CROWN EMPLOYEES (COURT OFFICERS ATTORNEY GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT) AWARD
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Review of Award pursuant to Section 19 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996.
(No. IRC 4554 of 2004)
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Before The Honourable
Mr Deputy President Harrison
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28 February 2005
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REVIEWED AWARD
1. Arrangement
Clause No. Subject Matter
1. Arrangement
2. Definitions
3. Transitional
Arrangement
4. Salaries
5. Skill
Development and Training
6. Hours of
Work
7. Flexible
Working Hours Scheme
8. Overtime
9. Leave
10. Displaced
Employees
11. Deduction
of Union Membership Fees
12. Relationship
to Other Awards
13. Grievance
and Disputes Resolution Procedure
14. Anti-Discrimination
15. Area
Incidence and Duration
2. Definitions
"Court Officer" means all persons employed as such
in the Office of the Sheriff of New South Wales, the District Court of New
South Wales and the Supreme Court of New South Wales by the New South Wales
Attorney General’s Department or any administrative unit of New South Wales as
Determined by the Director General of the New South Wales Attorney General’s
Department, whether on a full-time, Part-time or casual basis.
"Department" means the New South Wales Attorney
General’s Department.
"PEO" means Public Employment Office.
"Union" means Public Service Association and
Professional Officers’ Association Amalgamated Union of New South Wales.
"Week" means Monday to Friday inclusive.
3. Transitional
Arrangements
(i) A Court
Officer who, as at 31 October, 2001 had worked at least 35 hours per week for
40 weeks or more in the preceding twelve months and any other person identified
by agreement between the parties as entitled to be treated as a Full-time Court
Officer, will be offered employment as a Full-Time Court Officer as a temporary
employee within the meaning of section 31 of the Public Sector Employment
and Management Act 2002.
(ii) A Court
Officer who, as at 31 October, 2001 has worked regular and fixed hours on the
same number of days each week but less than thirty-five hours a week for at
least 40 weeks in the preceding 12 months, and any other person identified by
agreement between the parties as entitled to be treated as a Part-time Court
Officer will be offered employment as a Part-time Court Officer as a temporary
employee within the meaning of section 31 of the Public Sector Employment
and Management Act 2002.
(iii) At the making
of this Award, employees who meet the criteria for Full-time or Part-time Court
Officer positions will be identified, listed and offered available full-time or
part-time positions. If accepted they will be employed pursuant to the Public
Sector Employment and Management Act 2002. If an employee rejects a
position, s/he will be removed from the list.
(iv) The employment
of Court Officers who become temporary Full-time or Part-time Court Officers
pursuant to this Award under the transitional arrangements will be subject to
the sufficiency of work at the Court Officer’s current location or any other
court location within reasonable distance to which the Court Officer may be
prepared to move. Any dispute about any question of the sufficiency of work
will be dealt with pursuant to Clause 11 of this Award.
(vi) The Department
undertakes that section 31 of the Public Sector Employment and Management
Act 2002 will not be applied to those employees who become Full-time or
Part-time Court Officers in such a way as to bring to an end their employment
while there remains useful court work and associated duties for them to
perform.
(vii) Full-time and
Part-time Court Officers may be assigned to any court within reasonable
travelling distance as required and may be required to undertake work in and
out of court, consistent with the duties currently undertaken by court officers.
4. Salaries
(i) The salaries
in this Award will be adjusted in accordance with the Crown Employees (Public
Sector - Salaries 2004) Award.
(ii) The salary
payable to a Court Officer shall be as follows:
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Classification
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Grade
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Year
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Salary
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Court Officer
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Grade 1
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1st year
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$31,352
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Court Officer
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Grade 1
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2nd year
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$32,790
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(iii) Casual Court
Officers shall be paid on the basis of an hourly rate equivalent to 1/38 of the
applicable weekly salary, which is calculated by dividing the annual salary
rate by 52, together with a loading of 15%.
5. Skill Development
and Training
The Department will assist Court Officers to maintain standards
by making training available from time to time on a needs basis in relation to
court practices and protocol.
6. Hours of Work
Standard hours of work for Full-time Court Officers are 38
hours per week subject to local arrangements as to the contract hours at the
workplace level. The current local arrangement of 35 hours per week in the
Supreme Court will be continued as a local arrangement.
The Department may require a staff member to perform duties
beyond the hours determined under this clause but only if it is reasonable for
the staff member to do so. A staff member may refuse to work additional hours
in circumstances where the working of such hours would result in the staff
member working unreasonable hours. In determining what is unreasonable the
following factors shall be taken into account:
(a) the staff
member’s prior commitments outside the workplace, particularly the staff
member’s family and carer responsibilities, community obligations or study
arrangements;
(b) any risk to
staff member health and safety;
(c) the urgency of
the work required to be performed during additional hours, the impact on the
operational commitments of the organisation and the effect on client services;
(d) the notice (if
any) given by the Authority regarding the working of the additional hours, and
by the staff member of their intention to refuse the working of additional
hours; or
(e) any other
relevant matter.
7. Flexible Working
Hours Scheme
The Department’s Flexible Working Hours Scheme will apply to
Full-Time and Part-time Court Officers but not casual Court Officers. It is
acknowledged that in settling working hours for employees covered by this
Award, those employees must be available to attend in court during court hours.
8. Overtime
All Court Officers, whether employed on a Full-Time,
Part-time or Casual basis who are directed to work overtime pursuant to Clause
92(a) of the Crown Employees (Public Service Conditions of Employment 2002)
Award shall be paid overtime in accordance with Clause 94 of the Crown
Employees (Public Service Conditions of Employment 2002) Award.
A staff member may be directed by the Department to work
overtime, provided it is reasonable for the staff member to be required to do
so. A staff member may refuse to work overtime in circumstances where the
working hours of such overtime would result in the staff member working
unreasonable hours. In determining what is unreasonable, the following factors
shall be taken into account:
(a) the staff member’s
prior commitments outside the workplace, particularly the staff member’s family
and carer responsibilities, community obligations or study arrangements;
(b) any risk to
staff the member’s health and safety;
(c) the urgency of
the work required to be performed during overtime, the impact on the
operational commitments of the organisation and the effect on client services;
(d) the notice (if
any) given by the Authority regarding the working of the overtime, and by the
staff member of their intention to refuse overtime; or
(f) any other
relevant matter.
9. Leave
Full-Time and Part-time Court Officers but not casual Court
Officers shall be paid leave in accordance with clause 70 to 88 inclusive of
the Crown Employees (Public Service Conditions of Employment 2002) Award. Leave
entitlements will be rostered to coincide with court vacations to the extent it
is possible to do so.
10. Displaced
Employees
In the event that the Department decides to appoint
permanent officers, and the effect of such appointments is to displace any
Full-time or Part-time Court Officer, such employees will be managed pursuant
to the Managing Displaced Employees Policy.
11. Deduction of
Union Membership Fees
(i) The
Association shall provide the employer with a schedule setting out Association
membership fees payable by members of the Association in accordance with the
Association’s rules.
(ii) The
Association shall advise the Authority of any change to the amount of
membership fees made under its rules. Any variation to the schedule of
Association membership fees payable shall be provided to the Authority at least
once a month in advance of the variation taking place.
(iii) Subject to
(i) and (ii) above, the Authority shall deduct Association membership fees from
the salary of any officer who is a member of the Association in accordance with
the Association’s rules, provided that the officer has authorised the Authority
to make such deductions.
(iv) Monies so
deducted from officers’ salary shall be forwarded regularly to the Association
together with all necessary information to enable the Association to reconcile
the and credit subscriptions to officers’ Association membership accounts.
12. Relationship to
Other Awards
This award shall be reviewed in light of any variation to
the Crown Employees (Public Service Conditions of Employment) Award 2002, or an
award replacing it, in so far as it may affect clauses referred to in this
award.
Where there may be inconsistencies between this award and
the Crown Employees (Public Service Conditions of Employment) Award 2002, the
arrangements in this award shall prevail.
13. Grievance
Procedure
(i) All
grievances and disputes relating to the provisions of this award shall initially
be dealt with as close to the source as possible, with graduated steps for
further attempts at resolution at higher levels of authority within the
Department, if required.
(ii) A Court
Officer is required to notify in writing their immediate manager, as to the
substance of the grievance, dispute or difficulty, request a meeting to discuss
the matter, and if possible, state the remedy sought.
(iii) The immediate
manager shall convene a meeting in order to resolve the grievance, dispute or
difficulty within two (2) working days, or as soon as practicable, of the
matter being brought to attention.
(iv) If the matter
remains unresolved with the immediate manager, the Court Officer may request to
meet the appropriate person at the next level of management in order to resolve
the matter. This manager shall respond within two (2) working days, or as soon
as practicable. This sequence of reference to successive levels of management
may be pursued by the Court Officer until the matter is referred to the Department.
(v) The Department
may refer the matter to the PEO for consideration.
(vi) If the matter
remains unresolved, the Department shall provide a written response to the
Court Officer and any other party involved in the grievance, dispute or
difficulty, concerning action to be taken, or the reason for not taking action,
in relation to the matter.
(vii) A Court
Officer, at any stage, may request to be represented by the Union.
(viii) The Court
Officer or the Union on their behalf, or the Department may refer the matter to
the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission if the matter is unresolved
following the use of these procedures.
(ix) The Court
Officer, Union, Department and PEO shall agree to be bound by any order or
determination by the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission in
relation to the dispute.
(x) Whilst the
procedures outlined in subclauses (i) to (ix) of this clause are being
followed, normal work undertaken prior to notification of the dispute or
difficulty shall continue unless otherwise agreed between the parties, or, in
the case involving occupational health and safety, if practicable, normal work
shall proceed in a manner which avoids any risk to the health and safety of any
Court Officer or member of the public
(xi) Where the
grievance or dispute involves confidential or other sensitive material
(including issues of harassment or discrimination under the Anti-
Discrimination Act 1977) that make it impractical for the staff member to
advise their immediate manager, the notification may occur to the next
appropriate level of management, including where required, to the Departmental
Head or Delegate.
(xii) The immediate
manager, or other appropriate officer, shall convene a meeting in order to
resolve the grievance, dispute or difficulty within two (2) working days, or as
soon a practicable, of the matter being brought to attention.
14.
Anti-Discrimination
It is the intention of the parties bound by this award to
seek to achieve the object in section 3(f) of the Industrial Relations Act
1996 to prevent and eliminate discrimination in the workplace. This includes
discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, marital status, disability,
homosexuality, transgender identity, age and responsibilities as a carer.
It follows that in fulfilling their obligations under the
dispute resolution procedure prescribed by this award the parties have
obligations to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the operation of the
provisions of this award are not directly or indirectly discriminatory in their
effects. It will be consistent with the fulfilment of these obligations for the
parties to make application to vary any provision of the award, which, by its
terms or operation, has a direct or indirect discriminatory effect.
(1) Under the Anti-Discrimination
Act 1977, it is unlawful to victimise an employee because the employee has
made or may make or has been involved in a complaint of unlawful discrimination
or harassment.
(2) Nothing in
this clause is to be taken to affect:
(a) any conduct or
act which is specifically exempted from anti-discrimination legislation;
(b) offering or
providing junior rates of pay to person under 21 years of age;
(c) any act or
practice of a body established to propagate religion which is exempted under
section 56(d) of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977;
(d) a party to
this award from pursuing matters of unlawful discrimination in any State or
federal jurisdiction.
(3) This clause
does not create legal rights or obligations in addition to those imposed upon
the parties by the legislation referred to in this clause.
NOTES
(a) Employers and
employees may also be subject to Commonwealth anti-discrimination legislation.
(b) Section 56(d)
of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 provides:
"Nothing in this Act affects ... any other act or
practice of a body established to propagate religion that conforms to the
doctrines of that religion or is necessary to avoid injury to the religious
susceptibilities of the adherents of that religion."
15. Area, Incidence
and Duration
This Award shall apply to all persons employed as Court
Officers in the Office of the Sheriff of New South Wales, the District Court of
New South Wales, the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the Land and Environment
Court of New South Wales in the New South Wales Attorney General’s Department
or in any administrative unit of New South Wales as determined by the Director
General of the New South Wales Attorney General’s Department. It shall have effect from the first pay period
on or after 28 November 2001 and shall remain in force for a period of three
years from the date of commencement.
This Award is made following a review under section 19 of
the Industrial Relations Act 1996 and rescinds and replaces the Crown
Employees (Court Officers Attorney General’s Department) Award published 9
August 2002 (335 I.G. 751).
The changes made to the award pursuant to the Award Review
pursuant to section 19(6) of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 and
Principles 26 of the Principles for Review of Awards made by the Industrial
Relations Commission of New South Wales on 28 April 1999 (310 IG) 359 take
effect on and from 28 February 2005.
The award remains in force until varied or rescinded, the
period for which it was made having already expired.
R. W. HARRISON D.P.
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Printed by
the authority of the Industrial Registrar.