Crown
Employees (Harness Racing Authority) Conditions of Employment Award
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Application by Public
Employment Office.
(No. IRC 353 of 2006)
Before The Honourable Justice
Wright, President
|
3 February 2006
|
VARIATION
1. Insert
after Schedule B - Changes made on Review in the Arrangement of the award
published 27 June 2003 (340 I.G. 108),
the following:
Appendix A
Appendix B
2. Insert after subclause (c), of clause 25, Casual
Employment, the following new subclause:
(d) Casuals shall also receive the following
entitlements:
(a) Personal Carer's and Bereavement
entitlement in accordance with Appendix A of this Award; and
(b) Unpaid parental leave in accordance with
Appendix B.
3. Insert after subclause (g), of clause 15, Maternity Leave,
the following new subclause:
(h) Employees entitled to maternity leave
shall also have an additional entitlement as set out in Appendix B.
4. Insert after subclause (e), of clause 16, Parental Leave,
the following new subclause:
(f) Employees entitled to adoption leave
shall also have an additional entitlement as set out in Appendix B.
5. Insert after subclause (g), of clause 17, Adoption Leave,
the following new subclause:
(h) Employees entitled to parental leave
shall also have an additional entitlement as set out in Appendix B.
6. Insert after Schedule B - Changes Made on Review, the
following new Appendices:
Appendix A
(i) Personal Carers entitlement for casual
employees
(a) Casual employees are entitled to not be
available to attend work, or to leave work if they need to care for a family
member described in (iii) below who is sick and requires care and support, or
who requires care due to an unexpected emergency, or the birth of a child. This
entitlement is subject to the evidentiary requirements set out below in (d),
and the notice requirements set out in (e).
(b) The Department Head and the casual
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) The Department Head 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 to
engage a casual employee are otherwise not affected.
(d) The casual employee shall, if required,
(A) 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
(B) establish by production of documentation
acceptable to the employer or a
statutory declaration, the nature of the emergency and that such emergency
resulted in the person concerned requiring care by the employee.
In normal
circumstances, a casual employee must not take carer's leave under this
subclause where another person had taken leave to care for the same person.
(e) The casual employee must, as soon as
reasonably practicable and during the ordinary hours of the first day or shift
of such absence, inform the employer of their inability to attend for duty. If
it is not reasonably practicable to inform the employer during the ordinary
hours of the first day or shift of such absence, the employee will inform the
employer within 24 hours of the absence.
(ii) A family member for the purposes of (ii)
(a) above is:
(a) a spouse of the staff member; or
(b) a de facto spouse being a person of the
opposite sex to the staff member who lives with the staff member as her husband
or his wife on a bona fide domestic basis although not legally married to that
staff member; or
(c) a child or an 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 staff member or of spouse or of de facto spouse of the staff
member; or
(d) a same sex partner who lives with the
staff member as the de facto partner of that staff member on a bona fide domestic
basis; or a relative of the staff member who is a member of the same household,
where for the purposes of this definition:-
"relative"
means a person related by blood, marriage, affinity or Aboriginal kinship
structures;
"affinity"
means a relationship that one spouse or partner has to the relatives of the
other; and
"household"
means a family group living in the same domestic dwelling.
(iii) Bereavement entitlements for casual
employees
(a) Casual employees are entitled to not be
available to attend work, or to leave work upon the death in Australia of a
family member on production of satisfactory evidence (if required by the
employer).
(b) The Department Head and the casual
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) The Clerks 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.
(d) The casual employee must, as soon as
reasonably practicable and during the ordinary hours of the first day or shift
of such absence, inform the employer of their inability to attend for duty. If
it is not reasonably practicable to inform the employer during the ordinary
hours of the first day or shift of such absence, the employee will inform the
employer within 24 hours of the absence.
Appendix B
(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
Eraring Energy 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
Employee’s request
and Eraring Energy’s decision made under3 (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 then 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 Eraring Energy 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
Eraring Energy’s capacity to comply with paragraph (a).
7. This variation shall take effect from
the 19 December 2005.
F.
L. WRIGHT J , President
____________________
Printed by
the authority of the Industrial Registrar.