Countdown to your new enterprise agreement

All assets that are created as part of the education on the new draft agreement will be shared on the intranet. Leaders are welcome to share this link with their teams, and employees can also search for it.

Yes! Admin services who provide administrative support to frontline employees are will be covered under the agreement.

Disability services and administrative employees will be paid a first aid allowance if you are required by Endeavour Foundation to hold a current first aid certificate and provide first aid.

All employees covered under the proposed agreement can vote in the ballot. We believe this agreement will benefit all employees, with the impact varying depending on how everyone’s roster aligns with the terms of the agreement.

If you have any questions about how the new agreement will affect your take-home pay, we encourage you to reach out for more information.

It is not compulsory for you to vote, but we do encourage you to if you would like to have an impact on the result.

Should the outcome to the vote be a ‘no’ vote, our main focus will be sunsetting the current EFUCA back to the applicable modern awards prior to 7 December 2024.

To provide certainty and stability for employees, we will remain open to negotiating a new agreement in the future, however, will not do that in the immediate term.

Yes! We will be sending out the voting information via SMS as well, with instructions on how you can vote.

Yes, leaders will be notified of their teams’ rates when applicable.

The initial focus was to make sure you had the information, and you started to familiarise yourself with the proposed enterprise agreement.

From the 11th of September we’ll look to communicate to all employees how the proposed agreement impacts your classification.

This will include your current pay point, your current classification under the current agreement and the proposed pay point and proposed pay rate. We will make sure you have this information before the vote, so that you can make an informed decision around what that change looks like for you.

The classification level or pay points are determined by your current agreement, the new agreement as well as the underpinning awards.

Employees translate to the new wage structure based on the relevant level for those skills.

The pay point that they are assigned to is based on their length of service in their role.

Every 12 months, if you have been working regular hours, you are eligible for a progression to the next pay point in your pay level. This also applies to you if you are a casual.

The current agreement rates are based on the Modern Award rates, which are reviewed and updated each year by Fair Work. Fair Work take into consideration the cost of living and inflation when determining wage increases each year. The increases that Fair Work hand down will be passed onto employees under the proposed enterprise agreement, plus an additional increase each year.

The proposed agreement provides for penalty rates to be paid for ordinary hours of work worked on a Saturday or Sunday.

Yes, absolutely. Casual loading is included for work performed on weekends at the following rates:

• between midnight Friday and midnight Saturday – 175% of the ordinary rate of pay (inclusive of the casual loading).
• between midnight Saturday and midnight Sunday – 225% of the ordinary rate of pay (inclusive of casual loading).

Overtime is not capped and is determined by operational procedures.

However, due to the nature of overtime, we will try to reduce this for employees to assist in managing their work life balance.

Employees who are identified as shift workers under the agreement will receive the extra weeks leave once they have worked a minimum of 10 shifts in a 12 month period.

There is no minimum engagement for fulltime employees’ ordinary hours on a weekend, but a part time employee must be engaged for a minimum of 2 hours for any shift.

The penalty rates have been updated to align with the relevant modern awards.

In this scenario, you would be paid for 70 hours at ordinary rate. We will continue to pay people fortnightly, and you will be paid for the hours that you work during that fortnight.

If you work more than 5 hours, you are entitled to an unpaid break of no less than 30 minutes and no more than 60 minutes during your rostered shift.
If you are a supported services employee, you should take this break no more than 5 hours after starting work.
If you are a waste management employee, you should take this within 5 ¼ hours of your shift starting.
If you are required to work during a rostered unpaid meal break, you will be entitled to be paid overtime until you receive your unpaid meal break.

If you are unable to take an unpaid meal break during a shift because of the type of work that you do, we will roster you for a paid meal break at your ordinary rate of pay.

If there is the opportunity for staff to take their rostered meal break, then they are required to.

If you eat your meal alongside clients, you are paid for the usual half-hour “unpaid meal break.” The 0.25-hour allowance, which was previously granted to staff unable to take their meal break due to urgent circumstances, only applies under the current EFCA agreement.

We always encourage you to take your annual leave each year for your health and wellbeing.
If you can’t do this, and accrue an excessive amount of annual leave, you are able to cash this out.
You can cash out up to 2 weeks per year, as long as you still have 4 weeks leave balance remaining, once you have cashed out.
Please note, under the proposed agreement, ‘excessive’ leave accrual is classed as more than 8 weeks accrued annual leave, or 10 weeks for a shift worker.

The consultation around rosters will still occur and reflect best practice across the organisation. There will still be a notice period and a time for consultation before the change is implemented with a right for employees to be represented by a person of their choosing.

If you are Supported Services employee required to clean toilets for a major part of your shift you are most likely entitled to be paid the toilet cleaning allowance.

The additional long service leave accrual for existing employees will continue to be in place in the proposed agreement.

Redundancy clause is in line with the NES However we have increased the redundancy rate for 10 years of service, from 12 weeks to 14 weeks.

If you are over 45 and made redundant or your employment is terminated, you are entitled to receive an extra week’s notice period if you have been employed with us for over two years.

Yes! Casual employees who have worked for 12 months with a regular pattern of hours may make a notification to convert to full-time or part-time employment. Certain eligibility requirements need to be met for this to occur.

We have trained leaders to be able to give you as much information as possible for employees to make an informed decision, but we strongly recommend that you use the links provided to you.
You are welcome to join the online information sessions which will be hosted by People and Wellbeing, where you can hear more.
Alternatively you can contact the P&W team at [email protected] or on the Support Hub.
You can also submit an anonymous question here – responses will be shared on the intranet page as much as possible.

We hosted online information sessions in addition to the information sessions at team meetings. These meetings have now finished, but you are still welcome to send any questions to [email protected].

The proposed agreement has been drafted based on the bargaining representatives, which has included unions, self-represented employees, People & Wellbeing and leadership teams. The Union have communicated that they are supportive of a yes vote.

There are three (3) applicable awards that underpin the proposed agreement.

• Home and Community – SCHADS
• Work – SESA
• Recycling – Waste Management Award

The Fair Work Commission is a commission that overseas all employment matters across all organisations. The agreement our employees are on doesn’t matter in regard to still getting support from the Fair Work Commission.

So even after being on an agreement, you still can seek support from the Fair Work Commission. That doesn’t go just because you’ve been on the agreement. It’s very similar to things like our National Employment standards. Our National Employment standards are a set of standards that have been set and it really covers what’s the minimum obligations that the employer has in relation to any employment that covers the employees. If there are any changes to the National Employment standards, they flow through to all organisations regardless of whether they’re on an agreement or an award.

By moving on to an agreement, it gives you certainty and it locks in some of those real benefits that we do currently have under the EFUCA. The award absolutely is a baseline. 

The current EFUCA is over 15 years old and the parties have been negotiating a replacement agreement since late 2021. Benefits for our employees include, an above award wage offer, preserved benefits around LSL and paid parental leave, which improve on the award minimums.

This date was set by the Fair Work Commission. We did not have input into this date as it was aligned with a legislation change the Fair Work Commission implemented.

The unions have right of entry permits which enables them to follow a process and visit relevant Endeavour Foundation sites. The union notifies the People and Wellbeing team in advance of their visit so we can ensure the leader at the site is notified.

It has not been reduced. EFUCA has an allowance for 8, 9 or 10 hours but typically most people work to the 8 hours.. The proposed allowance is more than what is currently paid for an 8-hour shift allowance, it’s just that the 9 and 10 hours shifts can no longer be rostered due to the modern award. The sleepover allowance is aligned to SCHADs and as our employees who are rostered a sleepover of a continuous period of 8 hours, this meets the current conditions that people on SCHADs work under.

Yes, the sleepover allowance is aligned with SCHADS. For employees rostered for an 8-hour continuous sleepover shift, this complies with the current conditions set under the SCHADS award.

Ordinary hours of work for disability support workers are 38 hours a week or an average of 76 hours a fortnight. Any hours worked in excess of this, will be at the overtime rates.

While sleepovers are treated as non-working time, they are not considered to be a break between shifts.

This is classed as a broken shift and only applies to social and community service employees. The maximum span of hours for a broken shift is 12 hours, which will include either one or two breaks, and any hours exceeding this will be paid at double time. You will need to discuss these shifts with your leader.

The Disturbance Allowance has been enhanced in the proposed agreement. You will receive a minimum one hour at overtime rates, or for the duration of the disturbance if it goes longer than one hour.

In some circumstances, a make-up shift may be offered. However, if adequate notice is not given, and the staff member is not directed to attend work elsewhere for the shift, then they should be paid for the time they would have worked.

We currently have Home Site Supervisors who are full time and part time. The proposed enterprise agreement will not change the option to have part time and full-time positions available. Each role that is covered by the proposed enterprise agreement and has been reviewed and mapped to align to a level in the agreement. This includes the Home Site Supervisor. The Site Manager role is not covered under the proposed agreement, so is under a different remuneration structure.

All Modern Awards and enterprise agreements have classification structures, which provide high level information on the types of tasks and accountabilities that a role in each grade has. Whilst roles may perform different work, it is possible for them to be classified at the same grade, as they both have similar accountabilities. When we classify roles we need to follow the information that is in the underpinning Modern Award, which is SESA for the Employment Coach and Production Team Leader roles.

We understand that there is a need for some consistency in these roles moving forward and as part of the transformation project, these roles will be reviewed more closely, recognising that they do different things.

No, but this is good news. If the new EA is adopted, the market allowance will permanently become part of your base rate of pay. This will provide ECs and PTLS with greater certainty about their pay and removes the temporary nature of the current arrangement. 

We are committed to ensuring that no one will be financially disadvantaged by the proposed agreement. We will communicate your pay point to you directly before voting begins.

If the new EA is adopted, the market allowance will permanently become part of your base rate of pay. This will provide ECs and PTLS with greater certainty about their pay and removes the temporary nature of the current arrangement. 

New employment coaches or production team leaders will come under the classification of Level 5.

No, EC’s and PTL’s will not see their base rate of pay decreased from what they currently earn.

All roles covered by the enterprise agreement will be aligned to a new classification table within the proposed EA, determined by the work performed. EC’s and PTL’s are currently aligned to the Support Employment Services Award (SESA). These roles are mapped to level 5 in the proposed EA.

No one will be worse off. If your current base rate is higher than the level 5 classification pay rate you will continue on your current rate.  If your current base rate is lower than the level 5 classification pay rate, your rate will increase. In mid-September we will let EC’s and PTL’s know how this affects them personally.

Yes! If this clause applies to you, you must have the same starting time for the same day of each week however this can be changed with at least 7 days’ notice.

If the proposed agreement is voted in favour of by a majority of employees, we will be looking at how this will impact the wider organisation, including how this would be reflected on the salaries of our managers.

This allowance applies to supported service employees and waste management employees. If a Leading Hand is required for a task, this person will be employed as such and is entitled to the Leading Hand allowance. This is paid at a Level 2 or below for supported service employees. You can find more information in the allowance schedule.

Our DAP employees are not covered under the current EFUCA, however they have been included in the coverage for the agreement and will receive their individual impact statement.

The proposed enterprise agreement does not cover production manager roles, so this will not impact on the remuneration of these roles. The remuneration for these roles is covered in the Remuneration framework which is reviewed on an ongoing basis.

The Waste Management Award 2020 is one of the awards that are underpinning the draft agreement, meaning that this has absolutely been considered. There have been bargaining representatives from employees, ASU and AWU to bargain for you and your colleagues.

Yes! If this clause applies to you, you must have the same starting time for the same day of each week however this can be changed with at least 7 days’ notice.

The coverage for our enterprise agreement is mainly centred around clients. It will cover anyone who provides direct support to a client, or anyone who directly supervises someone who provides support to a client. It will also cover any administration roles that provide direct support for someone supporting a client. For example, if your role provides direct administration support to a Support Worker, your role may be covered.