Parliament of Australia: Senate: Certified Agreement 2006-10

Section 2: Technical and General matters

3. Parties bound and covered

3.1 This Agreement is made between the Clerk of the Senate and employees of the Department of the Senate (the department).

3.2 This Agreement covers the terms and conditions of employment of employees in the department, but does not apply to:

employees who are covered by an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA), including SES employees; and
employees whose salary is paid by another agency.

4. Interpretations / definitions

Agreement	means the Department of the Senate Employee Collective Agreement 2006 - 2010.
AIRC	means the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
AWA	means an Australian Workplace Agreement as defined in the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
department	means the Department of the Senate.
employee	means a person who is employed under the Parliamentary Service Act 1999 by the Department of the Senate, whether full-time, part-time, ongoing or non-ongoing.
employer	means the Clerk of the Senate (the Clerk).
immediate family	means: a spouse, partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the employee a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of a spouse or partner of the employee a child includes an adopted child, a stepchild, an exnuptial child and an adult child a spouse includes a former spouse, a de facto spouse and a former de facto spouse a de facto spouse, of an employee, means a person of the opposite sex to the employee who lives with the employee as the employee’s husband or wife on a genuine domestic basis although not legally married to the employee a partner includes a former partner (without discrimination on sexual preference).
manager	means an employee who has responsibility for overseeing, monitoring, managing, directing or supervising a discrete work group.
Parliamentary Service	means the Australian Parliamentary Service established by the Parliamentary Service Act 1999.
parties	means the Clerk of the Senate and employees of the Department of the Senate covered by this Agreement.
program manager	means either a Clerk Assistant or the Usher of the Black Rod.
Program Manager Group	means the program managers collectively.
section head	means an employee at the Parliamentary Executive Level 1 or 2 with management responsibilities for a discrete work unit.
sessional employee	means an employee who is primarily employed to undertake duties involved with the sittings of the Senate.
supervisor	means an employee who has responsibility for overseeing, monitoring, managing, directing or supervising another employee.

5. Duration and variation

5.1 This Agreement shall commence operation on the date on which it is lodged with the Office of the Employment Advocate. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 30 June 2010.

5.2 This Agreement exhaustively states the terms and conditions of employment of the employees covered by this Agreement other than the terms and conditions applying under Commonwealth law.

5.3 During the period beginning on the date this Agreement starts operating and ending on the nominal expiry date, no further claims may be pursued in respect of terms and conditions of employment by a party to the Agreement or an employee whose employment is subject to the Agreement, whether or not these terms and conditions relate to a matter that is expressly covered by this Agreement.

6. Effect of agreement on pre-existing arrangements

6.1 This Agreement is a comprehensive agreement, and excludes the protected award conditions (as defined in the Workplace Relations Act 1996, as amended from time to time) within the Parliamentary Departments Staff Award 1998 (as varied from time to time).

Note: The protected award conditions are award conditions that are excluded from the Agreement, that would, but for this Agreement, have effect in relation to the employment of employees under this Agreement and relate to the following matters: rest breaks, incentive based payments and bonuses, annual leave loadings public holidays, monetary allowances, loadings for working overtime or for shift work, penalty rates, outworker conditions; and any other award conditions specified as protected award conditions in Regulations made under the Workplace Relations Act 1996.

6.2 It is acknowledged that employment is subject to the provisions of the following Acts (and regulations or instruments made under the Acts), as varied from time to time or replacement legislation, amongst others:

Workplace Relations Act 1996;
Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976;
Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973;
Superannuation Act 1976;
Superannuation Act 1990;
Superannuation Act 2005;
Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988;
Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992;
Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988;
Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991;
Veterans’ Entitlement Act 1986; and
Parliamentary Service Act 1999.

7. Further agreements

7.1 The Clerk may enter into AWAs with employees covered by this Agreement.

8. Appeals against termination of employment

8.1 The sole and exhaustive rights and remedies of an employee in relation to termination of employment are those under:

Division 4 of Part 12 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996;
other Commonwealth laws (including the Constitution); and
at common law.

8.2 Termination of, or a decision to terminate employment, cannot be reviewed under the procedures contained in this Agreement for preventing and settling disputes arising from this Agreement.

8.3 Nothing in this Agreement prevents the Clerk from terminating the employment of an employee for serious misconduct, without further notice or payment in lieu, in accordance with the Workplace Relations Act 1996, subject to compliance with the procedures established by the Clerk for determining whether an employee has breached the Code of Conduct under section 13 of the Parliamentary Service Act 1999.

9. Procedures for preventing and settling disputes arising from this agreement

9.1 The following are the procedures for preventing and settling disputes between the employer and employees whose employment is covered by this Agreement about matters arising under this Agreement, and associated policies and guidelines.

9.2 Where a disputed matter is the subject of an application for review of action under the Parliamentary Service Act 1999, or has been dealt with to finality under the Act, it will not be further considered under these provisions.

9.3 The parties to this Agreement must ensure that work continues normally and that work practices shall be in accordance with relevant agreements. In instances where a genuine safety issue is involved, employees will not be required to work in an unsafe environment, but will undertake suitable alternative work until the issue is resolved.

9.4 It is the responsibility of the parties to this Agreement to take reasonable and genuine steps to prevent or settle disputes by discussion and, if necessary, by negotiation. In each instance the steps taken shall be timely and appropriate to the early settlement of the particular matters in dispute.

9.5 Throughout the procedures, employees may be represented and assisted by a person of their choice. Where employees choose to be represented or assisted, they will inform their immediate supervisor and/or the relevant level of management.

9.6 It is agreed that the following procedures will apply:

the employee will discuss the matter with his or her immediate supervisor. In circumstances where the matter may relate to the behaviour or actions of the immediate supervisor, and it would be inappropriate to discuss the matter at that level, the employee may discuss the matter with the next highest level of management;
if the matter is not resolved at that level, the parties to the dispute may arrange further discussions involving more senior levels of management as appropriate;
if the matter remains unresolved after the consultation process has been exhausted, the dispute may be referred to an independent mediator for resolution, provided that the parties mutually agree upon the person nominated to undertake the mediation. If the parties cannot agree on who is to conduct the mediation process either of the parties may make application to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), under clause 9.7;
the mediator should initially be satisfied that the parties to the dispute have genuinely undertaken the steps outlined above;
should mediation prove unsuccessful, the mediator is empowered to make recommendations to the Clerk; and
nothing in the above procedure shall preclude a manager from referring the matter to the appropriate level of management in circumstances where that level of management has been by-passed by the employee concerned.

9.7 In the event that the parties to the dispute are unable to resolve a dispute in a manner consistent with clause 9.6, the specific matter or matters in dispute may be referred by one of those parties to the AIRC in accordance with section 709 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996.

9.8 Consistent with section 711 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996, the AIRC, by this Agreement, is empowered to settle disputes over the application of this Agreement. Decisions of the AIRC shall be accepted by the parties.

10. Delegation

10.1 The Clerk may, in writing, delegate to, or authorise a person to exercise, any of the Clerk's powers or functions under this Agreement. A power which is exercised by a manager or supervisor under the Agreement may be exercised by the Clerk.

10.2 A program manager may, in writing, authorise a person to exercise any of the program manager's powers or functions under this Agreement.

11. Formal acceptance of the agreement

11.1 This Agreement is an employee collective agreement made under section 327 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996. Accordingly, it is an agreement between the employer and the employees whose employment is subject to this Agreement.

The signatures for the authorised staff and the employer can be viewed in the PDF version of this document

Website feedback: web.senate@aph.gov.au
Last reviewed 7 July 2006 by the Senate Web Administrator
© Commonwealth of Australia
Parliament of Australia Web Site Privacy Statement
Images courtesy of AUSPIC