Fitness Industry Award [MA000094] pay guide: Rates, allowances, and overtime

The Fitness Industry Award 2020 sets the minimum pay and working conditions for staff in gyms, studios, and leisure and aquatic centres. For instance, personal trainers, instructors, swim teachers, receptionists, and support staff.

Please note that this pay guide is current as of August 2025. For the latest rates and pay rules, please check the award.

Fitness Industry Award pay guide

Below, you can find everything to do with Fitness Industry Award pay rates and rules:

Fitness Award minimum pay rates

The Fitness Industry Award mandates minimum weekly pay for full-time fitness roles and matching minimum hourly rates for part-timers. These rates are specific to the award (separate from the national minimum wage).

Casuals get a 25% loading on ordinary hours.

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Fitness Award allowances

The award outlines various allowances you need to pay on top of base wages. These allowances cover special skills or extra costs employees may incur while carrying out their duties. 

Fitness Industry Award superannuation

Super rules don’t come from the award. They come from the federal Superannuation Guarantee (SG) law. The Fitness Industry Award mostly mirrors those rules. It just adds steps about which fund to use when an employee doesn’t choose one.

• SG rate: You need to pay a minimum of 12% of each employee’s ordinary-time earnings (OTE).

• Who gets SG: Everyone 18 and over. For under-18s, you pay SG only for the weeks they work more than 30 hours. The old $450 per month threshold doesn't apply anymore.

• Choice and stapled fund: Offer a fund choice. If the employee doesn’t choose one, you can request their stapled fund from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). If there isn’t one, use a default fund allowed by the Fitness Industry Award.

• When to pay: You need to make SG contributions at least quarterly, by 28 Oct, 28 Jan, 28 Apr, and 28 Jul. Paying earlier (each pay run) is even better.

• What counts as OTE: OTE includes paid leave, so SG keeps accruing while an employee is taking paid time off.

• Salary sacrifice/employee extra contributions: Get it in writing if an employee asks to salary-sacrifice or make after-tax super contributions. Then send the amount to their fund with your next super run.

• Workers’ compensation: You need to pay SG for up to 52 weeks if a work injury or illness keeps someone off work. Only do this while they remain employed and receive workers’ comp or regular payments, though. 

Fitness Award overtime and penalty rates

In fitness, overtime starts when someone goes past the daily/weekly limits or outside the award’s ordinary span. For example:

• more than the average 38 hours a week over the roster period (max 4 weeks)

• over 10 ordinary hours in a day (not counting meal breaks)

• outside the span of ordinary hours set by the award (Monday–Friday: 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and Saturday–Sunday: 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.)

• Any hours beyond their agreed ordinary hours (part-timers)

Rest after overtime

You need to provide 10 consecutive hours off between finishing and the next start. If you don’t, you need to pay 200% until the break starts. Then you must let them take the 10-hour rest with no loss of ordinary pay.

If the stint right before that break was three hours or fewer, the double-time rule doesn’t apply. Still plan the roster to deliver the full 10-hour break if you can, though.

Time off in lieu (TOIL)

• You and the employee can agree to swap overtime pay for time off. However, you need a separate written agreement each pay period. It must state how many overtime hours the employee worked and when they worked them.

• You need to bank TOIL hour-for-hour, and the employee must take it within six months. If the employee asks, or the six months pass, you need to pay those hours at the overtime rate in the next pay run.

• Casual loading: For casuals, ordinary hours on Sat/Sun/public holidays attract a 30% loading (different to the usual 25% Monday–Friday casual loading). These are ordinary-hours penalties and don’t stack with overtime. You need to pay whichever is higher.

• Minimum engagement rules: For casuals, it’s generally three hours, with a one-hour exception for group exercise class instructors/trainers (Levels 2–4/4A). On public holidays, the four-hour minimum applies to everyone.

Fitness Industry Award annual leave

Annual leave comes from the NES, so it applies no matter what award covers the employee. The Fitness Industry Award does add a few rules on loading, shutdowns, and admin, though.

Who gets it

• Full-time and part-time employees earn paid annual leave.

• Casual employees don’t earn annual leave (they get casual loading instead).

How annual leave builds up and carries over

• Employees accrue annual leave progressively from their ordinary hours.

• Unused leave rolls over to the next year.

Public holidays during annual leave

• If a public holiday falls within a period of an employee's annual leave, treat that day as a public holiday. Don’t deduct it from their annual leave balance.

• Pay the public holiday separately as paid time.

Annual leave loading

• You need to pay a 17.5% leave loading on paid annual leave.

• If the weekend or shift penalties the employee would have earned are higher than 17.5% for the same period, you need to pay the higher amount.

Taking leave and shutdowns

• Approve annual leave by agreement. Don’t unreasonably refuse requests.

• You can direct paid annual leave for a temporary shutdown. However, you must give at least 28 days’ written notice.

• If an employee doesn’t have enough leave, you can agree to leave in advance or unpaid leave. But you can’t force them to take unpaid leave.

Excessive leave balances

• If an employee has more than eight weeks of annual leave banked, it counts as an excessive leave balance.

• First, try to come to an agreement with the employee about reducing it. If that fails, you can direct them to take leave with reasonable notice. They must keep at least six weeks in the balance. You must also limit each direction to two weeks, capped at four weeks in any 12 months.

Cashing out annual leave

• This can only happen with a written agreement.

• The employee must keep at least four weeks after cashing out. They can cash out up to two weeks per 12 months.

• Pay cashed out annual leave in the same way you would if the employee took the leave. This means including any leave loading that would apply.

When employment ends

• Pay out all unused annual leave in the final pay at the employee’s current base rate.

• Include the leave loading on the payout.

Records you must keep

• Keep track of annual leave accrual, usage, and balances for each employee. Modern HR and payroll software can make this part easy.

Other NES leave (quick reference)

• Personal/carer’s leave: 10 paid days a year for full-time (pro rata for part-time)

• Compassionate leave: two days per occasion (paid for permanent staff, unpaid for casuals)

• Parental leave: Up to 12 months unpaid, with the right to ask for a further 12 months

• Community service leave: Unpaid, except for jury duty, which requires make-up pay for the first 10 days for full-time and part-time employees

• Family and domestic violence leave: 10 paid days per year for all employees, including casuals

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Fitness Award payment rules

• Pay cycle: Pay your employees weekly or fortnightly. If the majority agrees, you can pay monthly.

• How you pay: Pay in cash, by cheque, or by EFT into the employees' nominated accounts.

• If payday is a rostered day off (cash/cheque): You need to pay on the next working day, or the day before (if you both arrange for it to happen that way).

• Averaging system: If you average ordinary hours, bank a credit when someone works an extra day. Record a debit when they miss a day without paid leave (don’t debit for paid leave, workers’ comp, or jury duty). For part-day absences, you must record a proportional debit.

• Final pay: Pay everything you owe within seven days of termination. This includes wages up to the last day and any other amounts due under the award and the NES.

Nuances of the Fitness Industry Award

Here are a few Fitness Award 'gotchas' worth understanding and baking into your payroll playbook before they catch you out: 

Fitness award pay compliance: 6-step checklist

Here are some steps you can follow to help you run payroll correctly under the Fitness Award:

1. Start with award-smart HR and payroll software: Implement a HR and payroll platform that knows the Fitness Award. This can do most of the heavy lifting for you and take the stress out of compliance.

2. Set the right classification (software can’t guess this): Map each role to a Fitness Award level and write a one-pager of typical duties. Update the level when duties change or you promote someone.

3. Lock in a clear TOIL policy: Start by deciding when you allow TOIL. Then set a six-month expiry with auto-payout at overtime rates if unused or on request.

4. Roster to meet minimum engagements: Plan casual shifts to meet the three-hour minimum (or the one-hour class rule where it applies). On public holidays, build the four-hour minimum into the roster before you publish it.

5. Define travel rules between sites: List which trips count, how staff record time and kilometres, and what evidence you need (odometer or receipts). Approve it like you would any other timesheet line.

6. Keep allowances tied to actual duties instead of job titles: Name your first aiders and leading hands in writing. Track expirations for CPR/First Aid and update rosters when responsibilities change so the right allowances fire automatically.

Get Fitness Award pay right and on time every time

With Rippling, you can stop wrestling with pay rules. It's innovative HR and payroll software that enables you to set each person’s Fitness Award level and ordinary hours once. From there, the software applies the correct rates, loadings, penalties, overtime, and TOIL rules automatically. This not only saves a lot of time but also a lot of errors that stem from manual handling.

Before you run payroll, Rippling flags anything that looks strange so you can fix it before it becomes an issue. This may include missing allowances, incorrect minimum engagements, or odd hours, for example. Once payroll is complete, the software issues compliant payslips and keeps a clean audit trail.

And, like truly automated software should, it updates settings automatically when the award changes.