Country Energy Enterprise Award 2007

 

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES

 

Application by Electrical Trades Union of Australia, New South Wales Branch, Industrial Organisation of Employees.

 

(No. IRC 645 of 2008)

 

 

VARIATION

 

1.        Insert in numerical order in the Arrangement of the award published 12 October 2007 (363 I.G. 1367), the following new clause number and subject matter:

 

5A.     Secure Employment

 

2.        Insert after clause 5, Definitions the following new clause.

 

5A.  Secure Employment

 

(a)      Objective of this Clause

 

The objective of this clause is for the employer to take all reasonable steps to provide its employees with secure employment by maximising the number of permanent positions in the employer’s workforce, in particular by ensuring that casual employees have an opportunity to elect to become full-time or part-time employees.

 

(b)      Casual Conversion

 

(i)       A casual employee engaged by a particular employer on a regular and systematic basis for a sequence of periods of employment under this Award during a calendar period of six months shall thereafter have the right to elect to have his or her ongoing contract of employment converted to permanent full-time employment or part-time employment if the employment is to continue beyond the conversion process prescribed by this subclause.

 

(ii)      Every employer of such a casual employee shall give the employee notice in writing of the provisions of this sub-clause within four weeks of the employee having attained such period of six months. However, the employee retains his or her right of election under this subclause if the employer fails to comply with this notice requirement.

 

(iii)      Any casual employee who has a right to elect under paragraph (b)(i), upon receiving notice under paragraph (b)(ii) or after the expiry of the time for giving such notice, may give four weeks’ notice in writing to the employer that he or she seeks to elect to convert his or her ongoing contract of employment to full-time or part-time employment, and within four weeks of receiving such notice from the employee, the employer shall consent to or refuse the election, but shall not unreasonably so refuse. Where an employer refuses an election to convert, the reasons for doing so shall be fully stated and discussed with the employee concerned, and a genuine attempt shall be made to reach agreement. Any dispute about a refusal of an election to convert an ongoing contract of employment shall be dealt with as far as practicable and with expedition through the disputes settlement procedure.

 

(iv)     Any casual employee who does not, within four weeks of receiving written notice from the employer, elect to convert his or her ongoing contract of employment to full-time employment or part-time employment will be deemed to have elected against any such conversion.

 

(v)      Once a casual employee has elected to become and been converted to a full-time employee or a part-time employee, the employee may only revert to casual employment by written agreement with the employer.

 

(vi)     If a casual employee has elected to have his or her contract of employment converted to full-time or part-time employment in accordance with paragraph (b)(iii), the employer and employee shall, in accordance with this paragraph, and subject to paragraph (b)(iii), discuss and agree upon:

 

(1)      whether the employee will convert to full-time or part-time employment; and

 

(2)      if it is agreed that the employee will become a part-time employee, the number of hours and the pattern of hours that will be worked either consistent with any other part-time employment provisions of this award or pursuant to a part time work agreement made under Chapter 2, Part 5 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW).

 

Provided that an employee who has worked on a full-time basis throughout the period of casual employment has the right to elect to convert his or her contract of employment to full-time employment and an employee who has worked on a part-time basis during the period of casual employment has the right to elect to convert his or her contract of employment to part-time employment, on the basis of the same number of hours and times of work as previously worked, unless other arrangements are agreed between the employer and the employee.

 

(vii)     Following an agreement being reached pursuant to paragraph (vi), the employee shall convert to full-time or part-time employment. If there is any dispute about the arrangements to apply to an employee converting from casual employment to full-time or part-time employment, it shall be dealt with as far as practicable and with expedition through the disputes settlement procedure.

 

(viii)    An employee must not be engaged and re-engaged, dismissed or replaced in order to avoid any obligation under this subclause.

 

(c)      Occupational Health and Safety

 

(i)       For the purposes of this subclause, the following definitions shall apply:

 

(1)      A "labour hire business" is a business (whether an organisation, business enterprise, company, partnership, co-operative, sole trader, family trust or unit trust, corporation and/or person) which has as its business function, or one of its business functions, to supply staff employed or engaged by it to another employer for the purpose of such staff performing work or services for that other employer.

 

(2)      A "contract business" is a business (whether an organisation, business enterprise, company, partnership, co-operative, sole trader, family trust or unit trust, corporation and/or person) which is contracted by another employer to provide a specified service or services or to produce a specific outcome or result for that other employer which might otherwise have been carried out by that other employer’s own employees.

 

(ii)      Any employer which engages a labour hire business and/or a contract business to perform work wholly or partially on the employer’s premises shall do the following (either directly, or through the agency of the labour hire or contract business):

 

(1)      consult with employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business  regarding the workplace occupational health and safety consultative arrangements;

 

(2)      provide employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business with appropriate occupational health and safety induction training including the appropriate training required for such employees to perform their jobs safely;

 

(3)      provide employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business with appropriate personal protective equipment and/or clothing and all safe work method statements that they would otherwise supply to their own employees; and

 

(4)      ensure employees of the labour hire business and/or contract business are made aware of any risks identified in the workplace and the procedures to control those risks.

 

(iii)      Nothing in this subclause (c) is intended to affect or detract from any obligation or responsibility upon a labour hire business arising under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 or the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998.

 

(d)      Disputes Regarding the Application of this Clause

 

Where a dispute arises as to the application or implementation of this clause, the matter shall be dealt with pursuant to the disputes settlement procedure of this award.

 

(e)      This clause has no application in respect of organisations which are properly registered as Group Training Organisations under the Apprenticeship and Traineeship Act 2001 (or equivalent interstate legislation) and are deemed by the relevant State Training Authority to comply with the national standards for Group Training Organisations established by the ANTA Ministerial Council.

 

3.        Delete clause 26, Personal Carer's Leave, and insert in lieu thereof the following:

 

26.  Personal/Carer's Leave

 

26.1    An employee, other than an a casual employee, with responsibilities in relation to a class of person set out in sub-clause 26.3.2, who needs the employee’s care and support, shall be entitled to use, in accordance with this sub-clause, sick leave provided for in the Award for absences to provide care and support, for such persons when they are ill or who require care due to an unexpected emergency. Such leave may be taken for part of one day.

 

Note: In the unlikely event that more than 10 days sick leave in any one year is to be used for caring purposes the employer and the employee shall discuss appropriate arrangements which, as far as practicable, take account of the employer’s and employee’s requirements.

 

Where the parties are unable to reach agreement the grievance resolution procedure of the Award should be followed.

 

26.2    The employee shall, if required,

 

26.2.1 establish either by production of a medical certificate or statutory     declaration, the illness of the person concerned and that the illness is such as to require care by another person, or

 

26.2.2 establish by production of documentation acceptable to the employer or a statutory declaration, the nature of the emergency resulted in the person concerned requiring care by the employee.

 

In normal circumstances, an employee must not take carer’s leave under this subclause where another person had taken leave to care for the same person.

 

26.3    The entitlement to use sick leave in accordance with this clause is subject to:

 

26.3.1 the employee being responsible for the care and support of the person concerned: and,

 

26.3.2 the person concerned being:

 

26.3.2.1         a spouse of the employee; or

 

26.3.2.2         a de facto spouse, who, in relation to a person, is a person of the opposite sex to the first mentioned person who lives with the first mentioned person as the husband or wife of that person on a bona fide domestic basis although not legally married to that person; or

 

26.3.2.3         a child or adult child (including an adopted child, a step child, a foster child or an ex-nuptial child), parent (including a foster parent and legal guardian ), grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee or spouse or de facto spouse of the employee; or

 

26.3.2.4         a same sex partner who lives with the employee as the de facto partner of that employee on a bona fide domestic basis; or

 

26.3.2.5         a relative of the employee who is a member of the same household, where for the purpose of this paragraph :

 

1.        "relative" means a person related by blood, marriage or affinity

 

2.        "affinity" means a relationship that one spouse because of marriage has to blood relatives of the other; or

 

3.        "household" means a family group living in the same domestic dwelling.

 

26.4    An employee shall, wherever practicable, give the employer reasonable notice prior to the intention to take leave, the reason for taking such leave and the estimated length of absence, the employee shall notify the employer by telephone of such absence at the first opportunity on the day of absence.

 

26.5    An employee may elect with the consent of the employer, to take unpaid leave for the purpose of providing care and support to a class of person set out in subclause 26.3.2 above who is ill or who requires care due to an unexpected emergency.

 

26.6    An employee may elect with the consent of the employer, to take annual leave not exceeding ten days in single day periods, or part thereof, in any calendar year at a time or times agreed by the parties, for the purposes of providing care to a class of person set out in subclause 26.3.2

 

26.6.1 An employee may elect with the employer’s agreement to take annual leave at any time within a period of 24 months from the date at which it falls due.

 

26.7    An employee may elect, with the consent of the employer, to take time off in lieu of payment for overtime at a time or times agreed with the employer within twelve (12) months of the said election.

 

26.8    Overtime taken as time off during ordinary time hours shall be taken at the ordinary time rate, that is an hour for each hour worked.

 

26.9    If, having elected to take time as leave, in accordance with subclause 26.7, the leave is not taken for whatever reason, payment for time accrued at overtime rates shall be made at the expiry of the twelve (12) month period or on termination.

 

26.10   Where no election is made in accordance with the said subclause 26.7, the employee shall be paid overtime rates in accordance with the Award.

 

26.11   An employee may elect, with the consent of the employer, to work ‘make-up time’ under which the employee takes time off ordinary hours, and works those hours at a later time, during the spread of ordinary hours provided in the Award, at the ordinary rate of pay.

 

26.12   An employee on shift work may elect, with the consent of the employer, work ‘make-up time’ (under which the employee takes time off ordinary hours and works those hours at a later time) at the shift work rate which would have been applicable to the hours taken off.

 

26.13   An employee may elect, with consent of the employer, to take a rostered day off at any time.

 

26.14   Personal Carer’s Entitlement for casual employees

 

26.14.1          Subject to the evidentiary and notice requirements in subclause 26.2 and 26.4, casual employees are entitled to not be available to attend work, or to leave work if they need to care for a person prescribed in subclause 26.3.2 of this clause who are sick and require care and support, or who require care due to an unexpected emergency, or the birth of a child.

 

26.14.2          The employer and the employee shall agree on the period for which the employee will be entitled to not be available to attend work. In the absence of agreement, the employee is entitled to not be available to attend work for up to 48 hours (i.e. two days) per occasion. The casual employee is not entitled to any payment for the period of non-attendance.

 

26.14.3          An employer must not fail to re-engage a casual employee because the employee accessed the entitlements provided for in this clause. The rights of an employer to engage or not engage a casual employee are otherwise not affected.

 

4.        Delete clause 29, Parental Leave and insert in lieu thereof the following:

 

29.  Parental Leave

 

(1)      Employees shall have, in connection with the birth or adoption of a child, maternity, paternity or adoption leave in accordance with the provisions of the NSW Industrial Relations Act, 1996.

 

(2)      An employee shall, subject to the completion of twelve (12) months continuous service with Country Energy, be entitled to:

 

(a)      maternity leave with full pay for a period of 14 weeks, or, in the alternative,  28 weeks at half pay and;

 

(b)      adoption leave with full pay for a period of 14 weeks, or in the alternative, 28 weeks at half pay and;

 

(c)      Paternity leave with full pay for a period of 1 week or in the alternative, 2 weeks at half pay.

 

(d)      Return from Parental leave on a Part Time basis until the child reaches school age.

 

(3)      An employee shall be entitled to such additional leave without pay as shall amount in aggregate to a total period of maternity leave and adoption leave not exceeding one hundred and four (104) weeks.

 

(4)      In accordance with this Clause, an employee may utilise the whole or part of any Annual Leave and/or Long Service Leave or other paid leave provided that the total period of leave does not exceed one hundred and four (104) weeks.

 

(5)

 

(i)       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).

 

(ii)      An employer must not fail to re-engage a regular casual employee (s.53(2) of the Act) because:

 

(a)      the employee or the 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.

 

(iii)      Right of Request

 

(A)     An employee entitled to parental leave may request the employer to allow the employee:

 

(a)      to extend the period of simultaneous unpaid parental leave use up to a maximum of eight weeks;

 

(b)      to extend the period of  unpaid parental leave for a further continuous period of leave not exceeding 12 months;

 

(c)      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, provide 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 (iii)(A)(b) and (iii)(a)(c) must be recorded in writing.

 

(D)     Request to return to work part-time

 

Where an employee wishes to make a request under (iii)(A)(c), 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.

 

(iv)     Communication during parental leave

 

(a)      Where an employee is on parental leave and a definite decision has been made to introduce significant change to 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 also 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 work on a part-time basis.

 

(c)      The employee shall notify the employer of changes of address or other contact details which might affect the employer’s capacity to comply with paragraph (a).

 

(6)      Paid leave of absence granted under this Clause shall be counted as service for the purposes of this Award.

 

7.        Delete clause 30, Bereavement Leave, and insert in lieu thereof the following:

 

30.  Bereavement Leave

 

(i)       Where an employee’s immediate family member dies, the employee shall be granted bereavement leave with pay for any unworked part of the ordinary working day or rostered shift during which the employee was notified of the death and up to a further two [2] ordinary working days or rostered shifts.

 

(ii)       Immediate family includes the employee’s spouse (including former spouse, a de facto spouse and a former de facto spouse), same sex partner, or a child or an adult child (including an adopted child, a step child or an ex nuptial child), parent, parent in law, grandparent, aunt or uncle, grandchild or sibling.

 

(iii)

 

(a)      subject to the evidentiary and notice requirements in 26(iii) casual employees are entitled to not be available to attend work, or leave work upon the death in Australia of a person prescribed in subclause (iv) of Clause 26 Personal Carers Leave.

 

(b)      The employer and the employee shall agree on the period for which the employee will be entitled to not be available to attend work. In the absence of agreement, the employee is entitled to not be available to attend work for up to 48 hours (i.e. two days) per occasion. The casual employee is not entitled to any payment for the period of non-attendance.

 

(c)      An employer must not fail to re-engage a casual employee because the employee accessed the entitlements provided for in this clause. The rights of an employer to engage or not engage a casual employee are not otherwise affected.

 

8.        Delete clause 49, Working Away from Home, and insert in lieu thereof the following:

 

49.  Working Away from Home

 

Where Country Energy requires employees to travel and work away from home, it should be at no personal monetary expense nor monetary gain to the employees.

 

(i)       An employee required to remain away overnight shall, except as provided for in paragraph (ii), (iii) and (iv) of this clause, be entitled to:

 

(a)      Have Country Energy pay for accommodation costs only and the employee to be paid beforehand for meal and incidental allowances as per Australian Tax Office approved allowances, or

 

(b)      Have Country Energy arrange and pay for accommodation costs, meals and incidental expenses; or

 

(c)      A lump sum allowance paid beforehand equal to the Australian Tax Office approved schedule.

 

(ii)       For Apprentices/Cadets/Trainees attending training, directly in relation to their Training Contract, Country Energy shall provide reasonable Accommodation. All meals and incidental expenses will be covered as per 49 (i) above.

 

(iii)      Where a Corporate Card has been issued to an employee the Card shall be used to pay for overnight accommodation. Meals and Incidentals can be claimed as a lump sum. Any expenses that cannot be paid for by the card shall be reimbursed on supply of receipts.

 

(iv)      Claims for allowances, except incidentals, cannot be made for employees attending internal training sessions, Inductions, conferences and staff development activities where Country Energy has provided reasonable accommodation and meals.

 

(v)      Reasonable accommodation, for the purposes of this clause, will be of at least Three (3) Star standard, where possible.

 

9.        This variation shall take effect from 11 June 2008.

 

 

 

R. W. HARRISON D.P.

 

 

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Printed by the authority of the Industrial Registrar.