Pharmaceutical Industry Award
Covers the manufacturing and wholesale arm of the pharmaceutical industry - manufacture / production of prescription pharmaceuticals (or both prescription and non-prescription) and wholesaling of prescription pharmaceuticals. DISTINCT from the Pharmacy Industry Award (which covers retail pharmacy). Two streams sharing the same pay scale: manufacturing / production and warehouse / distribution. Standard rate is Manufacturing / Production Worker Grade 4.
Fully built. Rates, allowances, penalties and any required apprentice / junior rates are all wired to the rate resolver and have been verified against the consolidated award text and the latest pay guide.
Official Fair Work rates. This award’s minimum pay rates are synced directly from the Fair Work Commission’s Modern Awards Pay Database and updated automatically when the Commission changes them - including the annual wage review - so payroll always uses the current legal minimums without a manual update.
What's built
- All 6 cl. 15.1(a) classifications including Grade 1 progression sub-levels (on commencement / after 3 months / after 12 months), shared across the two streams.
- Junior rates with only 4 age bands: under-17 (50%), 17 (60%), 18 (80%), 19+ at adult rate.
- Day-worker vs shiftworker distinction with different OT rules inside the span (day workers: first 2h at 1.5; shiftworkers: first 3h at 1.5).
- Allowances including first-aid, gentian violet, chlorpromazine and others scoped to pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Known limitations
No outstanding gaps at this revision - re-verify on the next Fair Work pay-guide release.
Setup & special instructions
- There are no apprentice provisions in this award. Trainees use the National Training Wage from Schedule E of MA000104 Miscellaneous Award (cl. 15.4).
- Each employee must be assigned a stream - manufacturing_production or warehouse_distribution - though both streams use the same pay scale (different role descriptors).
- Coverage excludes employers covered by Food Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award and Manufacturing and Associated Industries Award.
- • Pharmaceuticals
- • Pharmaceutical manufacturing
- • Pharmaceutical wholesale
The consolidated award text is the authoritative source. Always confirm specific obligations against the award itself - Mployr's implementation status reflects what we've seeded; it does not replace legal advice.
Want to see this award running on your data?
We can demo a pay run on the pharmaceutical industry award using sample employees in a sandbox tenant - including any of the special-instruction steps above so you can see exactly what your team's day-to-day looks like.
Book a demo