Section 1 - Technical matters

Title

1. This agreement will be known as the Australian Electoral Commission Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027.

Parties to the agreement

2. This agreement covers:
1. the Electoral Commissioner, for and on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia as the employer;
2. all Employees in the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) employed under the PS Act other than Senior Executive Service employees or equivalent; and
3. subject to notice being given in accordance with section 183 of the FW Act, the Community and Public Sector Union, which was a bargaining representative for this agreement.

Operation of the agreement

3. This agreement will commence operation 7 days after approval by the Fair Work Commission.
4. This agreement will nominally expire on 28 February 2027.

Delegations

5. The Electoral Commissioner may delegate to or authorise any person to perform any or all of the Electoral Commissioner‘s powers or functions under this agreement, including the power of delegation, and may do so subject to conditions.

National Employment Standards (NES) precedence

6. 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 AEC in any respect when compared with the NES.

Closed comprehensive agreement

7. 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.
8. This agreement will be supported by policies and guidelines, as implemented and varied from time to time.
9. Policies and guidelines are not incorporated into and do not form part of this agreement. To the extent that there is any inconsistency between policies and guidelines and the terms of this agreement, the terms of this agreement will prevail.

Individual flexibility arrangements

10. The AEC 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 AEC and employee in relation to one or more of the matters mentioned in clause 10.1; and
3. the arrangement is genuinely agreed to by the AEC and employee.
11. The AEC 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.
12. The AEC must ensure that the individual flexibility arrangement:
1. is in writing;
2. includes the name of the AEC and employee;
3. is signed by the AEC and employee and, if the employee is under 18 years of age, 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
5. states the day on which the arrangement commences.
13. The AEC must give the employee a copy of the individual flexibility arrangement within 14 days after it is agreed to.
14. The AEC 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 AEC and employee agree in writing – at any time.
15. The AEC and employee are to review the individual flexibility arrangement at least every 12 months.

Political neutrality

16. Political neutrality is an inherent requirement for all employees.
17. Employees must at all times, in connection with their employment, maintain political neutrality and not engage publicly in any political affairs.

Definitions

18. The following definitions apply to this agreement:

    AEC means the Australian Electoral Commission.

    APS agency means an agency whose employees are employed under the PS Act, including an agency as defined in section 7 of the PS Act whose employees are employed under that Act.

    APS consultative committee means the committee established by the APS Commissioner to consider matters pertaining to the (APS) employment relationship and of interest to the APS as a whole.

    Agreement means the Australian Electoral Commission Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027.

    APS means the Australian Public Service.

    Australian Defence Force Cadets means the Australian Navy Cadets, Australian Army Cadets, or the Australian Air Force Cadets.

    Bandwidth means the span of hours during which an employee can perform their ordinary hours.

    Base rate of pay means the rate of pay payable to an employee for their ordinary hours of work and does not include incentive based payments and bonuses, loadings, monetary allowances (except higher duties allowance), overtime or penalty rates, and/or any other separately identifiable amounts.

    Broadband refers to the allocation of more than one approved classification by the Electoral Commissioner to a group of duties involving work value applying to more than one classification under sub-rule 9(4) of the Public Service Classification Rules 2000. A broadband encompasses the full range of work value of the classifications contained within it.

    Casual employee (irregular or intermittent employee) means an employee engaged under section 22(2)(c) of the PS Act who:

    1. is a casual employee as defined by the FW Act; and
    2. works on an irregular or intermittent basis.

    CE Act means the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 as amended from time to time.

    Classification or classification level means the approved classifications as set out in rule 5 of the Public Service Classification Rules 2000.

    Child means a biological child, adopted child, foster child, stepchild, or ward.

    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. This includes a former de facto partner.

    Delegate means someone to whom a power or function has been delegated.

    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.

    Division means an Electoral Division for the election of a member of the House of Representatives (s4 of the CE Act).

    Electoral Commissioner means the Chief Executive Officer of the AEC referred to in section 18 of the CE Act, or their delegate as the context permits.

    Emergency Duty means when an employee is directed to return to duty to meet an emergency, outside the bandwidth, without prior notice.

    Employee means an employee of the Commonwealth engaged under section 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.

    Entry Level Program means a program for employees new to the APS, developed by either the AEC or other APS agency, which require successful completion of program outcomes, in addition to undertaking duties with the AEC.

    Evidence means information provided to support the claim of an entitlement under this agreement that would satisfy a reasonable person. This may include, but is not limited to, a medical certificate, an invoice or receipt, or statutory declaration, as the context requires.

    Family means:

    1. a spouse, former spouse, de facto partner or former de facto partner of the employee;
    2. a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the employee;
    3. a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of a spouse, former spouse, de facto partner or former de facto partner of the employee;
    4. a member of the employee’s household; or
    5. 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.

    Family and domestic violence has the same meaning as in section 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.

    Incremental advancement is the movement through salary increments within the salary range for a classification.

    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.

    Non-ongoing employee means an employee engaged under section 22(2)(b) of the PS Act for a specified term or for the duration of a specified task, and consistent with the FW Act.

    NES means the National Employment Standards at Part 2-2 of 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.

    Partner means a spouse (including a former spouse) or de facto partner (including a former de facto partner).

    Part-time employee means an employee whose ordinary hours are less than 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.

    PS Act means the Public Service Act 1999 as amended from time to time.

    Registered health practitioner means a person who is registered or licenced as a health practitioner (or a health practitioner of a particular type) under a law of a State or Territory.

    Relevant employee means an affected employee.

    RMP Act means the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 as amended from time to time.

    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.

    Settlement period means 4 calendar weeks commencing on payday Thursday and ceasing on the Wednesday before payday 4 weeks later. This equates to 150 ordinary hours for full time employees (pro-rata for part-time employees).

    Shiftworker means an employee who is rostered to perform their ordinary hours outside the  bandwidth, including public holidays and Christmas closedown, for an ongoing or fixed period. A fixed term shiftworker is an employee who is rostered to perform their ordinary hours as a shiftworker for a fixed period of at least 2 weeks, but less than 6 months. A Permanent shiftworker is an employee who is rostered regularly to perform their ordinary hours of work as a shiftworker on a permanent basis.