Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award
Covers preparing, cooking, baking, blending, brewing, fermenting, preserving, filleting, gutting, freezing, refrigerating, decorating, washing, grading, processing, distilling, manufacturing and milling of food, beverage and tobacco products (including stock feed and pet food) plus ancillary receipt/storing/handling/packaging/cleaning. SIX-level classification structure (NOT 7); standard rate is Level 5 (AQF Cert 3 tradesperson) at $1,068.56/wk = $28.12/hr — used for percentage-based allowances. Carve-outs (cl 4.3) for Clerks-PS / Fast Food / General Retail / Horticulture / Hospitality / Manufacturing / Meat / Poultry Processing / Seafood Processing / Wine Industry awards. Distinctive features: continuous shiftworker has flat 200% OT (no first-tier split) + 5 weeks AL; sector-dependent OT first-tier split (3 hrs day worker / flat for continuous shift); shift loadings are full-rate percentages (112.5/115/130/150/200%) NOT loadings on top; all-purpose allowances (leading hand, heavy vehicle, boiler attendant) baked into base hourly BEFORE multipliers; special allowances (cold/hot/wet/confined/dirty/fumigation) NOT subject to penalty additions; extra rates cumulative cap at 200% with carve-outs for PH + special allowances.
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.
What's built
- All 6 cl 14.1 classifications at corrected July 2025 figures (Sch B.1.3 PR786611 ppc 1Jul25): Level 1 $24.28/hr ($923.00/wk) → Level 6 $29.00/hr ($1,102.00/wk). Standard rate = Level 5 $28.12/hr.
- Cl 20.2(b) leading hand 3 tiers ALL-PURPOSE ($46.76 / $69.85 / $88.92/wk for 3-10 / 11-20 / 20+ employees).
- Cl 20.2(c) heavy vehicle driving 4 tiers ALL-PURPOSE per hour ($0.17 / $1.41 / $1.86 / $3.35 for 3-4.5t / 4.5-14.95t / >14.95t / semi-trailer).
- Cl 20.2(d) boiler attendant ALL-PURPOSE $24.04/wk + cl 20.2(e) first aid $21.26/wk.
- All 7 cl 20.2(f) special allowances (cold $0.79/hr / hot 46-54°C $0.82/hr / hot >54°C $1.07/hr / wet $0.82/hr / confined $1.07/hr / dirty $0.82/hr / fumigation $10.74/day) tagged as NOT subject to penalty additions.
- Cl 20.3 expense-related: meal $18.38, vehicle $0.99/km, travel meal $18.38, damage reimbursement, special clothing reimbursement.
- All 4 default super funds per cl 22.4 (substituted by PR794767 ppc 23 Jan 2026): Australian Retirement Trust, AustralianSuper, CareSuper, HOSTPLUS Superannuation Fund. (Existing seeder had ZERO funds.)
- Penalty rates correctly modelled: Sat ord 150% (FT/PT/Casual by agreement) / Sun ord 200% / PH 250% (200% continuous shiftworker). OT day worker 1.5x first 3 / 2x after; OT continuous shiftworker FLAT 200%; Sat OT min 4 hrs; Sun OT min 3 hrs at 200%; PH OT min 3 hrs at 250%.
- All shift loadings correctly modelled as full-rate percentages: early morning 112.5% / afternoon-night 115% / non-continuous afternoon-night 150% first 3 / 200% after / permanent night 130% / Sat shift 150% / Sun-PH continuous 200% / non-continuous Sun 200% / non-continuous PH 250%.
- 4 pay conditions: Full-Time / Part-Time / Casual / Continuous Shiftworker. Continuous shiftworker has its own day-rule set with flat-200% OT.
- Cl 23.10 rest period after OT 10 hrs (8 by agreement; 8 for shiftworkers in defined circumstances) with 200% fail-to-rest. Cl 23.9 rest break during OT 20 min paid after each 4 hrs.
- Cl 23.11 recall to work min 4 hrs at 1.5x first 3 / 2x after (continuous shiftworker = flat 200%) + multiple-recalls separate min payments.
- Cl 25.3 continuous shiftworker = 7-day shiftworker → 5 weeks AL + advanced rule.
- Cl 21 extra-rates 200% cumulative cap with PH + cl 20.2(f) special allowances carved out.
- Apprentice rate matrix configuration entries (D8): pre/post 2014 stage relativities (% of Level 5).
Known limitations
- All-purpose allowance baked-in (D9 / Sch B.1.1) requires the resolver to read all_purpose-flagged allowances and add them to the base hourly rate BEFORE applying penalty/OT multipliers. Application logic, not schema.
- Special allowances no-penalty (D12 / cl 20.2(f)(i)) requires resolver awareness — must NOT apply OT/Sat/Sun/PH/shift multiplier to cl 20.2(f) allowances. Advanced rule captures intent.
- Cumulative 200% cap (D13 / cl 21) requires resolver to compute final rate, check against 200%, exclude PH and special allowances from cap calc.
- Continuous shiftworker OT flat 200% (D6) — resolver must detect Continuous Shiftworker pay condition and apply flat 2x (no first-tier split). Default rules use 1.5x first 3 / 2x after.
- Apprentice rates (D8) are encoded as relativity percentages in configuration. Per-employee rate computation requires Stage × Education-level × pre/post-2014 matrix logic against Level 5 base. Dimensional AwardRate rows are future work.
- Cold/hot work paid rest entitlement (cl 20.2(f)(ii)/(iii)): 20-min paid rest after every 2 hrs work above thresholds. Captured in allowance description; runtime enforcement application-level.
Setup & special instructions
- 6 levels — NOT 7. Level 7 doesn't exist in MA000073 (the existing seeder fabricated it). Standard rate = Level 5.
- Standard rate $1,068.56/wk = $28.12/hr (Level 5 AQF Cert 3 tradesperson). Used for percentage-based allowances.
- Shift loadings are full-rate percentages (112.5/115/130/150/200%) — NOT loadings on top of ordinary. Resolver must NOT add 12.5/15/30% on top of ord.
- Sat OT min 4 hrs; Sun OT min 3 hrs at 200%; PH OT min 3 hrs at 250% (200% for continuous shiftworkers).
- Continuous shiftworker OT = FLAT 200% — NO first-tier 3-hour split.
- Casual & PT min engagement 4 hrs (3 by employee request, in writing on time-and-wages record).
- All-purpose allowances (leading hand, heavy vehicle, boiler attendant) MUST be added to base hourly BEFORE penalty/OT multipliers (Sch B.1.1).
- Special allowances (cl 20.2(f) — cold/hot/wet/confined/dirty/fumigation) are NOT subject to penalty additions (cl 20.2(f)(i)).
- Extra rates cumulative cap 200% (cl 21) — exceptions: special allowances + PH rates.
- 4 default super funds per cl 22.4 PR794767 ppc 23Jan26: Australian Retirement Trust, AustralianSuper, CareSuper, HOSTPLUS Superannuation Fund.
- Continuous shiftworker = 5 weeks AL (cl 25.3, 7-day shiftworker definition).
- Recall to work (cl 23.11): 4-hr min at 1.5x first 3 / 2x after (continuous shiftworker = full 4 hrs at 200%).
- • Food manufacturing
- • Beverage manufacturing
- • Tobacco manufacturing
- • Bakery
- • Brewing
- • Distilling
- • Bottling
- • Canning
- • Packaging
- • Stock feed
- • Pet food
- • Food processing
- • Beverage processing
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 food & beverage mfg 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.
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