See Fair Work Act 2009 ss.87(1)(b) and 196
As part of the NES, certain employees (shiftworkers) are entitled to an additional week of annual leave if:
If the proposed enterprise agreement will cover an employee who:
the Fair Work Commission cannot approve the enterprise agreement unless it is satisfied that the agreement also defines or describes the employee as a shiftworker for the purposes of the NES.
This has the effect that, if under a modern award an employee would be entitled to the additional week of annual leave, the employee must also be entitled to that additional week under the enterprise agreement.
The types of employees who are shiftworkers for NES purposes may differ depending on the modern award that covers the employee. Care should be taken to ensure that any employee covered by the enterprise agreement who falls within the relevant award definition of shiftworker for NES purposes is defined or described in the enterprise agreement as a shiftworker for the purposes of the NES.
The following example is from the Storage Services and Wholesale Award 2010:[1]
26.4 Definition of shiftworker
For the purpose of the additional week of annual leave provided for in s.87(1)(b) of the Act, a shiftworker is a seven day shiftworker who is regularly rostered to work on Sundays and public holidays.
See Fair Work Act ss.21, 197 and 198
A pieceworker is generally an employee who is paid a rate of pay calculated by reference to the employee's output (eg the number of articles produced, delivered or sold, kilometres travelled or the number of tasks performed), rather than a rate set by reference to a period of time worked.
There are additional approval requirements for an enterprise agreement covering an employee who is defined or described as a pieceworker in the enterprise agreement and/or the modern award. This is because a pieceworker's entitlements under the NES (eg payment for annual leave) are affected by the base rate of pay specified in the enterprise agreement or modern award.[2]
Where an employee is a pieceworker under both the modern award covering the employee and the enterprise agreement, the Fair Work Act does not contain any additional approval requirements for the enterprise agreement. This is because the employee's base rate of pay under the agreement must not be less than the base rate payable to the employee under the relevant modern award.[3]
An enterprise agreement can include a term defining or describing an employee as a pieceworker for the purposes of the Fair Work Act (including the NES), even where a modern award covering the employee does not define or describe the employee as a pieceworker. However, before approving such an agreement, the Commission must be satisfied that each pieceworker does not suffer a detriment to his or her entitlements under the NES.
On the other hand, where an employee is defined or described as a pieceworker under the relevant modern award covering the employee but the enterprise agreement does not define or describe the employee as a pieceworker, the Commission must be satisfied that the omission of the pieceworker term does not cause the employee to suffer a detriment to his or her entitlements under the NES.
The no detriment test ensures that a pieceworker is entitled to the minimum entitlements provided by the NES.
An illustrative example is provided in the Explanatory Memorandum:[4]
Gita is employed as a grape harvester. Under the relevant modern award, Gita would be defined as a pieceworker. If the award applied to determine Gita's terms and conditions of employment, Gita's base rate of pay for the purposes of the NES would be the rate set out in the relevant modern award. This would be relevant, eg, when calculating the rate at which Gita must be paid during paid annual leave.
Under the enterprise agreement that applies to Gita, she is not defined as a pieceworker. Instead, she has an hourly rate of pay. The Commission would need to be satisfied that not defining Gita as a pieceworker under the agreement for the purposes of the NES would not be detrimental to her. For example, it would be detrimental to her if the base rate of pay under the agreement, which she would be paid at when taking paid annual leave under the NES, was less than the base rate of pay set out for pieceworkers in her classification under the relevant modern award.
See Fair Work Act s.199
There are also additional approval requirements in relation to an enterprise agreement that covers school-based apprentices and/or school-based trainees.
Where a modern award covers the employees and provides for a loading to be paid to school-based apprentices or school-based trainees in lieu of paid annual leave, paid personal/carer's leave and/or public holidays, the enterprise agreement may also provide for paid loadings in respect of that matter (or those matters).
Where the enterprise agreement provides for a loading in lieu of paid annual leave, paid personal/carer's leave and/or public holidays, the Commission must be satisfied that the amount or rate of the loading is not detrimental to the employee when compared to the amount or rate of the loading provided under the award.
See Fair Work Act ss.12 and 200
An outworker is an employee who performs work at residential premises or at other premises that would not conventionally be regarded as being business premises.
There are also additional approval requirements in relation to an enterprise agreement that covers employees who are outworkers if the employees are also covered by a modern award that includes outworker terms.
The Commission must be satisfied that the agreement includes outworker terms and that those terms are not detrimental to the employees in any respect when compared to the outworker terms of the modern award.
[1] Storage Services and Wholesale Award 2010 [MA000084], Pt 6 – Leave and Public Holidays, cl. 26. Annual Leave.
[2] Fair Work Act s.16(2).
[3] Fair Work Act s.206; Fair Work Regulations reg 1.10.
[4] Explanatory Memorandum to Fair Work Bill 2008 at para. 848.