What is: Awards and Enterprise Agreements

Understanding employees’ rights and responsibilities

As a manager you need to be familiar with the Awards, Agreements and policies that spell out the terms and conditions of employment at Metro North Health and make sure they’re adhered to.

Definitions

Awards

An Award is a legal document that contains the minimum pay rates and conditions of employment for employees covered by the Award. Currently Metro North Health has Awards for Medical Officers, Nurses and Midwives, Health Professionals and Dentists, Hospital and Health Services General Employees and Building, Engineering & Maintenance employees. The employment standards in Awards are set by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC).

Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (EBA)

An Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) is sometimes referred to as an Enterprise Agreement (EA) or Certified Agreement (CA). It’s a legal document negotiated by Queensland Health and representatives of Queensland Health employees such as Unions. The agreements are certified by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC).

There are seven major agreements that prescribe pay rates and other employment conditions of Queensland Health employees (other than executive service staff and senior officers). There are different agreements for different work areas, for example, Nursing, Administration and Operational.

Policies and Procedures

The Department of Health describes policies as ‘high level, principles-based statements that communicate the department’s intent’. Policies set out principles to guide activity in a wide range of areas across the organisation.

Procedures outline processes that can be used in applying a policy.

Directives

The Public Sector Commission (PSC) and Industrial Relations (IR) Directives are important orders or directions relating to public sector agencies including Metro North Health. They’re intended to help agencies to effectively manage their workforces and to respond to strategic workforce challenges. They address a range of workforce issues such as long service leave, discipline and fixed term employment conversions. Note that not all directives apply to Metro North Health.

Terms and Conditions

Terms and conditions are the conditions of employment agreed to by an employee. They include job responsibilities, procedures, work hours, uniform requirements and pay rate. Most are set out in Enterprise Agreements or Certified Agreements. The Code of Conduct also forms an important part of the terms and conditions of employment.

Employee entitlements

Employee entitlements are the benefits employees are entitled to as prescribed by the relevant Award. They include wages or salary or pay, annual leave, long service leave, sick leave, overtime, shift allowances, superannuation and other employment benefits

What’s my role?

As a manager, it’s important that you know the rights and responsibilities of your staff as set out in Awards and Enterprise Agreements and that you follow policies and directives. You need to make staff receive the benefits they’re entitled to and that they fulfil their responsibilities. Often your staff will look to you for advice about employee entitlements.

What do I need to do?

Know where to find relevant documents. Know what they cover and when they apply. If you haven’t already done so, meet with your local HR Team. They can advise you when you need to clarify entitlements or processes.