Overview of the Storage Services and Wholesale Award [MA000084]

Do you run a warehouse, storage facility, or wholesale operation? If so, the Storage Services and Wholesale Award likely sets the rules for pay, rosters, breaks, and leave for your employees.

This award overview cuts the jargon and covers the essentials.

Current as of August 2025. Always check the latest information from the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for updates.

Storage Services and Wholesale Award coverage

Here are the must-knows on who the Storage Services and Wholesale Award covers:

• Who the award covers: Employers in the storage services and wholesale industry, and employees whose duties match the award’s classifications.

• What the industry includes: Receiving, storing, chilling/freezing, bottling, packing, preparing for sale, sorting, loading, dispatching, delivering, and wholesale sales to other businesses. It also covers incidental or related tasks that support this work.

• Typical roles: Storeworkers, warehouse and wholesale staff, steel distribution employees, and forklift/ride-on equipment operators.

• Labour hire: This award also covers labour hire businesses and the employees they place in this industry.

• Who the award doesn't cover: Even if roles seem to be in the industry, the award mightn't cover them if they fit another award’s classifications more closely. For example, if someone mainly drives and delivers goods, the Road Transport and Distribution Award will cover them instead.

If you’re unsure, it's always a good idea to match the role's actual duties to the award’s classification definitions.

Employment types under the Storage Services and Wholesale Award

There are three ways you can hire someone under the Storage Services and Wholesale Award. Each employment type has different conditions, so it’s worth knowing the rules:

• Full-time: These employees work an average of 38 hours a week. Their employment is ongoing with regular and predictable hours.

• Part-time: These employees also work regular hours, albeit under 38 per week, with a three-hour minimum per shift. You and the employee must agree in writing on days and start/finish times.

• Casual: These employees don't have guaranteed hours. You roster them as needed with a four-hour minimum per shift and pay a 25% loading on ordinary hours.

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Storage Services Award ordinary hours of work

Hours of work under the Storage Services and Wholesale Award has many moving parts. For example, spans of ordinary hours, daily caps, rostered days off, and make-up time.

Good HR software that interprets Modern Awards can help apply these rules to your schedules. It can flag breaches before they happen and keep rosters and payroll in sync.

Ordinary hours and rostering (full-time/part-time)

• Span of hours: Ordinary hours are from 7:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Monday–Friday (meal breaks don’t count). You don't pay ordinary time for hours outside this span. More on this later!

• Full-time: These employees work 38 ordinary hours a week on average over a four-week cycle. They typically work four or five days a week for eight hours per day (you can lift to 10 hours a day by agreement).

• Part-time: These employees work less than 38 hours per week in alignment with a written agreement that outlines a regular pattern of days and start and finish times. Each shift they work needs to be at least three hours long.

Rostered days off (RDOs)

• If your business has an RDO policy, employees get to take one paid day off every four weeks. They can take up to 13 RDOs per year.

• You must give at least four weeks’ notice of the RDO day.

• You can swap a rostered RDO if the employee agrees. You can also swap if you get majority agreement for a genuine operational reason (like an outage or urgent order).

Flexible start and finish

• You can adjust an employee's start or finish time by up to one hour if you both agree to this.

• You can also make substantial changes to starting and finishing times. And you don't need agreement to do this, but you must provide at least seven days’ notice.

Make-up time

• Make-up time lets a full-time or part-time employee leave during ordinary hours and work the same hours later to 'make up' for the time.

• You and the employee must agree in writing each time before they do it.

• If a shiftworker makes up time during penalty periods, you still need to pay the relevant penalties.

• Make-up time doesn't really apply to casuals because they have no guaranteed hours.

Wholesale Award pay rates

The Storage Services and Wholesale Award minimum pay rates depend on the type of work your employee does. It also depends on how long they’ve been doing it. The award breaks this down into grades for storeworkers and levels for wholesale employees.

Here are a few examples of the minimum hourly rates for full-time adult employees (as of 1 July 2025):

• Storeworker Grade 1 (starting out): $982.40 per week (full-time) or $25.85 per hour

• Storeworker Grade 1 (after 12 months): $1,005.70 per week (full-time) or $26.47 per hour

• Storeworker Grade 3: $1,043.50 per week (full-time) or $27.46 per hour

• Wholesale Level 1 (starting out): $982.40 per week (full-time) or $25.85 per hour

• Wholesale Level 4: $1,074.30 per week (full-time) or $28.27 per hour

You need to pay casual employees 25% on top of the minimum hourly rate.

Junior employees (under 21) get a percentage of the adult rate. For example, a 16-year-old doing Grade 1 Storeworker work earns 50% of the adult rate. An 18-year-old doing the same work would earn 70% of the adult rate.

If someone temporarily steps up and does a higher-level job, even for part of the day, you must pay them the higher rate. If they’re doing it for most of the day, or all week, they get the higher pay for the whole shift or the full week.

Overtime and penalty rates

If someone works outside their ordinary hours, you need to pay them overtime. The rules are different depending on whether they’re full-time, part-time, or casual.

Overtime rates

• Full-time and part-time employees:

  • First two hours: 150% of the base hourly rate

  • After two hours: 200% of the base hourly rate

• Casual employees:

  • First two hours: 175% of the base hourly rate

  • After two hours: 225% of the base hourly rate

Time off instead of overtime (TOIL)

• You and the employee can agree to swap overtime pay for time off. You just need to put it in writing.

• Credit the exact overtime hours, hour-for-hour. The employee must take that time off within six months.

• If the employee asks or the six-month period passes, you need to pay those hours at the overtime rate that applied when they worked them (not their current rate).

10-hour break after overtime

• Employees should get 10 continuous hours off between finishing and their next start.

• If overtime cuts that break short? You need to either send them home to complete the full 10-hour rest, or keep them working and pay double time until their break starts.

• If they miss ordinary hours because you owed them the break, you still need to pay them for those ordinary hours.

Penalty rates for weekends and public holidays

• Saturday: 150% of the base hourly rate

• Sunday: 200% of the base hourly rate

• Public holidays: 250% of the base hourly rate

If someone only works a short shift on a Sunday or public holiday, you still have to pay them for a minimum of four hours.

Shift penalties

You'll also need to pay extra if someone’s working regular shifts outside the usual 7am–5:30pm window:

• Early morning shift (starts between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m.): 112.5% of the base hourly rate

• Afternoon shift (finishes after 6 p.m. and before midnight): 115% of the base hourly rate

• Night shift (finishes after midnight and before 8:30 a.m.): 130% of the base hourly rate

Note that the higher weekend and public holiday rates replace normal shift penalties. You don’t stack both.

Payment of wages

• Pay cycle: Pay weekly or fortnightly. This award doesn't allow monthly payments.

• How to pay: You can EFT to the employees' nominated account, or pay by cash or cheque.

• If payday lands on a non-working day (cash/cheque): Pay before the break. You can also pay the next working day, but only if the employee agrees.

• Final pay (on termination): You need to pay everything owing within seven days. This can include outstanding wages, unused annual leave, and any other award/National Employment Standards (NES) entitlements. Check state and territory rules for long service leave and include it if due.

• Payslips: You need to issue compliant payslips and list any allowances on a separate line.

Warehouse Award allowances

On top of base pay, workers that fall under the Storage Services and Wholesale Award might have a right to extra payments. These extra payments are known as allowances. Here are some of the main ones:

• Meal allowance: If an employee works more than one hour of overtime straight after their usual finish time, you must pay $21.44 for a meal. For an employee who can reasonably go home for a meal, you don't need to pay this allowance.

• Cold work allowance: When an employee works in refrigerated areas, you need to pay per hour (or part thereof) based on the temperature. From –15.6°C to –18.9°C, pay $1.07 per hour. From –18.9°C to –23.3°C, pay $1.61 per hour. And for anything below –23.3°C, pay $2.15 per hour.

• First aid allowance: If you appoint an employee as the first aider and they hold a current certificate, you need to pay them an extra $16.11 per week.

• Damaged personal items: If work damages an employee’s personal items, like dentures or glasses, (and it's not their fault) you must reimburse them. The maximum reimbursement is $1,167 per set or item damaged.

You need to show each allowance you pay clearly on the employee's payslip.

Storage Services and Wholesale Award superannuation

Most super rules come from federal law (the Superannuation Guarantee), not the actual award. The award mainly adds rules around default funds. Here’s what you need to know:

• Employer contributions: You must pay super for every eligible employee at the legal rate. The Super Guarantee (SG) rate is 12% of ordinary-time earnings (OTE) from 1 July 2025. Contributions must go into a complying super fund.

• Choosing a fund: During onboarding, give each new employee a Standard Choice Form so they can nominate a super fund. If they don’t choose one, you can check with the ATO for their stapled fund (an existing account linked to them). If there’s no stapled fund, you must use one of the award’s default funds. For example, AustralianSuper, REST, or Sunsuper (or their successors).

• Voluntary contributions: Employees can ask in writing to salary-sacrifice or add after-tax contributions. They can change this request with three months’ notice. Once you deduct the amount, you need to send it to their fund within 28 days of the end of the month.

• Leave and workers’ comp: You need to keep paying SG while an employee is on paid leave. If they’re off work because of a work-related injury or illness, you also need to keep paying SG. You pay this for up to 52 weeks (as long as they remain employed and receive workers’ comp or regular payments).

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Leave entitlements under the Storage Services and Wholesale Award

The Storage Services and Wholesale Award follows the NES for leave. Here’s how it works in practice:

Annual leave

• Entitlement: Full-time employees get four weeks of paid annual leave each year. Part-time staff get the same, but on a pro rata basis. Casuals don’t accrue annual leave (they get the 25% loading instead).

• Shiftworkers: If an employee regularly works Sundays and public holidays (at least 34 shifts a year), they have a right to five weeks of leave instead of four.

• Leave loading: You need to pay an extra 17.5% on top of an employee's base pay when they take their annual leave. If the employee’s usual penalties (e.g. for weekends or nights) would be higher, then pay those instead.

• Taking leave: You need to approve or disapprove leave requests. You can refuse only for a genuine business reason.

• Shutdowns: For temporary closures (like Christmas), you can direct employees to take annual leave. To do this, you have to give at least four weeks’ written notice.

• Excess leave: More than eight weeks of banked leave (10 for shiftworkers) is considered excessive. If you can't come to an agreement with the employee to reduce it, you may tell them to take the leave. You can only do this when you give eight weeks' notice, though. Plus, the employee must keep at least six weeks in balance. And you can’t direct them to take more than four weeks in 12 months.

• Advance and payout: An employee can take pain annual leave in advance if you both agree in writing. On termination, you need to pay out any leave they haven't used, plus leave loading.

Public holidays

• Payment: You need to pay full-time and part-time employees who normally work on the day of the public holiday their normal base rate. This is true even if they don’t work on the actual public holiday.

• Penalty rates: If they do work on the day of the public holiday, you need to pay them 250% of their base rate. Casuals also get this loading for the hours they work (you don’t add the extra 25% on top).

• RDOs: If the public holiday falls on an employee's rostered day off, there’s no extra entitlement. This is unless an enterprise agreement says otherwise.

• Substitution: You and the employee can agree in writing to swap a public holiday for another day.

• Coverage: National public holidays (e.g. New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Anzac Day, Christmas Day) apply. State and territory public holidays, which can differ, also apply. So, always check the local calendar.

Other types of leave

• Personal/carer’s leave: Full-time employees get 10 paid days of personal/carer’s leave each year. Part-time staff accrue it on a pro rata basis. Casuals get this leave too, but on an unpaid basis.

• Compassionate leave: Employees can take two days of compassionate leave for each occasion. You need to pay full-time and part-time staff who take this leave. Casuals have a right to unpaid compassionate leave.

• Family and domestic violence leave: All employees, including casuals, have a right to 10 days of paid leave each year for family or domestic violence matters. You must keep all requests for this type of leave strictly confidential.

• Parental leave: Employees who have worked for you for at least 12 months, including regular casuals, can take up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave. They also have the right to request an extra 12 months.

• Community service leave: All employees have a right to community service leave, including casuals. You need to pay full-time and part-time staff for the first 10 days of jury duty. Casuals can take it unpaid. Everyone can also take unpaid emergency service leave. For example, volunteering with the SES during a flood or firefighting during bushfire season.

• Long service leave: Full-time, part-time, and casual employees qualify for long service leave under state or territory laws. They usually become eligible after 7–10 years of continuous service.

Simplify Storage Services and Wholesale Award compliance with Rippling

Managing Storage Services and Wholesale Award compliance manually is risky and time-consuming. This is especially true when you’ve got a mix of full-timers, part-timers, and casuals. They all earn different rates and fall under different rules within the award. Thanks to Rippling, there's no need to lose sleep over all of this.

Rippling is an all-in-one workforce management platform. It connects HR, Payroll, and IT in one system, based on a single source of truth. You don’t need separate tools for rosters, leave, and pay. It’s all there.

You can set correct classifications, track hours, and apply the right rules for full-time, part-time, and casual staff automatically. It keeps employee records, contracts, and leave balances up to date while also making onboarding simple. Payroll then takes care of the rest. It applies award rates, overtime, penalties, super, and leave loading. And because time and attendance connect directly to payroll, you never have to enter hours twice!

In a nutshell, it’s award compliance without the stress. It means less admin, less manual errors, and way less time spent second-guessing and hoping for the best.

Storage Services and Wholesale Award FAQs

Does the Storage Services and Wholesale Award cover ride on equipment operators?

Yes, it can. If someone operates a ride-on forklift, pallet jack, or similar equipment in a warehouse or wholesale setting, they’ll usually fall under this award. The main thing is whether their duties match one of the award’s classifications (most often Storeworker Grade 2 or Grade 3).

What are the rules of shiftwork under the Warehouse Award?

As mentioned, there are three types of shiftwork the award defines:

• Early morning shift: starts between 2:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.

• Afternoon shift: finishes after 6:00 p.m. and at or before midnight

• Night shift: finishes after midnight and at or before 8:30 a.m.

You can’t force a day shift worker to work afternoon or night shifts. They have to agree to it.

The ordinary hours for shiftworkers must average 38 hours per week. They must not go over:

• eight hours in a single day (unless you've reached a 10 hour agreement)

• 38 hours in one week

• 76 hours in 14 days

• 114 hours in 21 days

• 152 hours in 28 days

Shiftworkers who work ordinary hours between midnight Friday and midnight Sunday receive weekend penalty rates. These rates replace the standard shift penalty rates. They don’t stack on top.

You must give employees at least 48 hours’ notice of a new shift roster. If you need to change it after that, it has to be because of something outside your control. And you can only change it with 24 hours’ notice, or by direct agreement with the worker.

Do warehouse administration staff fall under the Storage Services and Wholesale Award?

It depends on the exact work they do. If they take care of general office duties, like payroll, HR admin, data entry, or finance, they might fall under the Clerks – Private Sector Award instead.

But if their admin work directly supports warehousing or wholesale operations and their duties line up with one of the classifications in the award? Then the Storage Services and Wholesale Award probably applies.

Again, you need to look at the actual tasks they do. Not just their job title. Then you need to compare this with the award’s classification list.

How do I know which classification to use for a new hire under the Storage Services and Wholesale Award?

Start by looking at clause 12 of the award. There, you'll find a list of the classification levels with descriptions of the kind of work each one covers. You need to match your new hire’s actual day-to-day duties with the closest classification on that list.

For example, if you’re hiring someone to pick and pack orders, they probably fall under Storeworker Grade 1 or 2. If they’re using machinery like a forklift or leading a small team, you might be looking at Grade 3 or 4.

It's not straightforward. And choosing the wrong classification can lead to accidental wage theft and backpay issues down the line. So, if you’re not sure, it’s worth getting advice.