Search by industry, role or award name to find the Modern Award that likely covers your employees, then see the key conditions: ordinary hours, casual minimums, penalty rates, classifications and allowances.
27 major awards · Covers most small-business industries
Search any role
Industry, role or award name
Match the award
Find the likely coverage
Key conditions
Hours, penalties, loadings
Confirm on Fair Work
Detail changes, verify it
Most Australian small businesses are covered by a Modern Award — the legally binding instrument that sets minimum pay and conditions for a role — but working out which award applies to which employee is one of the fiddliest jobs in the back office. There are more than a hundred awards, coverage turns on the work an employee actually performs rather than the business's headline industry, and it's common for one small business to span several awards at once. The Award Finder helps you get to the right starting point: search by industry, role or award name and see the Modern Award that most likely covers your people, along with a plain-English snapshot of its key conditions.
The tool lets you search a curated set of the major Modern Awards that cover most small-business industries — hospitality, retail, construction and the trades, healthcare, community services, professional services, transport, agriculture and more. Type a role, industry or award name (or filter by industry) and it matches against each award's common roles and classifications to surface the likely coverage. Select a match and you'll see a structured summary of that award's key features: ordinary weekly hours, the minimum casual engagement period, the pattern of weekend and public-holiday penalty rates, the casual loading, the classification structure, the main allowances, and a "watch for" note flagging the quirks that trip owners up. It does not calculate a specific dollar figure or bake in current rates — award pay and penalty detail change with each annual wage review and with variations — so every match points you to the official Fair Work Ombudsman source to confirm the current figures. It's a coverage-orientation tool, not a coverage determination.
Australian small-business owners, managers and payroll staff who need to work out which Modern Award applies to a role before setting pay, rostering, or writing a contract.
The short answers are here. For anything else, ask below or get in touch.
Coverage is driven by the nature of the work the person does and the industry the business operates in — not by job title alone or the ABN's headline classification. Start by searching this tool for the role or industry to find the likely award, then confirm on the Fair Work Ombudsman website, which lets you check coverage and the specific classification. If an employee's duties span two possible awards, the more specific industry or occupation award usually applies. When it's genuinely unclear, it's worth having it checked rather than guessing, because the classification also determines the correct minimum pay rate.
These tools work together to give you a clearer picture of your business.
Use these results to make better decisions. If you'd like a second pair of eyes on them, an advisor can walk through what they mean for the business.
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