Overview of the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award [MA000073]

If you’ve got staff working in food, drink, or tobacco manufacturing in Australia, this award probably applies to you. The Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award mandates the legalities surrounding pay, work hours, leave, and all the other things you have to get right when you’re employing people.

There’s a lot in it. And while it can be difficult to keep track of everything, it's essential. Getting it wrong can be wildly expensive. Think backpay, fines, reputational damage, and uncomfortable conversations with the Fair Work Commission. The unfortunate thing is that most of the time, mistakes aren’t even on purpose. They happen because the rules are incredibly detailed, hard to understand, and easy to miss.

We're here to help! In this guide, we provide a general overview of the FBT Award. You'll learn who it covers, what you need to pay, how leave works, and more. The best part? It’s not full of jargon-filled fluff. Just the stuff you actually need to know.

Note: The information you'll find in this article is up-to-date as of 27/03/2025. Award conditions and rates change all the time. So, please make sure you refer to the latest version of the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award for the most current information.

Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award coverage

This award, as the name suggests, covers employees who work in the manufacturing of food, beverages, and tobacco products. That includes jobs like:

• Making baked goods, confectionery, pasta, or snack foods
• Bottling drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic)
• Brewing, winemaking, or distilling
• Processing dairy, meat, poultry, fruit, or veg
• Making pet food or stock feed
• Manufacturing cigarettes or other tobacco products
• Packing, wrapping, or labelling any of the above

It also covers workers doing lab work, quality control, cleaning, or maintenance inside these types of manufacturing facilities.

On top of that, the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Award can apply to support roles like forklift drivers, store people, product testers, and security. But the manufacturer has to employ them directly. If a separate logistics or labour hire company employs them, a different award probably applies.

Who's not covered under the FBT Award

There’s a lot of crossover in these industries. And that’s where employers and HR teams trip up. The Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award doesn’t cover:

• Warehouse or logistics staff working in separate storage facilities
• Salespeople working for distributors or wholesalers
• Anyone working in retail, hospitality, or fast food
• Delivery drivers or transport operators
• Clerical or admin staff

Even if these workers handle food, drinks, or tobacco products, they don't fall under this award unless they have a direct involvement in manufacturing. So, if you’ve got a business that takes care of both manufacturing and distribution, you probably need to apply more than one modern award.

Other exclusions

Sometimes, employees that work (directly) in the food, beverage, and tobacco manufacturing industry might not fall under this award. That usually happens for one of these reasons:

• The Fair Work Act excludes them from award coverage
• A different enterprise award or Enterprise Bargaining Agreement already covers them
• They work in the State public sector, and a State reference award applies

This means that even if your business falls under this award overall, not every employee will.

Employment types under the Food and Beverage Award

There are three employment types under this award: full-time, part-time, and casual. Each one has its own set of rules, so it’s important to know exactly how you’re hiring someone.

Full-time employees

A full-time employee works an average of 38 hours per week. This employment type is pretty straightforward. They’re ongoing, permanent staff. They get all the standard entitlements, like annual leave, sick leave, public holidays, and so on.

Part-time employees

Part-time employees also work on a permanent basis, but less than 38 hours a week. Their hours are regular and agreed to in writing when they start. That agreement has to include:

• The number of hours they’ll work each week
• The days they’ll work
• The start and finish times for each shift

If you don’t put this in writing, the employee might be considered full-time by default. This can cause all sorts of problems if there’s ever a dispute.

Any extra hours outside of the agreed ones need to be mutually agreed to in writing. If you’re changing their regular work pattern, that also needs to be discussed and confirmed, not just assumed.

Part-timers get all the same entitlements as full-timers, just on a pro-rata basis.

Casual employees

Casual employees don’t have guaranteed hours. You hire them as needed, and they can accept or reject shifts. They also don’t get paid leave like full-time or part-time staff. To make up for that, they get a casual loading of 25% on top of their base rate.

Under the National Employment Standards (NES), if a casual employee works a regular pattern of hours for at least 6 months out of a 12-month period, they may have the right to request permanent employment. You don’t have to say yes. But you do have to follow the correct process and give your answer in writing within 21 days. You can only refuse the request on reasonable business grounds.

FBT Award ordinary hours and rostering

Now, let's take a look at when work can actually happen and how to handle breaks, rosters, and shift lengths.

Standard weekly hours

As mentioned, full-time employees work an average of 38 hours per week. You can structure this in a few ways:

• 38 hours across 5 days
• 38 hours across 6 days
• Or an average of 38 hours over a 4-week period

Whatever setup you choose, you’ve got to agree on it with the employee and stick to it. You can’t just swap between options without a proper agreement.

If you go with the averaging option, you’ll need to give the employee at least one rostered day off (RDO) during the 4-week cycle. And you need to plan that RDO in advance. It’s not something you can decide on the fly or give out as a last-minute reward.

Ordinary hours

Under the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award, employees generally work their ordinary hours between 6:00am and 6:00pm, Monday and Friday. However, you can include Saturday and Sunday as ordinary days. You can also shift the spread of hours by up to one hour earlier or later. Though, in either case, you and the employee or the majority of the team need to explicitly agree on this in writing.

If you want to roster someone outside of these hours, you’ll probably need to pay overtime. Unless you are employing them under the shiftwork provisions of this award.

The maximum shift length for a day worker is 8 hours, unless a specific arrangement has been made otherwise. The minimum is 3 hours for part-time staff and 4 hours for casuals. And you must give a 10-hour break between finishing one shift and starting the next. This rule applies to all employees, regardless of whether they worked 3 hours or 8 hours on their previous shift.

If you employ someone as a shiftworker, you may have access to 12-hour shifts, but this comes with a range of other stipulations. For instance, shiftworkers can’t work more than 4 shifts of 12 hours in one week. After that, the shifts must be shorter.

Breaks

Under the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award, there are two types of breaks that employees have a right to during their workday.

Meal breaks:

• If someone works more than 5 hours, they get an unpaid 30-minute meal break.
• You must give them this break no later than 5 hours after they start.
• If someone has to work through their break, you must pay them overtime rates until they get that break.
• You can agree to split the meal break into two 20-minute paid breaks. But both sides need to agree in writing.
• Continuous shiftworkers don't get the 30-minute unpaid meal break. Instead, they get one 20-minute paid meal break per shift. And it counts as time worked.

Rest breaks (paid):

• If a shift is under 4 hours, the employee doesn’t get a rest break.
• If a shift is between 4 and 8 hours, the employee gets one 10-minute paid rest break.
• If a shift is longer than 8 hours, the employee gets two 10-minute paid rest breaks. One in the first half of the shift and one in the second.

Rostering rules

The award has specific rules around rostering, and you need to follow them.

You must give employees their roster at least 7 days in advance. The roster must show days of work, start and finish times, and breaks. If you want to make one-off changes to the roster, you have to give 7 days' notice. This is unless the employee agrees to a shorter notice period. However, under no circumstances can it be less than 48 hours.

If you’re planning to change an employee’s regular hours or shift pattern over the longer term, you have to:

1. Consult them first
2. Let them give feedback
3. Seriously consider their feedback before making anything final

That’s not a suggestion. It’s a legal requirement under the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award.

Food and Beverage Award pay rates

How much you need to pay an employee who falls under the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award depends on a few things. These things include their age, the type of work they do, and what level they fall under. It can get messy fast. Especially if you’re managing different roles, shifts, and entitlements. That’s why it’s so important for Australian businesses to use payroll software that can handle modern award rules properly.

The FBT award splits jobs into levels, from Level 1 (entry level) up to Level 7 (higher-skilled or supervisory roles).

Here are a few examples of the minimum hourly rates for full-time adult workers as of 1 July 2024:

• Level 1: $24.98
• Level 3: $26.53
• Level 5: $29.04
• Level 7: $31.68

If someone’s under 21, they’ll get a percentage of the adult rate based on their age. For example, a 17-year-old working at Level 1 earns 70% of the adult rate. This works out to $17.49 per hour (70% of $24.98).

Apprentices have different minimum rates based on their age, how far along they are in their training, and if they’ve finished Year 12. For example, you must pay a 1st-year apprentice who’s 18 years old and has completed Year 12 $17.49 per hour. The full rate table is in the award under Clause 15.

If a worker steps up and does a higher-level job, even just for a few hours, you need to pay them the higher rate for that time. If they’re doing it for most of the day, they get the higher rate for the full shift. If they do it all week, they get the higher rate for the whole week.

And remember that casual employees get 25% extra on top of the base rate.

Overtime

When someone works more than their ordinary hours, overtime applies.

• First 2 hours: 150% of the hourly rate
• After 2 hours: 200% of the hourly rate

These rates are also true for casuals. In the FBT award, the casual loading is first added to the base rate to create the ‘casual ordinary hourly rate’. Overtime is then based on 150% or 200% of that number.

If someone works overtime and misses out on their 10-hour break between shifts, you have to either:

• Give them time off (and pay them for any ordinary time they miss), or
• Pay them double time until they get the full 10-hour break

This doesn’t apply to casual employees. Also, by explicit agreement, the break can be reduced to 8 hours, instead of 10.

Penalty rates

For weekends and public holidays, here’s what you need to pay:

• Saturday: 150% of the hourly rate
• Sunday: 200% of the hourly rate
• Public holiday: 250% of the hourly rate

If someone works on a Sunday or public holiday, you have to pay them for at least 4 hours. This is true even if they work a shift shorter than that.

Shift penalties

If members of your team work regular shifts outside normal hours (the usual 5am–6pm span), then shift penalties apply. These shifts need to be part of a regular pattern, not just the odd late night or early start. To complicate things, the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award doesn't explicitly mention what constitutes a regular pattern.

Here’s what you need to pay:

• Afternoon shift (finishes after 6pm): 115% of the base hourly rate
• Night shift (finishes after midnight and before 8am): 115% of the base hourly rate
• Permanent night shift (employee stays on night shift for at least five nights a week and doesn’t rotate): 130% of the base hourly rate
• Early morning shift (starts between 4am and 6am): 112.5% of the base hourly rate

Also, you don’t stack these penalties with weekend or public holiday rates. If more than one applies, you pay whichever is higher.

Payment of wages

You must pay staff weekly or fortnightly. The Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award doesn't allow monthly pay cycles. You can pay by electronic transfer, cash, or cheque. If payday falls on a public holiday or rostered day off and you’re paying by cash or cheque, you need to pay them before the break. This is unless they’re happy to get it the next working day.

When someone leaves your business, you have seven days to pay out:

• Any wages still owing
• Accrued leave
• Any other entitlements under the award or the NES

You may need to pay out long service leave straight away, depending on your state or territory.

FBT Award allowances

On top of wages, the award lists some extra payments your workers might have a right to. These are called allowances. The Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award clearly lists them all.

Here are the main ones:

• Meal allowance: If an employee works more than 1.5 hours of overtime and doesn’t get a meal, you need to pay them an extra $20.90 for that shift.
• Cold work allowance: If an employee works in areas below 0°C, you need to pay them an extra 31 cents per hour.
• First aid allowance: This applies if an employee holds a current first aid certificate and you ask them to act as the designated first aider. In this case, you must pay them an extra $15.57 per week.
• Leading hand allowance: If someone supervises other employees, you need to pay them between $22.18 and $49.18 per week. The exact amount depends on how many people they supervise.
• Dirty work allowance: If an employee does dirty or generally unpleasant work, they get an extra 81 cents per hour.
• Tool allowance: If a tradesperson brings their own tools to work, you must pay them an extra $18.68 per week.
• Uniform and laundry: If you require employees to wear a uniform and you don’t provide it, you must reimburse them for the cost. Same goes for washing it. If you don’t take care of the laundering, you need to cover that cost too. The award doesn’t set a fixed amount, but you have to pay back whatever’s reasonable.
• Reimbursement for damage: This applies if an employee damages something personal on the job (like glasses or hearing aids) and it’s not their fault. In this case, you must reimburse them up to a maximum of $1,121.

It's important to note that you must show each allowance as a separate line on the employee’s payslip. Don’t group it in with wages or hide it in a lump sum.

Food and Beverage Award superannuation

All eligible employees in Australia must receive superannuation. And that includes anyone covered by the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award. At the moment, the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) rate is 11.5%. You need to pay this into a complying super fund regularly for each employee. Most businesses do this with each pay run. But at the very latest, you must pay it once a quarter.

During the onboarding process, you must give each new employee a Standard Choice Form. If they nominate a fund, pay into it. If not, use your default fund.

If you employ someone under 18, the SG rules say you only need to pay super if they work more than 30 hours a week and earn at least $450 in a calendar month. That rule comes from the NES, not the award, but it still applies.

If you miss a payment or pay late, you can’t claim it as a tax deduction. And you might cop extra penalties from the ATO. Best to avoid the hassle and stay on top of it. Innovative payroll software can help you do this.

Leave entitlements under the FBT Award

Employees under the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award get the usual leave entitlements under the NES. However, there are a few extra rules set out in the award itself.

Annual leave

Full-time employees earn 4 weeks of paid annual leave for every 12 months of service. Part-time employees earn leave too, just in proportion to their hours. Leave starts accruing from day one. Shiftworkers (who regularly work across all seven days, including afternoons or nights, or regularly work Sundays and public holidays) earn 5 weeks of leave each year instead of 4.

When someone takes annual leave, you must pay them the higher of:

• What they would’ve earned if they were working (including shift penalties and weekend rates),
  or
• Their base rate plus 17.5% leave loading

You can agree to cash out some of their annual leave, but only if:

• You both agree in writing
• They keep at least 4 weeks of leave in their balance
• You pay them the full amount they would have earned if they took the leave

You can also agree to give leave in advance. This is true, even if the employee hasn’t accrued it yet. The agreement must be in writing. If the employee resigns or you terminate them before they earn it back, you can deduct the balance from their final pay.

If an employee builds up more than 8 weeks of leave (or 10 weeks for shiftworkers), you can direct them to take some time off. You need to:

• Give at least 8 weeks’ notice
• Make sure the leave is at least 1 week long
• Leave them with at least 6 weeks of accrued leave after the time off

Casual employees don’t earn annual leave. Their 25% loading covers it.

Public holidays

As mentioned, if someone works on a public holiday, you must pay them 250% of their hourly rate. This rate applies to full-time, part-time, and casual employees. You also must pay for at least 4 hours, even if they only work a short shift.

If a public holiday falls on a day that a full-time or part-time employee normally works, and they don’t work it, you still have to pay them. In that case, you'll pay their base rate for the day without penalties. Casuals don’t get paid for public holidays they don’t work.

You can ask someone to work on a public holiday. But they have the right to say no. According to the Fair Work Act, both sides need to act reasonably here. You can’t pressure someone into working if they genuinely can’t or don’t want to.

You and your employee can agree to substitute a public holiday for another day. For example, if someone doesn’t want to take the actual public holiday but wants the following Monday off instead. You can mutually agree to swap the days. The substitution agreement must be made in writing. It must also clearly specify which public holiday is being swapped, and for what day.

If someone takes annual leave that includes a public holiday, that day doesn’t come out of their leave balance. You pay them for the public holiday separately.

Other types of leave

Here are some of the other types of leave and how they work:

• Personal/carer’s leave: Full-time and part-time employees get 10 paid days per year (pro-rata for part-timers). Casuals don’t get paid leave, but they’re entitled to 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion.
• Compassionate leave: All employees, including casuals, get 2 days of compassionate leave per occasion. It’s paid for full-time and part-time staff, and unpaid for casuals.
• Parental leave: All employees (including regular casuals) can take unpaid parental leave. However, they need to have worked with you for at least 12 months.
• Community service leave: All employees, including casuals, can take unpaid leave for community service like jury duty or emergency response work. Full-time and part-time employees get make-up pay for the first 10 days of jury service, but casuals don’t.
• Long service leave: The FBT award doesn't cover this. You’ll need to check the specific rules for your state or territory. Note, most states include casuals in their long service leave laws.

Simplify the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Award compliance with Rippling

Trying to manage Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award [MA000073] compliance by hand? That’s an accident waiting to happen. Juggling full-timers, part-timers, and casuals, who are all on different pay rates, with different rules and entitlements, is no easy feat. Rippling takes the hard work out of the equation.

As an all-in-one workforce management platform, Rippling connects HR, Payroll, IT, and Spend, all in a single system. It takes the heavy lifting out of everything from onboarding to time tracking and compliance. The best part? It's all built on a single source of truth. So, no more switching between multiple tools and no more copying data from spreadsheets.

With Rippling, you can set up the correct classifications and pay levels for each role. The platform then applies the exact rules for overtime, penalties, and allowances automatically.

It also helps you stay on top of things like superannuation, annual leave, and shift patterns. And because it connects time and attendance with payroll, you never have to enter hours twice or wonder if the penalty rates kicked in. They just do.

In short? Rippling takes the stress and guesswork out of award compliance. You spend less time on admin, less time fixing errors, and less time worrying about underpayment claims. Just one system, doing things the way the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award says they should be done.

Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Award FAQs

Are employees covered under the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Award if they work in hospitality?

No. This award doesn’t apply to people working in the hospitality industry. Even if your business handles food or drinks, like a café, bar, or restaurant, those workers fall under different awards. Most fall under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award. But restaurant workers may come under the Restaurant Industry Award instead. It really depends on the type of business and the work being done.

Does the FBT award cover employers who also operate warehouses or retail outlets?

The award may cover employers in food and beverage manufacturing. But not for every part of the business. If you run warehousing or retail operations alongside your manufacturing, those parts of the business likely fall under a different award. For example, the Storage Services and Wholesale Award or the General Retail Industry Award.

Do seafood processing workers fall under the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award?

No. They’re covered by the Seafood Processing Award. It’s a bit confusing. Seafood processing sounds like it should sit under general food manufacturing. But it doesn’t. The industry has its own award with its own set of rules. So if your business fillets, smokes, packs, or processes fish or shellfish, you may need to follow the Seafood Processing Award. This is true even if the work looks similar to other food production jobs.

What is the dispute resolution process under the FBT Award?

The award includes a clear dispute resolution process. First, you and the employee need to try to resolve the issue at the workplace level. If you can’t agree, either party can take it to the Fair Work Commission. Both parties must continue working as usual during the process (i.e., 'work as directed') unless it’s unsafe.

You have to follow the steps the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Award outlines. You can’t just skip straight to formal action.

What’s the easiest way to stay compliant with the Food and Beverage Manufacturing Award?

The Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award comes with a lot of (fast) moving parts. When managing all that manually, it’s pretty easy to miss something. That’s why a lot of businesses turn to HR software that’s built for Australian modern award compliance.

Consider Rippling's HR software. It can apply the right pay rates, track hours, calculate overtime and super, and keep everything in one place. The result? No more second-guessing every payslip.

Can you employ people under the age of 18 in the tobacco manufacturing industry?

It depends on the role and where your business is. The Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing Award doesn’t stop you from hiring someone under 18. But tobacco work is a bit of a grey area. Some states have specific laws that ban minors from handling tobacco products altogether. Others might allow it under strict conditions. For instance, having a supervisor present or getting parental consent.

Thinking of hiring someone under 18 for a role in the tobacco manufacturing industry? Check your state or territory laws first. They’ll have the final say.

Disclaimer: Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide or be relied on for tax, accounting, or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, accounting, and legal advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.