Changes To The Meat Industry Award

The Fair Work Commission has recently clarified the way some Award provisions apply, and made minor amendments to the Meat Industry Award itself.

What Are The Changes?

• The year in the Award name has changed from 2010 to 2020, it is now called the Meat Industry Award 2020.

• The Pay Rate Schedule has been updated to reflect the new 2020 version of the Award. Some rates of pay may have changed by one or two cents.

• The Award confirms that casuals engaged in meat processing, who work weekends will receive the weekend penalty rate and casual loading does not apply (Eg an employee who works Saturday will receive the appropriate rate of pay for that day and they will not receive casual loading on top of this amount). This means that the amount you pay will be lower that what you were paying previously.

• The Award confirms that all casual employees who work on a public holiday will receive the public holiday penalty and the casual loading will not apply. This means the amount you pay to a casual employee working a public holiday will be lower than what you were paying previously.

• Reinforcement that employees who earn above the award minimum rate must be paid this higher rate when taking annual leave.

• You can now vary the way the following clauses relate to individual employees with mutual agreement: substitution of public holiday, annual leave in advance and cashing out of annual leave.

 What Do I Need To Do?

• If you have been paying your casuals penalty rates or public holiday rates with casual loading on top, please call our Advice Team to discuss how you communicate this to your employee and your options.

• Check your rates of pay to ensure you are meeting your minimum pay obligations outlined in the attached Pay Rate Schedule.

• If you wish to vary any Award terms, please contact us for further advice.

• If you pay above the award, you should continue to pay employees their ordinary rate (including all purpose allowances) when they take paid annual leave.

How Can Employsure Help Me?

Not a client? If you need help understanding and implementing these changes, please contact Employsure on 1300 651 415 and we can give you free, initial advice on this topic. If you’d like more help implementing these changes in your business and are interested in ongoing support, Employsure can help you.

Employsure clients affected by the changes to the Meat Industry Award have been notified of these changes by email. Get in contact with Employsure if you have any trouble understanding or implementing these changes.

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