Section 1: Introduction, technical and general matters


1. Introduction

1.1 This agreement is to be known as the Department of the Senate Enterprise Agreement 2024-2026.

2. Parties to the agreement

2.1 This agreement covers:

  1. the Clerk of the Senate, for and on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia as the employer;
  2. all employees in the Department of the Senate employed under the Parliamentary Service Act 1999 other than Senior Executive Service employees or equivalent;
  3. subject to notice being given in accordance with section 183 of the Fair Work Act 2009, and the following employee organisation which was a bargaining representative for this agreement:
    1. Community and Public Sector Union.

3. Operation of the agreement

3.1 This agreement will commence operation seven days after approval by the Fair Work Commission.

3.2 This agreement will nominally expire on 9 November 2026.

4. Definitions

4.1 The following definitions apply to this agreement:

agreement means the Department of the Senate Enterprise Agreement 2024-2026
Australian Defence Force Cadets means Australian Navy Cadets, Australian Army Cadets, or Australian Air Force Cadets
bandwidth means the span of hours during which an employee can perform ordinary hours
casual employee (irregular and intermittent employee) is an employee engaged under subsection 22(2)(c) of the PS Act who:
  • is a casual employee as defined by the FW Act; and
  • works on an irregular and intermittent basis
child means a biological child, adopted child, foster child, stepchild, or ward
classification or classification level means the approved classifications as set out in rule 5 of the Parliamentary Service Classification Rules 2010 as amended from time to time and any successor legislation
Clerk means the Clerk of the Senate
de facto partner means a person who, regardless of gender, is living in a common household with the employee in a bona fide, domestic, interdependent partnership, although not legally married to the employee
delegate means someone to whom a power or authority has been delegated
department means the Department of the Senate
departmental guidelines means relevant policies and guidelines
dependant means the employee’s spouse or de facto partner, a child, parent or aged relative of the employee or the employee’s spouse or de facto partner, who ordinarily lives with the employee and who is substantially dependent on the employee. Dependant also includes a child of the employee who does not ordinarily live with the employee but for whom the employee provides substantial financial support
EAP means Employee Assistance Program
employee means an employee of the Commonwealth engaged under subsection 22(2) of the PS Act who is covered by this agreement (whether full-time, part-time or casual, ongoing or non-ongoing)
employee representative means a person (whether an employee or not) elected or chosen by an employee, or elected or chosen by a group of employees in a workplace, to represent the individual and/or collective views of those employees in relation to a matter under this agreement
employer means the Clerk of the Senate on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia
family means:
  • a spouse, former spouse, de facto partner or former de facto partner of the employee;
  • a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the employee;
  • a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of a spouse, former spouse, de facto partner or former de facto partner of the employee;
  • a member of the employee’s household;
  • a person with whom the employee has a relationship of traditional kinship where there is a relationship or obligation, under customs and traditions of the community or group to which the employee belongs; or
  • a person with whom the Clerk is satisfied the employee has a strong affinity
family and domestic violence has the same meaning as in subsection 106B(2) of the FW Act
full-time employee means an employee employed to work an average of 37 hours and 30 minutes per week in accordance with this agreement
FW Act means the Fair Work Act 2009 as amended from time to time
FWC means Fair Work Commission
manager means an employee’s direct manager who is usually the person to whom an employee reports to on a day-to-day basis for work related matters, and may include a person referred to as a supervisor
ML Act means the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973 as amended from time to time and any successor legislation
NES means the National Employment Standards at Part 2-2 of the FW Act
non-ongoing employee means an employee engaged for a specified term or for the duration of a specified task in accordance with section 22(2)(b) of the PS Act, consistent with the FW Act
ongoing employee means an employee engaged under section 22(2)(a) of the PS Act
ordinary hours, duty or work means an employee’s usual hours worked in accordance with this agreement and does not include additional hours
Parliamentary Service means employment under the Parliamentary Service Act 1999 as amended from time to time
partner means a spouse or de facto partner
part-time employee means an employee employed to work less than an average of 37 hours and 30 minutes per week in accordance with this agreement
primary caregiver for the purposes of the parental leave clause means a pregnant employee with an entitlement under the ML Act, or an employee other than a casual employee who has primary care responsibility for a child who is born to them or who is adopted or in long-term foster care as per the clauses on adoption and long-term foster care in this agreement
program manager means a Senior Executive Service employee
Program Manager Group means the Senior Executive Service employees collectively
PS Act means the Parliamentary Service Act 1999 as amended from time to time
relevant employee means an affected employee
section head means an employee at the Parliamentary Executive Level 1 or 2 with management responsibilities for a discrete work unit
secondary caregiver for the purposes of the parental leave clause means an employee, other than a pregnant employee or casual employee, who has secondary care responsibility for a child who is born to them, or for a child who is adopted or in long-term foster care as per the clauses on adoption and long-term foster care in this agreement
TOIL means time off in lieu

5. Delegations

5.1 The Clerk may, in writing, delegate or authorise any or all of their powers and functions under this agreement, including this power of delegation, and may do so subject to conditions.

6. NES precedence

6.1 The terms of this agreement are intended to apply in a manner that does not derogate from the NES. The NES will continue to apply to the extent that any term of this agreement is detrimental to an employee of the department in any respect when compared with the NES.

7. Closed comprehensive agreement

7.1 This agreement states the terms and conditions of employment of employees covered by this agreement, other than terms and conditions applying under relevant Commonwealth laws.

7.2 This agreement will be supported by departmental guidelines, as implemented and varied from time to time.

7.3 Departmental guidelines are not incorporated into and do not form part of this agreement. To the extent that there is any inconsistency between departmental guidelines and the terms of this agreement, the terms of this agreement will prevail.

8. Individual flexibility agreements

8.1 The department and an employee covered by this agreement may agree to make an individual flexibility arrangement to vary the effect of terms of the agreement if:

  1. the agreement deals with one or more of the following matters:
    1. arrangements about when work is performed;
    2. overtime rates;
    3. penalty rates;
    4. allowances;
    5. remuneration;
    6. leave and leave loading; and
  2. the arrangement meets the genuine needs of the department and employee in relation to one or more of the matters mentioned in subclause 8.1(a); and
  3. the arrangement is genuinely agreed to by the department and employee.

8.2 The department must ensure that the terms of the individual flexibility arrangement:

  1. are about permitted matters under section 172 of the FW Act;
  2. are not unlawful terms under section 194 of the FW Act; and
  3. result in the employee being better off overall than the employee would be if no arrangement was made.

8.3 The department must ensure that the individual flexibility arrangement:

  1. is in writing;
  2. includes the name of the department and employee;
  3. is signed by the department and employee and if the employee is under 18 years of age, is signed by a parent or guardian of the employee; and
  4. includes details of:
    1. the terms of the enterprise agreement that will be varied by the arrangement;
    2. how the arrangement will vary the effect of the terms;
    3. how the employee will be better off overall in relation to the terms and conditions of their employment as a result of the arrangement; and
    4. states the day on which the arrangement commences.

8.4 The department must give the employee a copy of the individual flexibility arrangement within 14 days after it is agreed to.

8.5 The department or employee may terminate the individual flexibility arrangement:

  1. by giving no more than 28 days written notice to the other party to the arrangement; or
  2. if the department and employee agree in writing – at any time.

8.6 The department and employee are to review the individual flexibility arrangement at least every 12 months.

9. Formal acceptance of the Agreement

9.1 This agreement is made under section 172 of the FW Act. Accordingly, it is an agreement between the employer and the employees who are covered by this agreement.

Employer: Richard Pye, Clerk of the Senate. Employee: Hannah Dibley, Committee Secretary

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Section 2: People and performance management

Enterprise Agreement