply casual rules correctly, including the 25% casual loading for ordinary hours.
- Pay allowances when they apply (e.g., meal allowance and motor vehicle allowance).
- Handle annual leave loading properly (17.5%).
- Meet minimum engagement rules (generally 3 consecutive hours for part-time and casual shifts).
Record-keeping
Keeping clean records is essential. It shows that employees were paid correctly and helps avoid compliance issues. The Award flags that payslips and pay records must meet Fair Work rules, including that allowances should be separately identified when paid.
To help you stay organised, the Fair Work Ombudsman has free templates (pay slips and weekly time-and-wages records) you can use.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Misclassifying the role, especially when Certificate II/III/IV competencies change a pharmacy assistant’s level.
- Mixing up penalties vs. overtime, or trying to stack them.
- Forgetting minimum engagement (paying less than the minimum hours for a shift).
- Double-counting casual loading on penalty hours (casual penalty rates are already set up to include the loading).
- Not itemising allowances on payslips can cause payroll problems later.
Resources and Links
For further reading and official resources, visit:
- Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 [MA000012]: Fair Work Commission consolidated Award.
- Fair Work Information Statement (FWIS): The statement you must give to new employees.
- Annual Leave Cash-Out Agreement: A ready-to-use agreement template.
- Annual Leave in Advance Agreement: A template for agreeing to annual leave in advance.
It’s a modern award that sets the minimum pay rates and key working conditions for community pharmacy employers and their covered employees (like pharmacy assistants, pharmacy students/interns, and pharmacists).
Based on the current minimum rates (from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2025), the highest minimum adult classification rate is typically Pharmacist manager ($1,810.60/week or $47.65/hour).
No. The Pharmaceutical Award applies to the pharmaceutical industry (including manufacturing/production, and wholesaling of prescription pharmaceuticals) and specifically excludes employees working in pharmacies.
Disclaimer
The information provided here is a summary only and does not constitute legal advice. While we have made every effort to ensure the information provided is up to date and reliable, we cannot guarantee its completeness, accuracy, or applicability to your specific situation. Laws change frequently, and outcomes may vary depending on your business circumstances. We recommend consulting a qualified employment lawyer before making decisions related to workforce management. Please note that we cannot be held liable for any actions taken or not taken based on the information presented on this website.