Retail has two problems that most small business owners do not realise are compounding. First, casual loadings and weekend penalty rates stack in ways that make a simple “flat hourly rate” almost always wrong. Second, from 1 January 2025 intentional underpayment is a criminal offence, and civil penalties for an individual can now reach $495,000 per contravention (or three times the underpayment) under the post-27-February-2024 regime. A small retailer running a flat rate across Saturdays and Sundays for a year can end up with an underpayment that quadruples when multiplied by three.
The good news is that retail awards are relatively well-structured if you read them once properly. This post walks through the General Retail Industry Award (MA000004) and the key compliance points for 2026.
Does the General Retail Industry Award apply to you?
The General Retail Industry Award MA000004 covers most independent stores, franchises and shopping-centre retail in Australia — from bookshops to homewares to clothing. It does not cover every retail-adjacent business: fast food sits under a separate award, pharmacy has its own award, and hairdressing is covered separately.
Confirm coverage using the Find my award tool and the full text of the Retail Award.
Classifications: Level 1 to Level 8
The Retail Award uses eight classification levels. Level 1 is an entry-level retail employee with no requirement for prior experience. Higher levels reflect additional responsibility, supervision, or specialised skills. Paying a team leader at Level 1 rates is one of the more common underpayments the Fair Work Ombudsman finds in retail.
The classifications are set out in the Retail Award summary. Document each employee’s classification and duties in writing when you hire them and whenever their role changes.
Casual loading: the flat-rate trap
Casuals under the Retail Award are paid a casual loading on top of the base rate. You cannot roll that loading into an all-in flat hourly rate unless you have a compliant individual flexibility arrangement or an annualised salary structure that satisfies the award’s Better Off Overall Test.
Most small retailers do not have those arrangements in place. They just pay “$X per hour” to a casual and assume it is enough. It almost never is, once weekend and evening loadings are added. See the Fair Work casual employees page.
Penalty rates: weekends, public holidays, and late nights
Retail has separate loadings for:
- Saturday work
- Sunday work
- Public holiday work
- Late-night trading (evenings after a set hour)
The exact percentages are set in the award and change at the Annual Wage Review, so never hardcode a number from memory. Check the penalty rates hub and the public holiday penalty rates page, then confirm against the Retail Award summary.
The combination that catches most owners: a casual working a Sunday afternoon gets the casual loading plus the Sunday penalty rate. A casual working a public holiday gets the casual loading plus the public holiday penalty rate. These stack — they are not an either/or.
Junior rates
The Retail Award sets junior rates for employees under 21, expressed as percentages of the adult rate at their classification. These rates step up each year. Many retailers forget to move a junior employee up a step on their birthday, which creates an immediate underpayment. Check the Retail Award pay guide each July and on every employee birthday.
Payday Super lands on 1 July 2026
The biggest change for retail employers in 2026 is Payday Super. From 1 July 2026, employers must pay superannuation on the same day as wages, not quarterly. Contributions must be received by the employee’s super fund within seven business days of payday.
For a retailer with ten casuals on weekly pay, that is fifty-two super runs a year instead of four. Your clearing house, payroll system and cash flow planning all need to be ready.
Three things to do now:
- Read the ATO About Payday Super page end-to-end.
- Work through the ATO employer checklist.
- If you use the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House, plan your move — it stops accepting new users from 1 October 2025 and closes entirely on 30 June 2026.
Note that the super guarantee rate is 12 per cent from 1 July 2025 (ATO key super rates and thresholds).
The criminal wage-theft offence
Since 1 January 2025, deliberately underpaying an employee is a criminal offence in Australia. See the FWO summary and the criminal prosecution page.
If you are a small business owner who has genuinely tried to comply, the Voluntary Small Business Wage Compliance Code is a defence against criminal referral. Document your pay decisions, keep award summaries on file, and keep records of the tools you used to calculate rates.
A simple retail compliance routine
- Every 1 July: re-run every employee through the pay calculator and update the rate in your payroll system.
- Every birthday: re-check junior rates.
- Every new hire: classify them in writing against the Retail Award levels.
- Every public holiday: confirm the applicable loading on the FWO public holidays page.
Retail compliance, handled
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Disclaimer: This is general compliance guidance, not legal advice.
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