Food and Beverage Manufacturing Back-Office Services

The Award: typically the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award 2020

Which award applies depends on the business, the work each employee actually performs, their classification and whether they are full-time, part-time or casual. The Fair Work Ombudsman's coverage summary places the preparing, cooking, baking, blending, brewing, fermenting, preserving, freezing and milling of food and beverage products — with the receiving, storing, packaging, labelling and despatch that go with it — under the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award 2020; retail bakeries, sales representatives, clerical and administrative workers and mechanical fitters are not covered. Check coverage for your own business rather than assuming one award covers everyone, and use the Fair Work Pay Calculator for the current rate for a given award, classification and shift.

Classifications: Manufacturing employee Level 1-5. Quality control, production supervisor, trades (fitter, electrician) classifications.

Ordinary hours: 38 hours per week, continuous shift operations common.

Penalty rates: the award sets separate rates for Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, and for overtime, evening, night or shift work where it provides them, and they vary by classification and by whether the employee is full-time, part-time or casual — casual employees have their own rates in the award's penalty table. Rather than work from a remembered percentage, look up the current rate for the specific classification and shift on the Fair Work Pay Calculator and apply the rate in effect on the day worked.

Minimum engagement: 3 hours casual.

Key allowances: shift, cold room, first aid, tool (trades), confined space, meal.

Getting these provisions wrong creates systematic underpayment that compounds with every pay period. The Fair Work Ombudsman actively monitors compliance in this sector, and the penalties for deliberate underpayment were significantly increased under recent legislation. Valont's payroll specialists configure your payroll software with the exact award rules for each employee classification, eliminating manual interpretation errors.

Sources: award coverage — the Fair Work Ombudsman's summary of the Food and Beverage Manufacturing Award [MA000073] and the award text of the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award 2020 [MA000073] (read 8 September 2026); pay and award rules — Fair Work Ombudsman and the Fair Work Commission; superannuation, BAS and tax — the Australian Taxation Office.