Meat Industry Award.
Meat Industry Award 2020. Verified penalty rates, shift loadings, leave loading and RDO arrangements, with a live calculator under the NES.
Pop in your details
Here's your entitlement
See full calculation
| Component | Formula | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Accrual rate (FULL-TIME) | 4 wks × 38h ÷ 52 | 2.923 hrs/wk |
| Hours accrued | 2.923 × 52 wks | 152.42 hrs |
| Hourly base rate | - | $35.00 |
| Base leave value | 152.42 × $35.00 | $5,334.62 |
| 17.5% leave loading | base × 0.175 | + $933.56 |
| Total payout | - | $6,268.17 |
Disclaimer: This tool does not constitute legal or financial advice. Results may be inaccurate due to changes in legislation or your circumstances. This tool does not constitute legal or financial advice. We do not recommend taking actions based solely on these results. The calculator makes assumptions and results may be inaccurate due to changes in legislation, modern awards, or your personal circumstances. You use this information at your own risk. We can't guarantee to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong. For official guidance, visit Fair Work Ombudsman (fairwork.gov.au). Fair Work Ombudsman.
Meat Industry Award pay rates and penalties.
Dollar rates effective from 1 July 2026 after the 4.75% Annual Wage Review increase. Penalty rates verified against the MA000059 award text.
Penalty rates by shift type
What each hour is worth as a percentage of the base rate, for permanent and casual employees.
Hourly rate by classification level
8 levels, measured from $0 so the gaps between them are true to scale.
Grey bars fall below the adult national minimum wage. Junior and apprentice classifications are lawfully paid a set percentage of the adult rate under this award.
- MI 1Meat Industry Level 1: new entrant on the job training, maximum 6 months at this level
- MI 2Level 2: retail order person, manufacturing linker, table hand, slaughterer's assistant, salting and retort
- MI 3Level 3: fillerperson, packing room hand, offal and tripe, boning and slicing labourer, chiller and freezer hand, cleaner, basic clerical
- MI 4Level 4: retail smallgoods maker (non trade), cooker or scalder, cashier, Slaughterer Class 3, trimmer, driver up to 6 tonne
- MI 5Level 5: salesperson, manufacturing slaughterer, tunnel boner, Slaughterer Class 2, sawyer, rendering machinery, driver over 6 tonne
- MI 6Level 6: Slaughterer Class 1, bed and cradle slaughterer, boner, carcass grader, skin classer
- MI 7Level 7: trade qualified slaughterer, general butcher, smallgoods maker. This is the standard rate for allowances
- MI 8Level 8: general butcher in charge of a meat retail establishment. Retail stream only
National Minimum Wage, 4-year trend
Lifted each year by the Annual Wage Review. Up 23.7% since FY2023. Percentages are the movement in the NMW itself, which exceeded the award increase in the years the Commission realigned it to the C13 rate.
Where these numbers come from
- Dollar rates
- FWO Pay Guides and FWC Annual Wage Review [2026] FWCFB 3500, effective 1 July 2026.
- Penalty rates and allowances
- MA000059 on awards.fairwork.gov.au, the official award text.
- Your own figures
- Check your classification in the FWO Pay Calculator.
Penalty rates in full
Every loading in the award, side by side for full-time, part-time and casual employees.
| Hours worked | Full-time / part-time | Casual (incl. loading) |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary hours | 100% | 125% |
| Saturday | 150% | See notes |
| Sunday | 200% | See notes |
| Public holiday | 250% | See notes |
| Afternoon shift | 115% | See notes |
| Night shift | 125% | See notes |
| Permanent night shift | 130% | See notes |
This award combines casual loading differently depending on the penalty. Some casual penalties substitute for the full-time rate rather than adding to it, so the casual column cannot be derived by adding 25% across the board. The stream detail below and the coverage notes give the specific rates.
This award does not pay one set of rates. The table above is the stream covering most employees. These streams differ:
| Stream | Saturday | Sunday | Public holiday | Leave loading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meat manufacturing establishments (smallgoods, ham, bacon) (MI 1-MI 7) | 125% | 200% | 250% | 17.5% |
| Meat retail establishments (butcher shops, and the retail or wholesale sales staff of any establishment) (MI 1-MI 8) | 125% | 150% | 250% | 17.5% |
- Meat manufacturing establishments (smallgoods, ham, bacon): Clause 24.2(a)(i). Saturday ordinary hours are capped at 4 hours between 6.00am and 6.00pm (clause 14.4(b)). Sunday is not an ordinary-hours day in this stream (clause 14.4(a)), so Sunday work is overtime at 150% for the first 3 hours then 200% (clause 22.1(a)), not a rostered penalty.
- Meat retail establishments (butcher shops, and the retail or wholesale sales staff of any establishment): Clause 24.3(a) for Saturday ordinary hours between 4.00am and 6.00pm, clause 24.3(b) for Sunday between 8.00am and 6.00pm. Load out area work between 10.00pm and 6.00am on any day is 125% (clause 24.3(d)). MI 8 exists only in this stream.
All values are percentages of the base hourly rate. Casual rates shown are inclusive of the 25% casual loading on top of the FT/PT rate. For your own dollar amounts, use the FWO Pay Calculator.
These are the percentages. To turn them into dollars for a specific roster, the penalty rates calculator prices Saturday, Sunday, public holiday and shift hours against this award’s own classification rates.
Pay rates by classification
Weekly rates are for 38 ordinary hours. Casual hourly includes the 25% loading.
| Level | Classification | Weekly rate | Hourly rate | Casual hourly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MI 1 | Meat Industry Level 1: new entrant on the job training, maximum 6 months at this level | $978.10 | $25.74 | $32.18 |
| MI 2 | Level 2: retail order person, manufacturing linker, table hand, slaughterer's assistant, salting and retort | $1,004.90 | $26.44 | $33.05 |
| MI 3 | Level 3: fillerperson, packing room hand, offal and tripe, boning and slicing labourer, chiller and freezer hand, cleaner, basic clerical | $1,010.90 | $26.60 | $33.25 |
| MI 4 | Level 4: retail smallgoods maker (non trade), cooker or scalder, cashier, Slaughterer Class 3, trimmer, driver up to 6 tonne | $1,034.60 | $27.23 | $34.04 |
| MI 5 | Level 5: salesperson, manufacturing slaughterer, tunnel boner, Slaughterer Class 2, sawyer, rendering machinery, driver over 6 tonne | $1,052.90 | $27.71 | $34.64 |
| MI 6 | Level 6: Slaughterer Class 1, bed and cradle slaughterer, boner, carcass grader, skin classer | $1,074.50 | $28.28 | $35.35 |
| MI 7 | Level 7: trade qualified slaughterer, general butcher, smallgoods maker. This is the standard rate for allowances | $1,119.10 | $29.45 | $36.81 |
| MI 8 | Level 8: general butcher in charge of a meat retail establishment. Retail stream only | $1,160.20 | $30.53 | $38.16 |
Rates effective from 1 July 2026 after the 4.75% Annual Wage Review increase. Weekly rates are for 38 ordinary hours. Casual rates include the 25% loading on top of the hourly rate. Source: FWO Pay Guides.
Allowances
Paid on top of the base rate. Amounts effective from 1 July 2026.
| Allowance | Amount | Frequency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cold temperature allowance | $0.77 - $2.56 | per hour or part | Clause 20.2(a). $0.77 below 0C, $1.33 below -16C, $1.88 below -18C, $2.56 below -21C. |
| First aid allowance | $4.18 | per day | Clause 20.2(b). |
| Leading hand allowance | $17.91 - $25.74 | per week | Clause 20.2(c). $17.91 in charge of 3 to 9 employees, $25.74 for 10 or more. |
| Clothing and laundry allowance | $3.70 per week or $0.74 per day | per week or per day | Clause 20.3(a)(i), meat processing establishments only, for laundering your own outer working clothes. Not payable where the employer launders them free of charge. |
| Meal allowance | $19.14 | per occasion | Clause 20.3(b), where 1.5 hours or more of overtime is worked after the rostered finishing time. |
| Incentive loading, payment by results | 20% of the classification rate | on top of the minimum rate | Clause 18.9, meat processing establishments only. Daily hire adds a further 10% and casuals add their 25% on top of the 20%. Leave for an incentive worker is paid on a 12 month average of ordinary-hours incentive earnings divided by the number of weeks such work was performed (clause 18.12), while the 17.5% loading is still calculated on the clause 16 minimum rate. |
| Daily hire loading | 10% of the daily rate | per day | Clause 11.10, meat processing only. The daily rate is 20% of the minimum weekly rate. Daily hire employees keep NES annual leave, personal leave, public holidays and redundancy even where they meet the casual definition (clause 11.11). |
| Meat inspector relief | Meat Industry Level 6 rate | while relieving | Clause 19. Meat inspectors themselves are excluded from the award (clause 4.3), but a covered employee relieving in the role is paid at Schedule A.3.6. |
The numbers that drive this award.
Set by Meat Industry Award 2020 (MA000059) and the NES.
Award-specific provisions.
Where this award goes beyond, or sits at, the NES floor.
For the additional week of leave under the NES, a shiftworker is a 7 day shiftworker who is regularly rostered to work on Sundays and public holidays (clause 25.2). They accrue 3.66 hours of annual leave for each completed week against 2.93 hours for everyone else (clause 25.6).
Day workers get a flat 17.5% on the minimum hourly rate. Shift workers get the greater of 17.5% or the weekend and shift penalties they would have earned. Run the numbers in the annual leave loading calculator.
Facilitative, not automatic. There is no 0.4 hour a day accrual clause. Ordinary hours may be averaged at 38 a week, not exceeding 152 hours in 28 days (clause 14.1(a)), and shift rosters may be averaged over up to 12 months by majority agreement (clause 23.1(b)(i)). Clause 14.6(b) lets the employer and employees agree the work cycle, the roster, less than 4 weeks notice of an RDO, substitution and accumulation. An RDO is defined at clause 2 as any continuous 24 hour period between the end of one ordinary shift and the start of the next.
Calculate your leave under this award
The Meat Industry Award sets your pay rates, but your paid leave runs on the National Employment Standards. Work out 4 weeks of holidays with the annual leave calculator, and your 10 days of paid sick and carer's leave with the personal leave calculator. To confirm which award applies to you and how it lifts entitlements above the NES floor, read our guide to modern awards.
Who this award covers.
The Meat Industry Award (MA000059) is the common name for the Meat Industry Award 2020. Industries, work types and exclusions are taken from the Fair Work Ombudsman summary.
Industries
Work types
Notes & exclusions. Casuals are paid less than permanents on a public holiday under this award. Clause 31.3 adds its public holiday payment to the ordinary rate for everyone except casuals, so a permanent gets 250% for the first 2 hours then 300%, while a casual gets 150% then 200% with no casual loading on top (Schedule B.6.1 and B.6.2). Christmas Day and Anzac Day are a flat 300% for permanents and 200% for casuals; Good Friday is 250% for the first 4 hours then 300%. The casual loading is not simply added elsewhere either. On a weekend it is replaced by the penalty (clause 12.6), so a casual in an abattoir gets the same 150% Saturday as a permanent, while shift and cleaning penalties are additive (clause 23.3(e)). Penalties differ by establishment: the 150% Saturday and 200% Sunday here are the meat processing figures and apply only where weekend ordinary hours are agreed (clause 14.3(b)). Cleaners get 105% or 112.5% (clause 24.4). Non-successive afternoon or night shifts pay 150% for 3 hours then 200% (clause 23.3(d)). The award has no vehicle allowance at all, and Level 1 at $978.10 is capped at 6 months.
Roles paid under this award.
Each classification has its own pay grade. Use the FWO Pay Calculator for current dollar rates.
- 01Level 1 (MI 1, new entrant)
- 02Level 2 (MI 2, table hand, linker, slaughterer's assistant)
- 03Level 3 (MI 3, boning and slicing labourer, chiller hand, cleaner)
- 04Level 4 (MI 4, Slaughterer Class 3, trimmer, cashier)
- 05Level 5 (MI 5, Slaughterer Class 2, tunnel boner, sawyer)
- 06Level 6 (MI 6, Slaughterer Class 1, boner, carcass grader)
- 07Level 7 (MI 7, trade qualified slaughterer, general butcher, smallgoods maker)
- 08Level 8 (MI 8, general butcher in charge of a retail establishment)
Meat Industry Award questions, answered.
Penalty rates, leave entitlements and award-specific provisions under MA000059. Verified against the modern award text.
Who does the Meat Industry Award cover?
What is the Saturday penalty rate under the Meat Industry Award?
What is the Sunday rate under the Meat Industry Award?
What is the public holiday rate under the Meat Industry Award?
How many weeks of annual leave do I get under the Meat Industry Award?
How is annual leave loading calculated under the Meat Industry Award?
What is the casual loading under the Meat Industry Award?
Does the Meat Industry Award include rostered days off (RDOs)?
Does the Meat Industry Award have evening or night-shift loadings?
Where do I find current pay rates by classification under the Meat Industry Award?
Verified against the modern award text.
Penalty rates, shift loadings and continuous-shift eligibility on this page were verified against Meat Industry Award 2020 (MA000059) on the Fair Work Commission's awards.fairwork.gov.au.
For up-to-date pay rates by classification, refer to the FWO Pay Calculator. Modern awards are reviewed and varied periodically by the Fair Work Commission; check the source for the latest text.