This article provides guidelines about when to use the different work types and tags that are included as part of the pre-built Road Transport and Distribution award 2020 (MA000038) package. For further information about the Road Transport and Distribution award 2020, refer to Road Transport and Distribution Award.
Note that there is a combined award covering both Road Transport and Distribution award 2020 (MA000038 and Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award 2020 (MA000039). If you require the Long Distance Award (MA000039), you must install the combined award instead of the standalone MA000038 package.
Key updates
See the current financial year tab to see award updates for the 2026/27 financial year.
1st
We have updated the award to reflect the Fair Work Commission's National Minimum Wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2026 decision, and also includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find more information on the Determinations here and here.
These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after the 1st July 2026. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st July 2026.
We’ve also made the following changes to the award:
- Updated the "Travelling Allowance" pay category configuration to include PAYG withholding and payroll tax, and changed its payment classification to "Allowance – Travel" to ensure alignment with ATO requirements.
- Marked the following pay categories with an asterisk (*) to indicate they are no longer in use, removed their associated Full Time rules, and updated the existing hourly rules to pay the weekly amount for all employee types to ensure alignment with the Pay Guide:
- *Carting tar allowance
- *Driver-salesperson allowance
- *First aid allowance
- *Garbage collecting vehicle allowance
- *Leading hand allowance (not leading loader) - in charge of 11-20 employees
- *Leading hand allowance (not leading loader) - in charge of 3-10 employees
- *Leading hand allowance (not leading loader) - in charge of more than 20 employees
- *Money handling allowance - over $1000 but not exceeding $1200
- *Money handling allowance - over $1200 but not exceeding $1600
- *Money handling allowance - over $1600 but not exceeding $2000
- *Money handling allowance - over $20 but not exceeding $200
- *Money handling allowance - over $200 but not exceeding $600
- *Money handling allowance - over $2000
- *Money handling allowance - over $600 but not exceeding $1000
- *Money handling allowance - up to $20
- *Sanitary vehicle allowance
3rd
We have updated the award to reflect the recent changes to the Furniture Carter Allowance and Livestock Carter Allowance, ensuring alignment with the Pay Guide and PACT. Changes include:
- Adjusted the rules and rates, changing the calculation from per hour to per week across all applicable pay rate templates.
- Retired the following unused pay categories, which are now marked with an asterisk (*) to prevent further use:
- *Livestock Carter Allowance
- *Furniture Carter Allowance
- Additionally, we have excluded leave-related work types, so the allowances do not apply when employees are on leave.
13th
We have introduced a new suite of configurations for Salaried Employment Agreements to allow the employers to manage the salaried employees, who are under Individual flexibility arrangements, directly within the award instead of having to remove them.
This introduction, which is an enhancement rather than a legislative update requirement, includes the items below if they do not already exist within an award:
- Pay Categories (Salary and Salary - Public Holiday Not Worked).
- Leave Allowance Templates for “No loading” and “With loading”.
- Rule Set to disregard timesheets.
- Pay Rate Templates.
- Employment Agreements for all employee types (full-time, part-time, and casual).
For detailed information on the changes, please refer to our guide here.
We have renamed all leave allowance templates by adding the award code as a prefix. This ensures each template can be accurately associated with its respective award, particularly in cases where template names are identical.
We have also updated the 16.1(b)(ii) Automatic Meal break rule under Permanent Employees - Short Distance Operations rule set to align with clause 16.1, ensuring that an unpaid meal break applies no later than 5 and a half hours worked, consistent with other rule sets.
27th
We’ve updated the “Public holiday not worked” work type settings by mapping it to the primary pay category to resolve award installation issues. This update does not affect functionality — the work type will continue to operate as normal.
20th
We have made the following updates to improve accuracy and clarity in the award build:
-
Permanent Day Worker Overtime Rule
The pay category name has been updated from “Permanent - Overtime - after 2 hours” to “Permanent - Overtime - Sunday/after 2 hours”, in line with the latest naming conventions for pay categories displayed in rules and tester outputs.
-
Non-Consecutive Shift Rule
The “First shift of the day” condition and the exclusion of leave types have been removed.
Timesheet entries that include leave will now be counted as a single shift and included in the total number of shifts worked in a week. This ensures the non-consecutive shift payment is applied correctly.
Note:
The non-consecutive shift rule is applied automatically based on the total number of shifts. To ensure the correct penalty is applied, all actual and unpaid shifts must be submitted. If unpaid shifts are not entered, the system may incorrectly apply the non-consecutive penalty when fewer than five shifts are recorded in a week.
14th
We’ve updated the award to include Distribution Facility Employees Pay Rate templates and the Employment Agreement, ensuring they align with the classifications in the Road Transport and Distribution Award 2020 (MA000038) pay guide.
1st
We have updated the award to reflect the Fair Work Commission's National Minimum Wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2024-25 decision and also includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find more information on the Determinations here and here.
These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after the 1st July 2025. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st July 2025.
26th
We have identified an issue affecting Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave (PFDVL) accrual calculations. The accrual method was changed from "BASED ON A LEAVE YEAR" to "ON AN ONGOING BASIS," which may have caused incorrect leave accruals for some employees. The award has been updated to correct the accrual configuration.
For guidance on making leave adjustments, refer to this support article.
29th
We have made the following changes to the rulesets:
- Minimum Engagement Rule: Applied to Permanent Rulesets
- We’ve added a minimum engagement rule for part-time employees per Clause 10.7 of the award.
- A new work type "No Minimum Engagement" has been introduced for scenarios where this rule does not apply.
- Public Holiday & Overtime Pay for Shiftworkers: Applied to All Rulesets
- Shiftworkers will receive public holiday rates if the majority of their shift falls on a public holiday, as per Clause 22.12 of the award.
- Overtime pay will be based on the day on which the majority of their shift occurs, as per Clause 22.11 of the award.
- We have also updated the penalty rules and excluded all leave worktypes (except for Annual Leave and PFDVL) to ensure that when an employee takes leave, they will be paid at the minimum hourly rate only.
4th
We have updated the allowance pay rates and rules to reflect recent changes to the Pay and Conditions Tool (PACT) and the pay guide, effective November 28, 2024. These updates will affect the calculation and payment of allowances, in accordance with clause 19.2 of the award. Full-time employees will receive allowances at a weekly rate, while Part-time and Casual employees will have allowances calculated at 1/38 per hour, up to a maximum of 38 hours, which may result in slight rounding differences. The affected allowances include:
- Carting Tar Allowance
- Driver-Salesperson Allowance
- First Aid Allowance
- Furniture Carter Allowance
- Garbage Collecting Vehicle Allowance
- Leading Hand Allowance
- Livestock Carter Allowance
- Money Handling Allowance
- Sanitary Vehicle Allowance
For further details, please refer to the most recent Fair Work pay guide or visit the PACT calculator.
Additionally, we have updated the rule for "Handling money between $20 and $200" across all pay condition rulesets to ensure accurate allowance payments. A new work type and rule have also been added for the Driver-Salesperson Allowance under the Casual Employees – Short Distance Operations rule set.
Important: If you have an open or unfinalised pay run, you will need to delete and recreate the pay run after installing the update to ensure these changes are reflected.
Installing and configuring the pre-built award package
For details on how to install and configure this pre-built award template, please review the detailed help article here.
While every effort is made to provide a high-quality service, Employment Hero does not accept responsibility for, guarantee or warrant the accuracy, completeness or up-to-date nature of the service.
Before relying on the information, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.
Coverage
This industry award covers employers throughout Australia in the road transport and distribution industry, defined as follows:
- The transport by road of goods, whether in its raw state or natural state; wholly or partly manufactured state, or of a solid or liquid or gaseous nature or otherwise, and/or livestock, including where the work performed is ancillary to the principal business, undertaking or industry of the employer
- The receiving, handling or storing of goods whether in its raw state or natural state, wholly or partly manufactured state, or of a solid or liquid or gaseous nature or otherwise in a distribution facility
- The storage and distribution of goods, whether in its raw state or natural state, wholly or partly manufactured state, or of a solid or liquid or gaseous nature or otherwise, and/or livestock where the storage and distribution activities are carried out in connection with air freight forwarding and customs clearance
- The wholesale transport and delivery by road of meat from abattoirs, slaughterhouses and wholesale meat depots
- Mobile food vending
- The cartage and/or distribution, in tankers, of petrol or bulk petroleum products (in the raw or manufactured state) from refineries, terminals or depots of oil companies and/or distributors
- The cartage and/or distribution on road vehicles of packaged petroleum products (in the raw or manufactured state) from refineries, terminals or depots of oil companies and/or distributors and the transport and/or distribution of petrol and petroleum products (in the raw or manufactured state) for distributors of oil companies or for contractors or subcontractors to such distributors;
- The road transport of crude oil or gas condensate
- The transport on public roads of milk and cream in bulk and the transport, vending and distribution of milk, cream, butter, cheese and their derivatives (including fruit juices, yoghurt and custard)
- The cartage by road of quarried materials.
See Section 4 of the award for more information and exclusions.
Special Notes
To ensure the correct penalty is applied, all actual and unpaid shifts must be submitted. If unpaid shifts are not entered, the system may incorrectly apply the non-consecutive penalty when fewer than five shifts are recorded in a week.
The clauses listed in the table below were not included in the award. If you need any of these clauses, it is necessary to create or customise the award.
| Clause no. | Clause Name | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 19.3(b) | Wage-related allowances - Special vehicle allowances | Need to create customise rules to enable the special vehicle allowance to be added as an all-purpose allowance. |
Work types
The following is a list of work types employees can select on their timesheet.
Choose this work type when annual leave is taken.
Choose this work type when engaged in carting, loading, and/or unloading carbon black except when packed in sealed metal containers. (N.B., you do not have to select this work type if you are tagged with "Carting carbon black").
Choose this work type when engaged in carting loading, and/or unloading offensive material, as defined in clause 3 of the award. (N.B., you do not have to select this work type if you are tagged with "Carting offensive material").
Choose this work type if you are a shift worker and have not been provided with 48 hours notice of any shift change or if you have transferred from day work to shift work (and vice versa) with less than 48 hours notice.
Choose this work type when community service leave is taken.
Choose this work type when compassionate leave is taken.
Choose this work type when engaged to sell goods or articles without receipt of commission when such goods are sold. (N.B., you do not have to select this work type if you are tagged with "Driver-salesperson").
Choose this work type when engaged to drive a motor vehicle in excess of the limit in length, as prescribed by or under any State or Commonwealth Act.
Choose this work type when engaged to drive a motor vehicle in excess of 3.5 metres in width or transport a load in excess of that width.
Use this work type to represent ordinary hours, unless another work type is more specific.
Choose this work type when any unpaid leave is taken.
Choose this work type when long service leave is taken.
Choose this work type when an employee is directed by an employer to work in excess of 5 hours and 30 minutes without a meal break.
Choose this work type when personal or carer's leave is taken.
Choose this work type when an accumulated RDO day is taken.
Choose this work type when time in lieu leave is taken.
Choose this work type for payment of incurred travelling expenses.
Tags
The following tags are available for application to employees under the Road Transport and Distribution award 2010.
Assign this tag to an employee engaged in rural distribution operations where agreement has been reached to work ordinary working hours over any three consecutive days, Monday to Saturday.
Assign this tag to an employee permanently engaged (or permanently engaged for a period of time) in carting, loading, and/or unloading offensive material.
Assign this tag to an employee permanently engaged (or permanently engaged for a period of time) in loading, transporting and delivery of butcher’s meat from abattoirs or meat works and where such meat is to be used for human consumption where the commencement of ordinary hours are between 12:01am and 6:00am Monday to Friday.
Assign this tag to a driver permanently engaged (or permanently engaged for a period of time) in a fish, fruit or vegetable store where the commencement of ordinary hours are between 12.01am and 6:00am Monday to Friday.
Assign this tag to an employee permanently engaged (or permanently engaged for a period of time) to collect or pay out money, excluding non-negotiable cheques, and who is responsible for the safe custody of up to $20 collected to be paid out.
Assign this tag to an employee permanently engaged (or permanently engaged for a period of time) to collect or pay out money, excluding non-negotiable cheques, and who is responsible for the safe custody of up to $1,000 collected to be paid out.
Assign this tag to an employee permanently engaged (or permanently engaged for a period of time) to collect or pay out money, excluding non-negotiable cheques, and who is responsible for the safe custody of up to $2,000 collected to be paid out.
Assign this tag to an employee permanently appointed (or permanently appointed for a period of time) as a leading hand in charge of not less than 3 and not more than 10 employees.
Assign this tag to an employee permanently appointed (or permanently appointed for a period of time) as a leading hand in charge of more than 10, but not more than 20 employees.
Assign this tag to an employee permanently engaged (or permanently engaged for a period of time) in driving a sanitary vehicle.
Assign this tag to an employee permanently engaged (or permanently engaged for a period of time) in transporting bulk dangerous goods or carting explosives in conformity with the Australian explosives code by public road.