Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award.

Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award 2020 (MA000073) covers food manufacturing and processing, beverage manufacturing, brewing and distilling, tobacco products, stock feed and pet food. Common roles include preparing, cooking, baking and processing, bottling, canning, packaging and labelling, receiving, storing and despatch, cleaning and sanitising plant. Weekend work is ordinary time only where the employer and the majority of employees, or an individual employee, agree to include Saturday and Sunday (clause 12.2(c)). With that agreement a day worker is paid a flat 150% on Saturday and 200% on Sunday, the rates in the penalty table (clause 12.2(f)). Without it, weekend work is overtime: 150% for the first 3 hours of a Saturday then 200%, with a 4 hour minimum (clause 23.4), and 200% on a Sunday with a 3 hour minimum (clause 23.5). A shiftworker is paid 150% on a Saturday instead of the shift loading (clause 24.4). A public holiday is 250% (clauses 12.2(g) and 24.5(b)), except that a continuous shiftworker is paid 200% for a Sunday or public holiday shift (clause 24.5(a)). Shift loadings are 112.5% for an early morning shift, 115% for an afternoon or night shift and 130% for permanent night shift (clause 24.3), but an afternoon or night shift that does not continue for at least 5 successive shifts, or 6 in a 6 day workshop, or 38 ordinary hours where shifts run longer than 8 hours, is paid 150% for the first 3 hours then 200% (clauses 24.1(d) and 24.3(c)). Casual penalties compound. Clause 10.4 calculates a casual's penalty rates, overtime rates and shift loadings on the casual ordinary hourly rate, which already includes the 25% loading, so a casual is paid 187.5% of the minimum rate on a Saturday, 250% on a Sunday and 312.5% on a public holiday, which Schedule B.2.3 prints as 150%, 200% and 250% of the casual rate. The leading hand, heavy vehicle driving and boiler attendants allowances are paid for all purposes (clause 20.2(a)), so they are added to the rate that penalties, the casual loading and annual leave pay are calculated on. Level 1 ($978.10 a week) is below the $1,004.90 National Minimum Wage. It applies to an employee with less than 3 months in the industry or enterprise, and a seasonal employee advances to Level 2 after 4 weeks and a casual after 152 hours (clause A.2.1(a)). Adult apprentice Stage 1 ($850.52 a week for an apprenticeship started before 1 January 2014, $895.28 after) and Stage 2 ($978.10) are also below it (clauses 15.1 and 15.3). The award does not cover employers or employees covered by the Manufacturing Award, the Meat Industry Award, the Wine Industry Award, the Horticulture Award, or the Clerks, Fast Food, General Retail, Hospitality, Poultry Processing and Seafood Processing awards (clause 4.3).

Full-time and part-time employees are paid 150% of the base hourly rate (1.50x) for working on Saturday. Casuals receive 187.5% (this award applies the penalty to the CASUAL hourly rate, so the 25% loading compounds rather than adding). Not every Saturday hour is paid at that rate: Saturday overtime without a weekend hours agreement, first 3 hours, 150% or 187.5% for a casual (clauses 12.2(c), 10.4 and 23.4, with a 4 hour minimum); Saturday overtime without a weekend hours agreement, after 3 hours, 200% or 250% for a casual (clauses 12.2(c), 10.4 and 23.4).

FT/PT employees are paid 200% of the base hourly rate (2.00x) for Sunday work. Casuals receive 250% (this award applies the penalty to the CASUAL hourly rate, so the 25% loading compounds rather than adding).

FT/PT employees who work on a gazetted public holiday are paid 250% of the base hourly rate (2.50x). Casuals receive 312.5% (this award applies the penalty to the CASUAL hourly rate, so the 25% loading compounds rather than adding). Employees who don't work the holiday receive their ordinary day's pay if it would otherwise have been a working day. Not every public holiday hour is paid at that rate: Continuous shiftworkers, public holiday shift, 200% or 250% for a casual (clause 24.5(a) and Schedule B.2.4, at 200% of the casual ordinary hourly rate).

Standard full-time employees get 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year under the NES. A 7 day shiftworker who is regularly rostered to work on Sundays and public holidays gets a 5th week of annual leave (clause 25.3), and their excessive accrual threshold is 10 weeks rather than 8 (clause 25.7(a)). Casuals get no annual leave under this award (clause 25.1). The 5-week entitlement comes from NES s.87(1)(b), which the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award classifies eligibility for. Calculate annual leave accrual →

Day workers get the greater of 17.5% or the weekend penalty rates they would have earned during the leave, not both. Shift workers get the greater of 17.5% or the weekend and shift penalties they would have earned. The 17.5% is calculated on the wages you would have received for your ordinary hours, including all-purpose allowances, the first aid allowance and any over-award payment, but not overtime, shift rates or weekend penalty rates (clauses 25.4 and 25.6). Leave loading calculator →

25% on top of the base hourly rate, paid in place of entitlements a casual does not get, such as paid annual leave and paid personal/carer's leave. Under this award the casual loading does NOT simply add to the penalty rates: check the penalty table, because a casual can be paid a different rate from the FT/PT rate plus loading.

Yes. Arranged by agreement rather than automatic. How ordinary hours are arranged is agreed between the employer and the majority of employees, or with an individual employee, and the matters that can be agreed include less than 4 weeks notice of a rostered day off, substituting rostered days off and accumulating them (clause 12.5(b)). Where pay is averaged, you accrue a credit for each day you work ordinary hours above the daily average (clause 19.5(a)). If a full-time employee's rostered day off falls on a weekday public holiday, the employer chooses between 7.6 hours of pay, 7.6 hours of extra annual leave or a substitute weekday off (clause 30.5(a)). RDOs are paid days off, distinct from annual leave; they exist to balance ordinary hours over a fixed period. If you are paid out on termination, accrued RDO time is typically included.

Yes. Under this award, afternoon-shift work attracts 115% of the base hourly rate (1.15x); night-shift work attracts 115% of the base hourly rate (1.15x); permanent night shift attracts 130% of the base hourly rate (1.30x). For casuals, the casual loading does not simply add to these penalty rates: see the penalty table and coverage notes.

The Fair Work Commission reviews award minimum rates each year in the Annual Wage Review. The rates on this page took effect from 1 July 2026. The official source is the FWO Pay Calculator, which always reflects the current rates. Open the FWO Pay Calculator →