Processing day-work spread and agreements
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Quick explanation
Previously reviewed explanation — check official wording before use
Processing ordinary hours generally fall between 6.00 am and 8.00 pm Monday to Friday.
Check the conditions
- Saturday or Sunday ordinary hours require agreement with the majority affected or an individual employee and clause 24.1 rates.
- Agreement may move either side of the spread by up to one hour. Work before the spread continuous with normal ordinary hours for plant readiness may count as ordinary hours.
Exceptions
- Retail or wholesale sales employees use clause 14.5; employees called upon to perform retail-establishment duties also use all clause 14.5 hours provisions.
- Cleaners have a separate spread.
Read the official wording and citations
Meat Industry Award 2020 — FWC Award text hosted by the Fair Work Ombudsman
FWC · MA000059 · Clause 14
14. Ordinary hours of work and rostering
14.1 Ordinary hours and roster cycles
(a) The ordinary hours of work for a full-time employee must not exceed 38 hours per week or an average of 38 hours per week not exceeding 152 hours in 28 days.
(b) The ordinary hours of work for a part-time or casual employee will be in accordance with clause 10—Part-time employees and clause 12—Casual employees.
(c) The ordinary hours of work for a casual employee must not exceed 38 hours in any week.
(d) The ordinary hours of work must be worked continuously at the discretion of the employer, except for meal breaks or other breaks prescribed in the award.
(e) The maximum number of ordinary hours which may be worked on any day or shift must not exceed 10 hours.
(f) Any hours worked outside the spread of hours listed must be paid at overtime rates.
14.2 Cleaners
Regardless of the spread of hours in clauses 14.3(a), 14.4(a) or 14.5(a), cleaners may be employed to work ordinary hours between 6.30 am and midnight in any establishment under this award. A cleaner may be entitled to a payment under clause 24.4.
14.3 Meat processing establishments (except for employees of the establishment engaged in retail and/or wholesale sales of fresh meat and/or meat products and any ancillary products)
(a) Subject to clause 14.3(b), ordinary hours for these establishments are worked between:
Days | Spread of hours
Monday to Friday | 6.00 am–8.00 pm
(b) Where the employer and a majority of affected employees agree, ordinary hours may be worked on Saturday and Sunday. Agreement in this respect may also be reached between the employer and an individual employee.
(c) Payment for ordinary hours on weekends in accordance with clause 14.3(b) is provided in accordance with clause 24.1.
(d) The spread of hours may be altered by up to one hour at either side of the spread by agreement between:
(i) the employer and the majority of employees concerned; or
(ii) in appropriate circumstances, between the employer and an individual employee.
(e) Any work performed by an employee prior to the commencement of the spread of hours and which is continuous with the normal ordinary hours for the purpose, for example, of getting the plant in a state of readiness for processing work, may be regarded as part of the employee’s ordinary hours of work.
(f) Where an employee of the establishment is engaged in retail and/or wholesale of fresh meat and/or meat products and any ancillary products, clause 14.3 will not apply and clause 14.5 will apply to the employee.
14.4 Meat manufacturing establishments (except for employees of the establishment engaged in retail and/or wholesale sales of fresh meat and/or meat products and any ancillary products)
(a) Ordinary hours for these establishments are worked between:
Days | Spread of hours
Monday to Saturday | 6.00 am–6.00 pm
(b) In addition, up to 4 ordinary hours may be worked by an employee on Saturday between the hours of 6.00 am and 6.00 pm.
(c) Payment for ordinary hours worked on Saturday is provided in accordance with clause 24.2(a).
(d) Where an employee of the establishment is engaged in retail and/or wholesale of fresh meat and/or meat products and any ancillary products, clause 14.4 will not apply and clause 14.5 will apply to the employee.
14.5 Meat retail establishments (including employees of meat processing establishments and meat manufacturing establishments engaged in retail and/or wholesale sales of fresh meat and/or meat products and any ancillary products)
(a) Ordinary hours for these establishments are worked between:
Days | Spread of hours
Monday to Friday | 4.00 am–9.00 pm
Saturday | 4.00 am–6.00 pm
Sunday | 8.00 am–6.00 pm
(b) Payment for ordinary hours on weekends will be in accordance with clause 24.3.
(c) Load out areas
Notwithstanding clause 14.5(a), in load out areas involving the receipt, storage, inspection, load out and delivery of meat or meat products, the ordinary hours may be worked between 10.00 pm and 4.00 pm (the following day), Sunday to Saturday. Payment will be in accordance with clause 24.3(d).
(d) Weekends off
Once every 4 weeks, an employee who works ordinary hours on each Sunday over a 152 hour work cycle must be given 3 consecutive days off which will include Saturday and Sunday. Any alternative arrangements between the employer and the employee must be by mutual agreement and in writing and signed by each of the parties.
(e) Spread of hours for particular employees performing meat retail establishment duties
Where an employee of an establishment covered by this award is called upon to perform meat retail establishment duties, the hours of work provisions for the employee will be all the provisions associated with a meat retail establishment as contained in clause 14.5.
14.6 Methods of arranging ordinary working hours
(a) Clause 14.6 applies to all establishments.
(b) Matters upon which agreement may be reached include:
(i) how the hours are to be averaged within a work cycle established;
(ii) the duration of the work cycle for day workers provided that such duration does not exceed 3 months;
(iii) rosters which specify the starting and finishing times of working hours;
(iv) a period of notice of a rostered day off which is less than 4 weeks;
(v) substitution of rostered day off;
(vi) accumulation of rostered days off;
(vii) arrangements which allow for flexibility in relation to the taking of rostered days off; and
(viii) arrangements of ordinary hours overall.
14.7 Rostering
(a) The employer must post a roster in the premises, showing the starting and finishing times for ordinary hours for employees.
(b) Starting and finishing times appearing on the roster will be for a period which is not less than one week in length.
(c) This roster may be amended by the employer provided 36 hours’ notice is given. Any change to regular rosters or ordinary hours of work is subject to the consultative provisions in clause 32—Consultation about major workplace .
14.8 Make-up time
An employee may elect, with the consent of their employer, to work make-up time, under which the employee takes time off ordinary hours, and works those hours at a later time, during the spread of ordinary hours provided in the award.
Complete top-level clause extracted from the checked official consolidated text, including the available subordinate paragraphs and tables. Source wording and official numbering retained; whitespace/table layout normalised. AI source-checked for this user-authorised local release; no human professional review.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2026. Fair Work Commission. Consolidated Award text hosted by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Quotations retain source wording; whitespace/table formatting is normalised for display. Personal/non-commercial or internal use only under the FWC copyright notice. Quick Award explanations are separate AI source-checked text; no government endorsement.
- Official document
- Meat Industry Award 2020 — FWC Award text hosted by the Fair Work Ombudsman ↗
- Version
- This Fair Work Commission consolidated modern award incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 July 2026 (PR799280, PR799339 and PR799495). ↗
- Citation verified
- Operative note
- This entry explains the current consolidated text. A consolidation or capture date does not establish when a term commenced; earlier accrued rights are preserved by clause 1.3.
Meat Industry Award 2020 — FWC Award text hosted by the Fair Work Ombudsman
FWC · MA000059 · Clause 24
24. Penalty rates
An employee will be paid the following penalty rates for all ordinary hours worked by the employee during the following periods.
24.1 Meat processing establishments (except for employees of the establishment engaged in retail and/or wholesale sales of fresh meat and/or meat products and any ancillary products)
Where agreement is reached in accordance with clause 14.3(b) ordinary hours may be worked on weekends at the following rates:
(a) Saturday
An employee will be paid 150% of the minimum hourly rate for ordinary hours worked between midnight Friday and midnight Saturday.
(b) Sunday
An employee will be paid 200% of the minimum hourly rate for ordinary hours worked between midnight Saturday and midnight Sunday.
24.2 Meat manufacturing establishments (except for employees of the establishment engaged in retail and/or wholesale sales of fresh meat and/or meat products and any ancillary products)
(a) Saturday
(i) An employee who works up to 4 ordinary hours on Saturday in accordance with clause 14.4(b) will be paid 125% of the minimum hourly rate for those ordinary hours worked on Saturday.
(ii) Casuals working ordinary hours on Saturday receive the rate outlined in clause 24.2(a)(i) instead of the rate referred to in clause 12.4.
24.3 Meat retail establishments (including employees of meat processing establishments and meat manufacturing establishments engaged in retail and/or wholesale sales of fresh meat and/or meat products and any ancillary products)
(a) Saturday
An employee will be paid 125% of the minimum hourly rate for all ordinary hours worked on a Saturday between 4.00 am and 6.00 pm.
(b) Sunday
An employee will be paid 150% of the minimum hourly rate for all ordinary hours worked on a Sunday between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm.
(c) Casual weekend rates
A casual employee working ordinary hours on a weekend will be paid the appropriate penalty rate in accordance with clauses 24.3(a) or 24.3(b) instead of the rate in clause 12.4.
(d) Load out areas
An employee working in a load out area in accordance with clause 14.5(c) will be paid 125% of the minimum hourly rate for ordinary hours worked between 10.00 pm and 6.00 am.
24.4 Cleaners
(a) A cleaning employee will be paid 105% of the minimum hourly rate for ordinary hours worked commencing after 8.30 am and before 12.00 noon.
(b) A cleaning employee will be paid 112.5% of the minimum hourly rate for ordinary hours worked commencing at 12.00 noon or later and finishing at or before midnight.
24.5 Payment for work on public holidays
Payment for work on public holidays will be in accordance with clause 31.3.
NOTE: See Schedule B—Summary of Hourly Rates of Pay for a summary of hourly rates of pay including overtime and penalty rates.
Part 6—Leave and Public Holidays
Complete top-level clause extracted from the checked official consolidated text, including the available subordinate paragraphs and tables. Source wording and official numbering retained; whitespace/table layout normalised. AI source-checked for this user-authorised local release; no human professional review.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2026. Fair Work Commission. Consolidated Award text hosted by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Quotations retain source wording; whitespace/table formatting is normalised for display. Personal/non-commercial or internal use only under the FWC copyright notice. Quick Award explanations are separate AI source-checked text; no government endorsement.
- Official document
- Meat Industry Award 2020 — FWC Award text hosted by the Fair Work Ombudsman ↗
- Version
- This Fair Work Commission consolidated modern award incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 July 2026 (PR799280, PR799339 and PR799495). ↗
- Citation verified
- Operative note
- This entry explains the current consolidated text. A consolidation or capture date does not establish when a term commenced; earlier accrued rights are preserved by clause 1.3.