Cotton On Pay Rates 2026: Junior, Casual & Adult Hourly Rates

The Cotton On Group runs Cotton On, Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids, Factorie, Typo and Supré. Store team members across all of these brands are covered by the General Retail Industry Award 2020 (MA000004) — the same award that covers Target, Kmart and Myer floor staff. The award sets the legal floor: whatever brand is on your name badge, your pay cannot go below it.

The group also has an enterprise agreement in its distribution operations — the Cotton On Group and United Workers Union Enterprise Agreement 2025–2028 (approved December 2025, nominal expiry 30 June 2028). That agreement covers distribution centre workers, not retail store staff. If you work in a store, the award below is your document.

Check your exact rate with our retail worker pay rate tool.

From 1 July 2026, the minimum hourly rates under the General Retail Industry Award are:

Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, rates operative from 1 July 2026. If you're 21 or older and your Cotton On payslip shows less than Level 1, something is wrong — run it through our payslip checker.

Cotton On's workforce skews young, so this is the table most people are actually looking for. A 15 year old at Cotton On (or any worker under 16) must be paid at least $12.51/hr permanent or $15.64/hr casual — 45% of the adult Level 1 rate. The full junior ladder under the General Retail Industry Award from 1 July 2026:

Two things Cotton On payroll must get right: your rate steps up from the first full pay period after your birthday (check the first payslip after you turn 16, 17, and so on), and a 20 year old who has been with the company more than 6 months is on the full adult rate, not 90%.

The Fair Work Commission has also decided to phase out junior rates for 18–20 year olds in retail — adult pay is coming for that group in stages. See our guide to the junior rates decision and the full junior pay rates explainer for where that's up to.

Penalty rates for a permanent adult Level 1 ($27.81/hr base):

• Evening (after 6pm, Monday–Friday): 125% — $34.76/hr
• Saturday: 125% — $34.76/hr
• Sunday: 150% — $41.72/hr
• Public holiday: 225% — $62.57/hr

Casual penalties are calculated by adding the 25% casual loading to the permanent penalty percentage (of the unloaded base): Saturday 150% ($41.72/hr), Sunday 175% ($48.67/hr), public holidays 250% ($69.53/hr). Junior penalty rates apply the same percentages to your junior base.

Issues worth checking on your payslip:

• Birthday rate not updated — the most common junior underpayment in retail. Check the first pay cycle after every birthday.
• Evening loading missed — trading past 6pm triggers the 125% loading for every hour after 6pm, including on late-night shopping nights.
• Keyholder work paid at Level 1 — if you open or close the store, secure cash, or act as 2IC, that's Level 3 work ($28.89/hr), not Level 1.
• Unpaid time — bag checks, tills counted after clock-off, and pre-shift briefings are work time and must be paid.

Pull your rosters and payslips, then use our back-pay calculator to work out the gap. Raise it in writing with your store manager or the Cotton On Group payroll team with the figures attached. If it isn't fixed within a fortnight, contact the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94 — you can recover underpayments going back six years.