Meat Industry Award 2020 — FWC Award text hosted by the Fair Work Ombudsman

FWC · MA000059 · Clause 22

22. Overtime

[Varied by PR724002, PR763258]

22.1 Entitlement to overtime and payment

(a) All time worked outside ordinary working hours on any day as prescribed in clauses 14.1 to 14.6 (or in the case of a shiftworker, outside the hours rostered as ordinary shiftwork hours in accordance with clause 14.7) will be deemed to be overtime and be paid 150% of the employee’s minimum hourly rate for the first 3 hours and 200% thereafter.

(b) All overtime worked on a Sunday in meat processing establishments must be paid at 200% of the employee’s minimum hourly rate with a minimum payment of 4 hours.

[22.1(c) inserted by PR724002 ppc 20Nov20]

(c) The casual loading prescribed by clause 12.4(a)(ii) will not be paid for overtime hours worked.

NOTE: See Schedule B—Summary of Hourly Rates of Pay for a summary of hourly rates including overtime rates.

22.2 Time off instead of payment for overtime

(a) An employee and employer may agree to the employee taking time off instead of being paid for a particular amount of overtime that has been worked by the employee.

(b) The period of time off that an employee is entitled to take is equivalent to the overtime payment that would have been made.

EXAMPLE: By making an agreement under clause 22.2 an employee who worked 2 overtime hours at 150% of the minimum hourly rate is entitled to 3 hours’ time off.

(c) Time off must be taken:

(i) within the period of 6 months after the overtime is worked; and

(ii) at a time or times within that period of 6 months agreed by the employee and employer.

(d) If the employee requests at any time, to be paid for overtime covered by an agreement under clause 22.2 but not taken as time off, the employer must pay the employee for the overtime, in the next pay period following the request, at the overtime rate applicable to the overtime when worked.

(e) If time off for overtime that has been worked is not taken within the period of 6 months mentioned in clause 22.2(c), the employer must pay the employee for the overtime, in the next pay period following those 6 months, at the overtime rate applicable to the overtime when worked.

(f) An employer must not exert undue influence or undue pressure on an employee in relation to a decision by the employee to make, or not make, an agreement to take time off instead of payment for overtime.

(g) An employee may, under section 65 of the Act, request to take time off, at a time or times specified in the request or to be subsequently agreed by the employer and the employee, instead of being paid for overtime worked by the employee. If the employer agrees to the request then clause 22.2 will apply for overtime that has been worked.

[Note varied by PR763258 ppc 01Aug23]

NOTE: If an employee makes a request under section 65 of the Act for a change in working arrangements, the employer may only refuse that request on reasonable business grounds (see section 65A(3) of the Act).

(h) If, on the termination of the employee’s employment, time off for overtime worked by the employee to which clause 22.2 applies has not been taken, the employer must pay the employee for the overtime at the overtime rate applicable to the overtime when worked.

NOTE: Under section 345(1) of the Act, a person must not knowingly or recklessly make a false or misleading representation about the workplace rights of another person under clause 22.2.

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

25 Oct 2026

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.