Your agreement should:
Your agreement must contain a dispute settlement term which provides a procedure for settling:
The term must require or allow the Commission, or another person who is independent of those covered by the agreement, to settle a dispute.
A dispute settlement term must not, for example, provide for disputes to be resolved solely by:
The term must also allow for the representation of employees during the dispute.
You can include the model dispute settlement term in the Regulations, or you can draft your own term, but this term must comply with the requirements of the Act.
If the agreement does not contain a dispute settlement term, or the term does not comply with the requirements in the Act, the Commission may:
For more information see section 186(6) of the Act.
Your agreement must contain a consultation term which requires you to consult with employees about:
The consultation term must allow for employees to be represented during consultations.
For changes to employees’ regular roster or ordinary hours of work, the consultation term must require the employer to:
You can include the model consultation term in the Regulations, or you can draft your own term, but this term must comply with the requirements of the Act.
If the agreement does not contain a consultation term, or the term does not comply with the requirements in the Act, the model consultation term will be taken to be a term of the agreement.
For more information see section 205 of the Act.
Your agreement must contain a flexibility term that allows you to make an individual flexibility arrangement (IFA) with an employee which varies the effect of specified terms of the agreement in order to meet the genuine needs of you and the individual employee.
You can include the model flexibility term in the Regulations, or you can draft your own term, but this term must comply with the requirements of the Act.
If the agreement does not contain a flexibility term, or the term does not comply with the requirements in the Act, the model flexibility term will be taken to be a term of the agreement.
For more information see sections 202, 203 and 204 of the Act.
Your agreement must include a nominal expiry date. An agreement comes into operation 7 days after it is approved by the Commission (or later if specified in the agreement). The nominal expiry date can be no later than 4 years from the date the agreement is approved by the Commission. It can be sooner than that, but not more than 4 years.
Agreements continue to operate after their nominal expiry date until they are replaced or terminated by the Commission.
Some agreements incorrectly specify a nominal expiry date of 4 years from commencement (rather than approval).
However, as an agreement’s commencement date is at least 7 days after approval, an expiry date of 4 years from commencement exceeds the allowable maximum.
You can make the nominal expiry date 4 years from approval but not 4 years from commencement or operation.
By default, an agreement will take effect 7 days after the Commission approves it. You may specify a later date in your agreement on which it will commence (pending approval) for example, to provide time to update your payroll system.
Agreements commonly contain the following terms and clauses:
For more information see sections 54, 58 and 186(5) of the Act.
The NES are minimum standards that apply to all employees employed by a national system employer. However, only certain entitlements apply to casual employees.
It is not necessary for an enterprise agreement to expressly include each NES entitlement. Terms that are included in an enterprise agreement cannot be less beneficial than those provided in the NES. An enterprise agreement can provide more favourable entitlements than those provided in the NES.
The minimum standards under the NES relate to: