Greyhound
Racing Authority (NSW) Award
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Application by Public
Employment Office.
(No. IRC 352 of 2006)
Before The Honourable
Justice Wright, President
|
3 February 2006
|
VARIATION
1. Delete the
words "19. Maternity Leave" appearing
in the Arrangement of the award published 28 May 2004 (344 I.G. 702), and
insert in lieu thereof the following:
19. Parental
Leave
2. Insert at the
end of the Arrangement, the following:
Appendix A
Appendix B
3. Insert after
subclause (b), of clause 2, Salaries, the following new subclause:
(c) Casuals shall
also receive the following entitlements in accordance with the Crown Employees
(Public Service Conditions of Employment) Award 2005:
(a) Unpaid
parental leave in accordance with clause 12 (iv)(d);
(b) Personal
Carer's entitlement in accordance with clause 12 (v); and
(c) Bereavement
entitlement in accordance with clause 12 (vi).
This entitlement is also set out at Appendix A of this
Award.
4. Delete clause
19, Maternity Leave, and insert in lieu thereof the following:
19. Parental Leave
5. Insert after
Table 1, Rates of Pay, of Part B, Monetary Rates, 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).
6. This
variation shall take effect from the 19 December 2005.
F.
L. WRIGHT J , President
____________________
Printed by
the authority of the Industrial Registrar.