Wine Industry Award
Covers the Australian wine industry - vineyards, wineries, distilleries, cellar doors, wine warehouses and bottling plants - across 7 streams (Bottling, Cellar, Cellar Door Sales, Laboratory, Vineyard, Warehouse and Supply, Coopers). 5 grades (G1-G5) with G1 split into a first-6-months tier and an after-6-months tier. Standard rate is G4 ($1,068.40/wk). Several distinctive carve-outs: cellar door employees can work Saturday/Sunday ordinary hours; vineyard employees during vintage have a Mon-Sat 5am-6pm spread; casual minimum engagement is 4 hours (with a 2-hour weather exception for pruning/harvesting); pieceworker arrangements (cl 17) replace ordinary hours / OT / penalty rates entirely. Casual loading IS applied to Sunday/PH overtime (most awards exclude it).
Fully built. Rates, allowances, penalties and any required apprentice / junior rates are all wired to the rate resolver and have been verified against the consolidated award text and the latest pay guide.
What's built
- All 6 cl 15.1 classifications at corrected July 2025 figures, including the previously-missing Grade 1 first-6-months tier ($935.50/wk vs after-6-months $948.00/wk).
- Junior rates (cl 15.5) - under-17 80%, 17 90%, 18+ adult - seeded as AwardRate dimensional rows for all classifications.
- Cooper apprentice rates: pre-2014 4-stage (42/55/75/88% G4); post-2014 4-stage with Y12/non-Y12 split (50/55, 60/65, 75/75, 88/88); adult apprentice with Y1 80% G4 floor and Y2+ G1 floor, applying greater-of with year percentage.
- All 14 cl 19.2 wage-related allowances incl. 6 leading hand tiers (3 'other' + 3 coopers stream - all-purpose), mobile crane $0.34/hr, first aid $21.26/wk OR $4.25/day, boilers/flues 150%, wet work $6.36/day, wine vats $1.18/hr, cooper confined spaces / dirty work / cask firing.
- Day worker vs shiftworker Saturday split (cl 23.1 day worker 125% / cl 23.4(c)(i) shiftworker 150%) - different rates by employee type, scoped via employment_types JSON markers.
- Permanent night shift 130% (cl 23.4(b)(ii) - engaged on night only, OR more than 4 consecutive weeks, OR less than 1/3 of working time off night in cycle); regular afternoon/night 115%.
- Cl 23.4(c)(ii) shiftworker weekend/PH SUBSTITUTES shift loading (non-cumulative).
- Casual loading APPLIED to Sunday/PH overtime (cl 22.2(b)(ii)/22.2(c)(ii)) - casual Sunday OT 225%, PH OT 275%, fail-to-rest casual Sun/PH 225%. Distinctive vs typical award treatment.
- Working through meal break = 150% (cl 14.4 - distinctive; most awards 200%); fail-to-rest 200% until 10hr break taken; call-back min 4 hours (most awards 3 hrs).
- AL loading 'greater of' rule (cl 24.4): day worker 17.5% OR weekend penalty (NOT both); shiftworker 17.5% OR shift+weekend (NOT both); pieceworker 20% on base rate.
- Pieceworker pay condition (cl 17) - paid agreed piecework rate (≥20% above min hourly) INSTEAD of cl 15 minimums. Cl 13/19.3(c)/22/23 do NOT apply to pieceworkers.
- 26-week accident pay (cl 20) and all 4 default super funds per cl 21.4 (substituted by PR794782 ppc 23 Jan 2026): HOSTPLUS, CareSuper, AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust.
Known limitations
- Cellar door spread (Sat-Sun ord hours) and vintage vineyard spread (Mon-Sat 5am-6pm) require employee-context awareness - schema can't natively express 'this employee is a cellar door employee' or 'this is during vintage period'. Captured via configs; resolver must consult employee role + employer-tracked vintage start/end dates (cl 13.6(b)(ii)) to determine when Saturday work is ord vs penalty-rated.
- Permanent night shift definition (cl 23.4(b)(ii)) requires evaluating roster-rotation predicate; engine must compute from roster history.
- Casual minimum engagement weather exception (cl 11.2(b) - 2hr instead of 4hr for pruning/harvesting prevented by unexpected weather) is operational/HR judgment - schema can't natively express the weather predicate.
- Vintage period dates (cl 13.6(b)(i) - max 6 months between Nov-Jun starting at first wine grape harvest) must be tracked at employer-instance level.
- Adult apprentice Y2+ floor (greater of G1 or applicable Y%) and pre-existing-employee preservation (cl 16.2(c)) are operational checks at apprenticeship onboarding.
Setup & special instructions
- Grade 1 employees auto-progress from the first-6-months rate ($935.50/wk) to the after-6-months rate ($948.00/wk) at 6 months service. Onboarding/payroll must auto-progress.
- Cellar door employees can work Saturday/Sunday ORDINARY hours (cl 13.6(a)(i)) - Saturday 8am-6pm and Sunday 8am-6pm fall within their spread. Don't apply weekend penalty rates if the work falls within this spread (it's ord hours).
- Vineyard employees during vintage period (cl 13.6(a)(ii)) can work Saturday ORDINARY hours under the Mon-Sat 5am-6pm spread. Vintage = max 6 months Nov-Jun starting at first wine grape harvest, ending at last (employer must record start/end per cl 13.6(b)(ii)).
- Casual MIN engagement is 4 HOURS (cl 11.2(a)) - distinctive vs typical 2-3 hrs. Reduces to 2 hrs ONLY for pruning/harvesting work prevented by an unexpected weather event (cl 11.2(b)).
- Casual employees DO get the 25% loading applied to Sunday OT (225%) and PH OT (275%) - distinctive vs most awards which exclude casual loading from overtime. See cl 22.2(b)(ii) / 22.2(c)(ii).
- Pieceworkers (cl 17) are paid an agreed piecework rate INSTEAD of cl 15 minimums. Cl 13 (ord hours), cl 19.3(c) (meal allowance), cl 22 (overtime), cl 23 (penalty rates) do NOT apply. AL loading is 20% on base rate. No guarantee of minimum earnings.
- Day worker vs shiftworker Saturday rates differ - day worker Sat 125% (cl 23.1), shiftworker Sat 150% (cl 23.4(c)(i)). The seeder uses employment_types markers to scope this.
- • Wine industry
- • Vineyards
- • Wineries
- • Wine production
- • Distilleries
- • Cellar door sales
- • Wine bottling
- • Wine packaging
- • Wine warehousing
- • Cooper trade
- • Brandy production
- • Grape juice production
The consolidated award text is the authoritative source. Always confirm specific obligations against the award itself - Mployr's implementation status reflects what we've seeded; it does not replace legal advice.
Want to see this award running on your data?
We can demo a pay run on the wine industry award using sample employees in a sandbox tenant - including any of the special-instruction steps above so you can see exactly what your team's day-to-day looks like.
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