Flexible Working Arrangements. In accordance with the Employment Relations Act 2000, an employee affected by family violence may request a short-term (two months or less) variation of their employment arrangements to assist the employee to deal with the effects of family violence.
Flexible Working Arrangements. Principle
9.01 The Company and the Institute recognize that the interests of the Company and of employees may be served by promoting flexibility in work hours to accommodate changes in work requirements, peak work demands and varying personal needs.
Flexible Working Arrangements. (a) The Parties recognise the importance of flexible working arrangements and the right of Employees to make requests under section 65 of the Act for flexible working arrangements. An Employee may request a flexible working arrangement if any of the following apply to the Employee:
(i) the Employee is the parent, or has responsibility for the care, of a child who is of school age or younger;
(ii) the Employee is a carer (within the meaning of the Carer Recognition Act 2010 (Cth));
(iii) the Employee has a disability;
(iv) the Employee is 55 years or older;
(v) the Employee is experiencing violence from a member of the Employee’s family;
(vi) the Employee provides care or support to a member of the Employee’s immediate family, or a member of the Employee’s household, who requires care or support because the member is experiencing violence from the member’s family.
(b) For the avoidance of doubt, this Agreement permits an Employee as described in this clause, for the life of the Agreement to request to work less than 36 ordinary hours per week and accrue applicable entitlements including superannuation under clause 32 and ReddiFund contributions under clause 19, on a pro-rata basis.
(c) The Employer and Employee must agree on the part-time hours of work, provided that the ordinary hours of work for any part-time Employee will be a maximum of eight (8) hours per day, Monday to Friday. The ordinary hours of will be as agreed between the Employer and Employer, provided that such hours must be less than 36 hours per week averaged over a two (2) week period. Any additional hours may be worked from time to time by agreement only.
(d) The RDO system prescribed by clause 37 of this Agreement will only apply to a part-time Employee on a pro-rata basis. This means 0.8 of an hour for each eight (8) ordinary hours worked will accrue towards an RDO.
Flexible Working Arrangements. 16.1 The Act entitles specified Employees to request flexible working arrangements in specified circumstances.
16.2 The specified Employees are:
(a) full time or part Employees with at least 12 months continuous service; and
(b) long term casual Employees with a reasonable expectation of continuing employment by the Employer on a regular and systematic basis.
16.3 The specified circumstances are if the Employee:
(a) is the parent, or has responsibility for the care, of a child who is of school age or younger;
(b) is a carer within the meaning of the Carer Recognition Act 2010 caring for someone who has a disability, a medical condition (including a terminal or chronic illness), a mental illness or is frail or aged;
(c) has a disability;
(d) is 55 or older;
(e) is experiencing violence from a member of the Employee’s family; or
(f) provides care or support to a member of the Employee’s immediate family, who requires care or support because the member is experiencing violence or abuse from the member’s family.
16.4 To ensure that Employees are aware of this entitlement, the Employer will post the information statement at Appendix 8 on the relevant notice board or intranet (where available) and provide a copy to new Employees.
16.5 Where a request for flexible work arrangements is made, an Employee or Employer is entitled to meet with the other party to discuss:
(a) the request;
(b) an alternative to the request; or
(c) reasons for a refusal on reasonable business grounds.
16.6 The dispute resolution procedure in the Agreement will apply to any dispute / grievance arising in relation to a request for flexible working arrangements.
16.7 Other entitlements relevant to family violence can be found at clause 64 (Family Violence Leave).
16.8 The relevant flexibility term including for an individual flexibility arrangement is the model flexibility term prescribed by the Act.
Flexible Working Arrangements. Flexible working arrangements provide for employees to be compensated for additional hours required to be worked to meet operational and customer service requirements. It is not intended that flexible working arrangements be used to accrue periods of leave. Subject to the prior approval of the employer, an employee may, however, take flexi leave in conjunction with periods of paid leave.
Flexible Working Arrangements.
(a) The NES provides particular Employees with an entitlement to request a flexible working arrangement.
(b) Employees who have worked for the Employer for at least 12 months can request flexible working arrangements if they:
(i) are the parent, or have responsibility for the care, of a child who is school aged or younger;
(ii) are a carer (under the Carer Recognition Act 2010 (Cth));
(iii) have a disability;
(iv) are 55 years of age or older;
(v) are experiencing family and domestic violence;
(vi) are pregnant; or
(vii) provide care or support to a member of their household or immediate family who requires care or support because the member is experiencing family and domestic violence.
(c) The Employee is not entitled to make the request unless:
(i) for an Employee other than a casual Employee – the Employee has completed at least 12 months of continuous service with the Employer immediately before making the request; and
(ii) for a casual Employee – the Employee:
(A) is a regular casual Employee (as defined in the Act) of the Employer who has been employed on that basis for a sequence of periods of employment during a period of at least 12 months immediately before making the request; and
(B) has a reasonable expectation of continuing employment by the Employer on a regular and systematic basis.
(d) The request must:
(i) be in writing; and
(ii) set out details of the change sought and of the reasons for the change.
(e) The Employer must give the Employee a written response to the request within 21 days, stating whether the Employer grants or refuses the request. If the request is refused, the written response must include details of the reasons for the refusal.
(f) The further details of flexible working arrangement requests, including the process for the Employer to follow for considering and before responding to a flexible working arrangement request, and the requirements for the Employer’s written response if the request is refused or if a different change in working arrangement is agreed, will be in accordance with the NES.
(g) A dispute relating to a refusal by the Employer to a flexible working arrangement request made by an Employee under s.65(1) of the Act, or a failure by the Employer to provide a written response under s.65A of the Act within 21 days of the Employee making the request, will be handled in accordance with clause 6 (Resolution of Disputes).
Flexible Working Arrangements. 1.11.1 Employee may request change in working arrangements
(a) Clause 1.11 applies where an employee has made a request for a flexible working arrangements under section 65 of the Act.
(b) Employees may request flexible working arrangements because of:
(i) the employee is the parent, or has responsibility for the care, of a child who is of school age or younger;
(ii) the employee is a carer (within the meaning of the Carer Recognition Act 2010);
(iii) the employee has a disability;
(iv) the employee is 55 or older;
(v) the employee is experiencing violence from a member of the employee's family;
(vi) the employee provides care or support to a member of the employee's immediate family, or a member of the employee's household, who requires care or support because the member is experiencing violence from the member's family; or
(vii) any other arrangement set out in section 65 (1A) of the Act.
(c) An employer may only refuse a request for flexible working arrangements on ‘reasonable business grounds’.
(d) Clause 1.11 is an addition to section 65 of the Act.
Flexible Working Arrangements. (a) An employee may request flexible working arrangements in accordance with s65 of the Act. A school may only refuse such a request on reasonable business grounds.
Flexible Working Arrangements. The NES provides particular Employees with an entitlement to request a flexible working arrangement. In addition to the NES, if the Employer does not agree to the Employee’s request, the Employer must discuss the request with the Employee to better understand the Employee’s circumstances and then the Employer must provide available counter-proposals to the Employee in writing. Any agreed arrangement must be recorded in writing.
Flexible Working Arrangements. Under the Employment Relations Act 2000 employees can request a variation of their working arrangements. Employees should, wherever possible, be granted the opportunity of flexible working hours. The Ministry will consider requests from employees who seek to vary their hours of work. The Ministry supports the provision of flexible working arrangements in order to recognise differing personal circumstances and preferences and to accommodate changing life stages. The Ministry is committed to being flexible by default. The Ministry has developed a suite of policies that reflect such commitment. The Ministry will, through Managers, work with staff to create an environment where flexible working arrangements are an accepted part of the Ministry’s culture. All staff have the right to request flexible working arrangements. The Ministry will consider all requests as soon as possible and decide within one month. Approval will not be unreasonably withheld. The Ministry will only decline a request where there is a valid reason to do so under Section 69AAF of the Employment Relations Act 2000. A variety of flexible working arrangements can be discussed including, but not limited to days and hours of work as well as place of work. Where a request is declined an employee may seek a review of the decision by the decision-makers one-up manager. The review outcome will be provided, wherever possible, within 15 working days.
