New
South Wales Colliers and Small Ships (State) Award
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Correction to Serial
C5572 published 27 July 2007
(363 I.G. 205)
(No. IRC 4201 of 2005)
CORRECTION
1. Delete instruction
9 and substitute the following:
9. Insert in the
Arrangement the following new clause number and subject matter:
13A. Parental
Leave
2. Renumber the existing instruction
"10" to read as instruction "11", and insert the following
new instruction 10:
10. Insert the
following new clause 13A, Parental
Leave, as follows:
13A. Parental Leave
(1) Refer to the Industrial
Relations Act 1996 (NSW). The
following provisions shall also apply in addition to those set out in the Industrial
Relations Act 1996 (NSW).
(2) An employer
must not fail to re-engage a regular casual employee (see section 53(2) of the
Act) because:
(a) the employee
or employee's spouse is pregnant; or
(b) the employee
is or has been immediately absent on parental leave.
The rights of an employer in relation to engagement and
re-engagement of casual employees are not affected, other than in accordance
with this clause.
(3) Right to
request
(a) An employee
entitled to parental leave may request the employer to allow the employee:
(i) to extend the
period of simultaneous unpaid parental leave use up to a maximum of eight
weeks;
(ii) to extend the
period of unpaid parental leave for a further continuous period of leave not
exceeding 12 months;
(iii) to return
from a period of parental leave on a part-time basis until the child reaches
school age;
to assist the employee in reconciling work and parental
responsibilities.
(b) The employer
shall consider the request having regard to the employee's circumstances and,
provided the request is genuinely based on the employee's parental
responsibilities, may only refuse the request on reasonable grounds related to
the effect on the workplace or the employer's business. Such grounds might include cost, lack of
adequate replacement staff, loss of efficiency and the impact on customer
service.
(c) Employee's
request and the employer's decision to be in writing
The employee's request and the employer's decision made
under 3(a)(ii) and 3(a)(iii) must be recorded in writing.
(d) Request to
return to work part-time
Where an employee wishes to make a request under
3(a)(iii), such a request must be made as soon as possible but no less than
seven weeks prior to the date upon which the employee is due to return to work
from parental leave.
(4) Communication
during parental leave
(a) Where an
employee is on parental leave and a definite decision has been made to
introduce significant change at the workplace, the employer shall take
reasonable steps to:
(i) make information
available in relation to any significant effect the change will have on the
status or responsibility level of the position the employee held before
commencing parental leave; and
(ii) provide an
opportunity for the employee to discuss any significant effect the change will
have on the status or responsibility level of the position the employee held
before commencing parental leave.
(b) The employee
shall take reasonable steps to inform the employer about any significant matter
that will affect the employee's decision regarding the duration of parental
leave to be taken, whether the employee intends to return to work and whether
the employee intends to request to return to work on a part-time basis.
(c) The employee
shall also notify the employer of changes of address or other contact details
which might affect the employer's capacity to comply with paragraph (a).
G.
M. GRIMSON Industrial
Registrar.
____________________
Printed by
the authority of the Industrial Registrar.