The short version: Your base hourly rate is only part of what you earn. Penalty rates, shift loadings and allowances are set out in the Nurses Award, and it is worth knowing them well enough to check your own payslip.
Most aged care nurses could tell you their base hourly rate. Far fewer could tell you what they should be paid for a Sunday, a night shift, or a weekend on call, which is a problem, because that is where a meaningful part of the pay actually sits. The award that covers you is not light reading, but the parts that affect your take-home pay are worth ten minutes of your attention.
Registered and enrolled nurses in Tasmanian aged care are generally covered by the Nurses Award 2020. It sets the minimum base rates for each classification and, on top of those, a structure of penalties and allowances for the hours and conditions that aged care work is full of. You can be paid above the award, but not below it, and knowing the floor is how you check you are being paid correctly.
The penalties, in plain terms
Penalty rates lift your hourly pay for hours that fall outside an ordinary weekday. Under the Nurses Award, ordinary hours worked on a Saturday attract 150 per cent of the base rate, and Sunday hours attract 175 per cent. A rostered night shift Monday to Friday carries a 15 per cent loading, and an afternoon shift carries 12.5 per cent. Public holidays are higher again. If you routinely work weekends and nights, as most aged care nurses do, those loadings are not a bonus. They are a core part of your income.
| When you work | What the Nurses Award sets |
|---|---|
| Ordinary Saturday hours | 150% of base rate |
| Ordinary Sunday hours | 175% of base rate |
| Night shift, Mon to Fri | Base rate plus 15% loading |
| Afternoon shift, Mon to Fri | Base rate plus 12.5% loading |
| Public holidays | Higher again (check the award) |
The allowances people forget to check
Beyond penalties, the award provides allowances for specific circumstances: being on call, using or laundering your own uniform, meals during overtime, and travel in some cases. On-call in particular is easy to overlook, and it is paid per period whether or not you are actually called in. If you carry a phone for the facility on a Sunday, that is not goodwill. It is a paid arrangement.
If you want to see how Tasmanian aged care pay is tracking against the rest of the state and the country, our Salary Guide sets it out in one place.
Get in touchWhy this matters more in 2026
Award pay for nurses has been moving. The Fair Work Commission’s Work Value Case is delivering increases to registered and enrolled nurse rates in instalments, with a further rise landing on 1 August 2026, on top of the annual minimum wage review. That means the base your penalties are calculated from is going up, so the penalties themselves rise with it. It is a good moment to actually read your payslip rather than assume it is right.
Your penalties and allowances are not extras your employer chooses to pay. They are the award doing its job, and it is your job to notice when it does not.
If the numbers do not look right, start by identifying your classification and pay point, then check them against the Fair Work Ombudsman’s pay tool for the Nurses Award. Our blog has more on pay and conditions for aged care nurses, and if you are weighing up a move partly for money, compare the whole package, not just the headline rate, across the roles on offer.
If you are a nurse weighing up your next move, or a healthcare operator looking to strengthen your workforce, Community Health Connect works with both sides of that conversation. Get in touch.
Get in touch