Professional Employees Award [MA000065] pay guide: rates, allowances and overtime

The Professional Employees Award 2020 sets the rules for minimum pay and working conditions for professional staff. This includes those in fields such as science, information technology (IT), engineering, and quality auditing.

Note: The information provided in this Professional Employees Award pay guide is up to date as of August 2025. Please check the latest version of the Award for the most current information.

Professional Employees Award minimum pay rates

The Professional Employees Award outlines the minimum annual salaries for full-time employees. It also provides the corresponding minimum hourly rates for part-time employees. Casuals get the minimum hourly rate you see below, plus the 25% casual loading.

Keep in mind that the Professional Employees Award pay rates are separate from the national minimum wage set by the Fair Work Commission (FWC).

Professional Employees Award allowances

In addition to base pay, the Professional Employees Award includes a few allowances. Their purpose is to cover extra costs employees might incur while doing their jobs. Here are some of the main ones:

• Travel costs and time: If an employee travels for work, you must reimburse all reasonable expenses. You also need to pay reasonable compensation for excess travel time.

• Vehicle use: If an employee uses their own car for work, with agreement, you must pay $0.98 for every kilometre they travel.

• Equipment and clothing: If the role requires special tools, protective equipment, or uniforms, you must provide these.

• Meal allowance: If you ask an employee to work more than an hour and a half of overtime without at least 24 hours’ notice, you must pay them a meal allowance. It's $21.27 for the first meal, plus $15.90 for a second meal if overtime goes beyond four hours.

Professional Employees Award superannuation

Most superannuation rules come from federal law, not the award. The Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 and the National Employment Standard (NES) set these rules. The Professional Employees Award mainly confirms which default funds you can use if an employee doesn’t choose their own.

Here are the important bits to understand for getting super contributions right:

• Super contributions: You must pay 12% of an employee’s ordinary time earnings (OTE) into their super fund.

• Who gets it: All employees 18 and over get employer super contributions. For under-18s, you only pay super if they work over 30 hours in a week. The old $450 per month threshold no longer applies.

• Fund choice: Employees can choose their fund. If they don’t, you need to check with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for their stapled fund. If there isn’t one, the Award names default funds you can use. For example, AustralianSuper, Tasplan, or Statewide Super.

• Paid leave and workers’ comp: You keep paying super on all paid leave. If an employee is off work because of a work-related injury or illness, you must keep paying super. You do this for up to 52 weeks, as long as they’re still employed and receiving workers’ comp or regular payments.

• Extra employee contributions: Staff can ask you, in writing, to salary-sacrifice or make after-tax contributions. Once agreed upon, you must send these to their fund within 28 days of the end of the month.

Professional Employees Award overtime

It's important to note that the Professional Employees Award handles overtime differently from most other modern awards.

• Overtime pay: There are no higher overtime rates (like time and a half or double time). You pay overtime at the employee’s minimum hourly rate for their classification. This is true for all employment types.

• When overtime applies:

  • For full-time employees, overtime applies to hours beyond 38 per week (or an agreed average over a roster cycle).

  • For part-time and casual employees, overtime applies once they work over 38 hours in a week.

  • Overtime includes extra duties, such as call-backs or remote work.

• Remote work: Employees must record and report their hours when working remotely to be eligible to receive payment for overtime.

• Exemptions: Employees who earn at least 25% above the minimum annual salary for their classification don't receive overtime pay or time off in lieu either.

The Professional Employees award also doesn’t include a mandatory rest period after overtime. You still need to manage fatigue risks and consider reasonable breaks between shifts though, under Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws.

Time off instead of overtime (TOIL)

Employees can opt for time off instead of overtime pay. But the rules are quite strict:

• Agreement: Both parties must agree in writing each pay period. The agreement must show the number of overtime hours worked and when the employee worked them.

• Taking the time: Employees must take the time off within six months of working the overtime. And they must do so at a mutually agreed time.

• If unused: You need to pay out (at the normal overtime rate) any TOIL an employee doesn't take within the allowed six-month period.

• Employee request: At any time, an employee can request payout of their banked overtime. If they do, you must pay it in the next pay cycle.

• Records: You must keep a copy of every TOIL agreement on file.

• Protection: You can't pressure employees to opt for TOIL instead of overtime pay.

Professional Employees Award overtime penalty rates

Employees have a right to earn penalty rates for all hours you direct them to work outside of the ordinary span of work. These higher rates recognise the added inconvenience of early mornings, late nights, weekends, and public holidays.

Considerations

• The casual rates in the table above already include the 25% casual loading.

• You must keep accurate records of all hours employees work that attract penalty rates.

• You don't need to pay penalty rates to employees on an annual salary that’s at least 25% higher than the award minimum.

Professional Employees Award leave

Most annual leave rights come from the NES. The award adds some rules about loading, shutdowns, and managing excessive balances.

Annual leave

• Entitlement: Full-time staff get four weeks of paid annual leave per year. Part-time staff get the same, but build it up pro rata. Casuals don’t get annual leave (they get casual loading instead).

• Shiftworkers: If an employee regularly works Sundays and public holidays, they get five weeks of annual leave instead of four. This definition is very narrow, so only a small number of employees covered by the award will meet it.

• Leave loading: You need to add 17.5% on top of an employee's base pay while they're on annual leave. This is unless weekend or shift penalties would have been higher, in which case you'd pay the higher amount.

• Shutdowns: You can direct staff to use paid leave during a shutdown (e.g. Christmas). But you must give 28 days’ written notice. If they don’t have enough leave, you can agree to give them leave in advance, or they can take unpaid leave.

• Excessive leave: More than eight weeks (10 for shiftworkers) counts as excessive leave. If you can’t agree on reducing it, you may direct leave. But the employee must keep at least six weeks of it, and you can’t direct more than four weeks in any 12 months.

• Cashing out: You can cash out an employee's leave by written agreement only. The employee must keep four weeks in their balance, though. And you can only cash out two weeks in 12 months.

• Advance leave: You can agree in writing to let an employee take annual leave before they accrue it.

• Termination: You need to pay out unused annual leave, including leave loading. You must do this no later than seven days after the employee’s employment ends.

Other types of leave

• Personal/carer’s leave: Full-time employees get 10 days of paid personal or carer’s leave each year. Part-time staff build this up on a pro rata basis. Casuals can take personal and carer's leave, albeit unpaid.

• Compassionate leave: Employees can take two days of compassionate leave per occasion. Full-time and part-time employees receive their normal pay during these two days. Casuals get compassionate leave, but without pay.

• Parental leave: Full-time, part-time, and regular casual employees with at least 12 months of service can take up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave. They also have the right to request an extra 12 months on top of that.

• Community service leave: Employees can take leave for eligible community service. For example, jury duty or emergency management activities. You need to pay full-time and part-time employees while on jury duty for the first 10 days. All other community service leave is unpaid.

• Family and domestic violence leave: All employees, including casuals, have a right to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year. They can use this time for things like attending court, seeking medical care, or making arrangements to ensure their safety.

Public holidays

• Full-time and part-time staff get paid time off when a public holiday falls on their normal workday. You only pay casuals if they work on the actual day of the public holiday.

• If someone works on a public holiday, you need to pay them 150% of their base rate (175% if they’re casual). You must also pay them for at least four hours, even if the shift is shorter.

• You can ask someone to work on a public holiday if the request is reasonable. They can also say no if they have reasonable grounds.

• You and the employee can agree in writing to swap a public holiday for another day.

• Public holidays include national days like Christmas, Easter, and Anzac Day. They also include any state or territory holidays (which can differ across the country). When a holiday falls on a weekend, a substitute weekday normally applies.

Nuances of the Professional Employees Award

The Professional Employees Award has some tricky bits you need to be aware of to avoid tripping up:

6 tips for Professional Employees Award payment management

Managing pay under the Professional Employees Award isn’t always simple. Between annualised salaries, overtime at ordinary rates, and strict rules around leave, there’s a fair bit to keep track of. Here are some pointers to help you stay compliant:

Simplify Professional Employee Award pay with Rippling

The Professional Employees Award sets strict pay rules. Rippling helps your business stay on top of them automatically. Once you set an employee’s level, the platform applies the right pay rates, penalties, and overtime rules, without you needing to double-check or double-enter a thing.

It also takes care of all the extras! It calculates super, leave loading, and full termination pays when someone finishes up. And if something looks dodgy, like an allowance error or odd hours, Rippling flags it before payroll runs so you can fix it before it becomes a problem.

Because Rippling is an all-in-one HR, payroll, and IT software built on a single source of truth, everything connects. Time tracking and approved leave requests flow straight into payroll. Changes to hours update across the system. And updates to the Professional Employees Award apply automatically.

All you need to do is review, approve, and hit 'run' to have your team paid correctly and on time, every time.