Hairdresser award rates
Pay under the award goes by level, and the level goes by qualification, not by the job title on the door. These are the minimum rates for full time and part time staff from 1 July 2026, for ordinary hours Monday to Friday.
| Level | Who it is | An hour | A week, full time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Receptionist or salon assistant | $27.81 | $1,056.80 |
| 2 | Nail tech with Cert II, make-up artist with Cert II, unqualified beautician | $28.45 | $1,081.00 |
| 3 | Hairdresser with Cert III, beautician with Cert III | $29.45 | $1,119.10 |
| 4 | Beauty therapist with Cert IV | $30.00 | $1,139.90 |
| 5 | Hairdresser with Cert IV, trichologist | $30.89 | $1,174.00 |
| 6 | Beauty therapist with a Diploma | $32.00 | $1,215.90 |
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 [MA000005], clause 17.1 Table 4 and Schedule A, read 27 October 2026.
So a qualified stylist with a Certificate III is level 3, $29.45 an hour. Juniors get a share of the adult rate, 50% under 17 and 75% at 17, and from 18 they're on the full adult rate.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 [MA000005], clause 17.2 Table 5, read 27 October 2026.
In NSW that Certificate III isn't optional. NSW Government says "The Act prohibits unqualified people from acting as hairdressers for a fee, gain or reward", so anyone cutting for money who isn't an apprentice is a qualified level 3 or above.
Source: NSW Government, Working as a hairdresser, read 27 October 2026.
The rate is a floor, not the pay. An employer "must pay an adult employee (other than an apprentice) ... the minimum rate applicable to the employee’s classification for ordinary hours of work", so a commission or a bonus can sit on top of it but can never replace it. The award has no commission clause at all.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 [MA000005], clause 17.1, read 27 October 2026.
Penalty rates by day
Saturdays and Sundays are where a salon's wage bill really moves. The award sets these rates for ordinary hours, as a share of the hourly rate.
| When | Full and part time | Casual |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Friday, 7am to 9pm | 100% | 125% |
| Saturday, 7am to 6pm | 133% | 158% |
| Sunday, 10am to 5pm | 200% | 225%, any time Sunday |
| Public holiday | 250% | 250% |
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 [MA000005], clauses 11.2, 23.1 Table 14 and 23.2 Table 15, read 27 October 2026.
For a level 3 stylist that's $39.17 an hour on a Saturday and $58.90 on a Sunday, before super. A Sunday shift costs twice a Tuesday one, so price your Sunday services knowing that.
Why the casual Saturday rate is 158%, not 133% plus 25%
The award builds the casual loading into the weekend figures. Its note says the casual penalty rates for Saturday between 7am and 6pm and for Sunday "includes the casual loading". So you pay the 158% or 225% and add nothing on top.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 [MA000005], clause 23.2, Note 1, read 27 October 2026.
What does a staff member really cost you an hour?
What an hour of a staff member costs your salon
The award rate, the weekend penalties, super and the hours nobody books, worked into one figure. Every box with a number is yours to change. Everything stays in this browser.
The award says $29.45 an hour. Counted over the hours clients book, each one costs you $51.29, about 1.7 times the rate. Your prices pay this before they pay you.
Price your services from this cost →An estimate from the award's rates from 1 July 2026 (clauses 11.2, 17.1, 20.8, 23 and 24.2, read 27 October 2026) and the ATO's 12% super guarantee. For full and part time staff it counts 52 paid weeks with a 17.5% loading on 4 weeks of leave, for a casual only the weeks they work. The weeks not in the chair, workers comp rate and unbooked share are examples, put in your own. It leaves out overtime, public holidays worked and payroll tax. Not tax advice and not financial advice, check pay with Fair Work's Pay and Conditions Tool before you rely on it.
Source: Australian Taxation Office, Super guarantee, Table 21, read 27 October 2026.
Super goes on the penalties and the casual loading too. The ATO lists casual loading and shift penalties as ordinary time earnings, so 12% lands on the Saturday and Sunday rates, not just the base. A tool allowance that's spent on the tools is the exception. In the ATO's own example the employer "doesn't make SG contributions on the tool allowance as it is not OTE".
Source: Australian Taxation Office, List of payments that are ordinary time earnings, read 27 October 2026.
Which staff the award covers
One award for the whole salon. The Hair and Beauty Industry Award covers hair cutting and colouring, shaving and beard trimming, waxing, "face or head massaging", "eyebrow waxing, eyebrow tinting, eyebrow arching, eyelash tinting", manicures, pedicures and nail enhancement, make-up and facials, and "high frequency body treatments including full body massage".
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 [MA000005], clause 4.2, read 27 October 2026.
So the nail tech, the lash artist and the massage therapist in a salon are all on this award, not a different one each. It doesn't cover hair and beauty work in "the general retailing, theatrical, amusement and entertainment industries", so a stylist at a department store counter or on a film set is under another award.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 [MA000005], clause 4.4, read 27 October 2026.
The tool allowance
If you ask staff to bring their own scissors, you pay for it. The award says that if an employer "requires an employee to provide and use their own tools (including, but not limited to, scissors and other cutting instruments), then the employer must pay the employee a tool allowance of $10.52 per week."
Electrical gear is separate. You "must reimburse an employee for the cost of purchasing any electrical equipment that is necessary for carrying out their work and that is not supplied or paid for by the employer". That's the dryer, the straightener and the clippers, paid back at cost, not covered by the $10.52.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 [MA000005], clause 20.8, read 27 October 2026.
Casual loading
A casual gets the hourly rate plus 25% for ordinary hours Monday to Friday between 7am and 9pm, the minimum hourly rate plus "a loading of 25% of the minimum hourly rate". The loading is instead of paid leave, so a casual costs more an hour but nothing for the weeks they're away. Every casual shift is at least 3 hours.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 [MA000005], clauses 11.2 and 11.5, read 27 October 2026.
Where salons get it wrong
The Federal Circuit and Family Court fined the company behind the Yeon Art Hair salon in Eastwood, Sydney, $100,000 and its director $39,091.50, and ordered them to pay a hairdresser $103,036.25 plus $49,577.17 compensation. Fair Work Inspectors found she'd been underpaid more than $49,000 of her "minimum wages, a tool allowance, overtime pay and penalty rates for weekend and public holiday work", and made to hand back $105,609 of her wages and entitlements to the director.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Penalties for hair salon unlawful cashback scheme, 13 April 2023, read 27 October 2026.
Most of that list is this page. The tool allowance is $10.52 a week and weekend penalties are the biggest line in a salon's pay, and both were missed. Put the award rates in your pay run once, at the right level, and check them every 1 July when the rates change.
Book clients in and send tax invoicesYamate sells software to salons and tradies. This guide and its calculator are free and ask for nothing.
Related
General information, not tax advice and not legal advice. Wage figures are the award's published minimums from 1 July 2026 and the calculator is an estimate. You pay your staff and lodge your own tax. Check the award or Fair Work's Pay and Conditions Tool before you rely on a figure.