Amcal Pay Rates 2026: Pharmacy Assistant, Retail & Pharmacist Pay

Amcal is a pharmacy banner group — most Amcal-branded pharmacies are individually owned by the pharmacist who runs them, trading under the Amcal name and buying group rather than being run directly by a single national employer. Pharmacy teams include pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and dispensary technicians, alongside retail sales staff in stores with a broader health and beauty range.

Because each Amcal pharmacy is typically a separate employer, coverage depends on the store — pharmacy assistants and dispensary technicians sit on the Pharmacy Industry Award 2020, with non-pharmacy retail roles under the General Retail Industry Award 2020 regardless of who owns the store. Our corpus holds no current Amcal enterprise agreement, so the award tables below are what should be on the payslip.

The federal awards relevant to Amcal roles:

• Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 (MA000012)
• General Retail Industry Award 2020 (MA000004)

The Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 (MA000012) adult minimums are:

Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.

From 1 July 2026 the General Retail Industry Award 2020 (MA000004) adult minimums are:

If you're 21 or older and your payslip shows less than Level 1, something is wrong.

Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.

The General Retail Industry Award pays juniors a percentage of the Level 1 adult rate. From 1 July 2026 the junior minimums are:

• Under 16: $12.51/hr
• 16 years: $13.91/hr
• 17 years: $16.69/hr
• 18 years: $19.47/hr
• 19 years: $22.25/hr
• 20 years (first 6 months with the employer): $25.03/hr
• 20 years (after 6 months — full adult rate): $27.81/hr

Your rate must step up from the first full pay period after each birthday. Casual juniors add the 25% loading on top of these figures. An enterprise agreement's junior scale must leave you better off than this ladder overall.

As at 25 September 2026, our corpus of 14,141 federally registered enterprise agreements holds no current agreement for Amcal. That usually means one of three things: the employer pays on the award (or on individual contracts above it), the agreement covering you is registered under a different entity name (check the employer name on your payslip and search our agreements database), or — for state public-sector employers — pay is set by a state award or agreement outside the federal register. If you have a copy of an agreement that names Amcal, it beats the award figures above.

The patterns worth checking on a Amcal payslip:

• Junior step-ups missed — birthday rises and the 20-year-old six-month step to the full adult rate.
• Level 1 for higher-level work — keyholding, opening/closing, running a department or regularly supervising others is Level 3–4 territory.
• Weekend penalties absorbed — a flat rate covering Saturday and Sunday shifts has to actually beat the penalty mix for your roster.
• Unpaid time — till counts, close-downs, bag checks and stocktake after the doors shut are work time, and short casual shifts must meet the award's three-hour minimum.

Match your payslip to your classification in the agreement (or the award tables above), and price any gap with our back-pay calculator. Raise it in writing with payroll or your manager first — most underpayments are fixed at that step. Unresolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) recovers underpayments at no cost, up to six years back, and your union can run the claim for you. Not sure which instrument covers you? Ask our AI advisor with your role and location.