Non Teaching Staff Conditions of Employment Effective as of 1 st April 2006
GEELONG GRAMMAR SCHOOL NON-TEACHING STAFF HANDBOOK INTRODUCTION This Handbook summarises the terms and conditions of employment for Non Teaching staff at Geelong Grammar School and should be read in conjunction with individual employment contracts, letters of appointment and relevant Awards, which may define additional entitlements. Reference has been made to Award based variations to terms and conditions of employment where relevant. This Handbook will be updated periodically to reflect changes and additions which may be made to conditions from time to time. A separate handbook defines associated policies and procedures that affect employment. Further information regarding the terms and conditions of employment contained in this handbook, associated Awards and School policies can be obtained from the Human Resources Department at the Corio campus. A BRIEF HISTORY Geelong Grammar School was established in 1855 as a school for boys in central Geelong. In 1914, the School moved to Corio and in the early 1970's, girls began attending. Geelong Grammar School is Australia s largest co-educational boarding school with approximately 800 full time boarding students (600 at Corio) and 1,600 students in total. The main campus at Corio is attended by full boarding and day students in Years 5, 6, 7 & 8 (Middle School) and 10, 11 & 12 (Senior School). Timbertop campus (near Mansfield) was established in 1953 and is attended by all Year 9 students on a full boarding basis. The Toorak campus in Melbourne (Pre-School to Year 6), and Bostock House campus in Geelong (Pre-School to Year 4) prepare students for Corio and Timbertop. Both campuses are day schools. Geelong Grammar School brings together a cross-section of students from within Victoria, interstate and overseas. It is an Anglican School with the motto Christis Nobis Factus Sapientia meaning In Christ is our Wisdom. As an employer, the School is committed to the development of its employees and encourages its staff to participate where practicable, in the broad areas of student and staff activity undertaken in the School and its broader community. Revised 1 st April 2006-2 -
INDEX Staff conditions and benefits Page Hours of work 4 Overtime 4 Lunch Breaks 4 Public holidays 4 Leave Entitlements 5 Superannuation 6 Remuneration Packaging 7 Jury Service 7 Termination 7 Redundancy 8 Grievance and Dispute Resolution 9 Stand Down 9 Accident Make Pay 9 Revised 1 st April 2006-3 -
STAFF CONDITIONS AND BENEFITS HOURS OF WORK Although employment contracts may vary, the general office hours at each campus are: Corio: Bostock: Timbertop: Toorak : 8.30-5.00pm 8.00-4.30pm 8.00-4.30pm 8.30-4.30pm The specific hours of work for each employee are defined in letters of appointment and or employment contracts and in consultation with Departmental Manager and Supervisors. OVERTIME On occasions, it may be necessary for staff to work over and above their normal hours of work as defined above. For weekly paid staff, overtime provisions may apply, however payment for overtime will not be made unless the overtime was authorised in advance by the relevant Departmental Manager or Supervisor. Alternatively, a time off in lieu arrangement may be mutually agreed. LUNCH BREAKS The commencement time and duration of lunch breaks will vary in each department (usually 30 minutes). At boarding campuses, a meal is provided in the dining hall during term. Staff are required to provide their own lunches during school holidays. PUBLIC HOLIDAYS All full-time and part-time employees will be entitled without loss of pay, to the following public holidays which fall on - New Year s Day, Australia Day, Labour Day, Anzac Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Queens Birthday, Melbourne Cup Day (Toorak/Timbertop), Geelong Cup (Corio and Bostock House), Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The School may request that some staff work on public holidays. Staff who are asked to work on public holidays are entitled to 2 days in lieu for each public holiday worked. The days in lieu are termed recreation days and are to be taken at a time mutually agreed with their Department Manager. Either the Human Resources/Payroll Departments (Corio and Bostock) or the Campus Business Manager (Toorak and Timbertop) must be notified when staff work on public holidays to ensure recreation days are to be recorded for leave purposes (see recreation leave). Revised 1 st April 2006-4 -
LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS Leave Applications Leave applications must be completed for all forms of leave taken, including annual leave, sick leave, long service leave, recreation leave, or any other paid or unpaid leave. The leave application must be approved by the responsible Departmental Manager or Supervisor and forwarded to the Human Resources/Payroll Departments (Corio and Bostock) or the Campus Business Manager (Toorak and Timbertop), for processing. Applications for leave other than short-term sick leave must be submitted prior to the commencement of leave. Annual leave All full-time employees are entitled to four weeks annual leave per year unless your employment contract/ letter of appointment states otherwise. Permanent part-time employees are entitled to four weeks annual leave on a pro-rata basis. Casual employees receive a casual loading and do not accrue annual leave. Monthly and weekly paid employees commencing annual leave for a period of one week or more will receive their holiday pay on their normal pay date, unless otherwise requested in advance of taking leave. Employees are expected to take their annual leave entitlement (excluding accrued leave) within 18 months of it falling due. The total of an employee s entitlement and accrual must not exceed 30 days at any time. Recreation leave As outlined in the section on Public Holidays, the School may request that some staff work on a public holiday which falls during the School term. Where a public holiday is worked, two days off with pay will be granted. These days are commonly known as recreation days and must be taken by the end of the School year in which they fall due. Sick leave All full-time employees are entitled to 15 days sick leave per year. Part-time employees are entitled to pro rata 15 days sick leave per year. Casual employees receive a casual loading and do not accrue sick leave. Sick leave must be reported to your Department Manager by 10am on the day of absence. An absence of more than two consecutive days must be supported by a valid medical certificate or statutory declaration. Failure to produce a certificate or statutory declaration may result in non-payment for that period. Long Service Leave Employees are entitled to Long Service leave in accordance with the provisions of the relevant Award or contract of employment covering their employment, which ever is the greater. Employees whose employment is terminated after seven years of continuous service are entitled to pro rata payment of long service leave. Further information about long service leave can be obtained from the Human Resources Department at Corio. Revised 1 st April 2006-5 -
Parental Leave Full-time and part-time non-teaching staff are entitled to a maximum of 24 months unpaid maternity, paternity and adoption leave (per child), after 12 months continuous service has been completed with the School. Parental leave must be taken within 24 months after the birth or adoption of the child. For the purposes of the adoption entitlement within this clause, the term child means a child of the employee under the age of five years who is placed with the employee for the purposes of adoption. Except for a period of up to eight weeks for paternity or maternity leave and three weeks for adoption leave, an employee and his or her spouse must take parental leave at different times. Unpaid parental leave will not break the continuity of service with the School, but will not count towards long service leave entitlements. Carers and Bereavement Leave Up to three days leave with pay (bereavement leave) shall be granted to an employee in the event of a death in the immediate family or household. An employee may use up to ten days of personal leave (sick leave) per calendar year, to care for a member of the employee s family or immediate household who is sick and requires the employees care and support (carers leave) or as additional bereavement leave on the death of a member of the employees immediate family or household (bereavement leave). An absence of more than two consecutive for the purpose of carers leave must be supported by a valid medical certificate or statutory declaration. Failure to produce a certificate or statutory declaration may result in non-payment for that period. Immediate family includes spouse, former spouse, defacto spouse and former defacto spouse (de facto spouse means a person who lives with the employee as the employees partner on a bona fide domestic basis) father, mother, child, step-child, siblings or step siblings, grandparent, and parents-in-law. SUPERANNUATION The School contributes a total of 9.5% of the employee s salary into an approved superannuation fund for each employee who earns over the required threshold. This payment is in addition to the employee s normal salary. Employees have the option to add personal contributions into the fund. For further information regarding superannuation, please contact the Payroll Department, Corio. Revised 1 st April 2006-6 -
REMUNERATION PACKAGING By agreement in writing an employee and GGS may agree to enter into a salary packaging arrangement on the following terms: a) a non-cash benefit may be provided to the employee in lieu of part of the salary payable to the employee; b) the amount of salary foregone shall be equal to the total cost to GGS of providing the non-cash benefit and shall be inclusive of all taxes, charges, levies and costs; c) the provision of the benefit in accordance with the written agreement will satisfy the obligations of GGS to pay the amount of salary foregone which would otherwise be payable to the employee. In the event that circumstances change so that the cost of providing the non-cash benefit increases or decreases the parties may vary their written agreement by instrument in writing to adjust the amount of the salary foregone. If agreement cannot be reached on a variation of the written agreement either GGS or the employee may by 2 weeks' written notice to the other terminate the salary packaging arrangement and revert to the payment of the salary provided the employee in full. Any cost incurred in ceasing the provision of a non-cash benefit shall be borne by the party giving notice of termination of the salary packaging arrangement. JURY SERVICE An employee called for jury service, must notify the relevant Departmental Manager or Supervisor of the times and dates that they are required to attend. The School will pay the employee s wages/salary for the period that they are required to attend jury service. Payment received for attending jury service must be forwarded to the Human Resources Department and marked payable to Geelong Grammar School. TERMINATION Unless otherwise stated in an individual contract or employment agreement, the required notice period to be provided by an employee and employer (GGS) is as follows - Years of Service Notice Period Under 1 year 1 week 1 year & less than 3 yrs 2 weeks 3 years & less than 5 yrs 3 weeks 5 years & over 4 weeks Where the appropriate notice is not given by the School, payment in lieu of notice will apply. The School reserves the right to withhold monies to the value of the period of notice not given by the employee, where the employee does not give the appropriate period of notice on resignation. Revised 1 st April 2006-7 -
REDUNDANCY Staff employed prior to the 1st April 2006, will maintain their existing redundancy provisions or the provisions contained below, which ever is the greater. Staff employed after the 1st April, 2006 are entitled the following provisions. In addition to the period of notice prescribed for ordinary termination, an employee whose employment is terminated by reason of redundancy will be paid the following amount of severance pay in respect of a period of continuous service: Period of Continuous Service Severance Pay Less than 1 year Nil 1 year but less than 2 years 4 weeks pay 2 years but less than 3 years 6 weeks pay 3 years but less than 4 years 7 weeks pay 4 years but less than 5 years 8 weeks pay 5 years but less than 6 years 10 weeks pay 6 years but less than 7 years 11 weeks pay 7 years but less than 8 years 13 weeks pay 8 years but less than 9 years 14 weeks pay 9 years and over 16 weeks pay Notwithstanding the above clause, a severance payment may be limited to the amount which the employee would have earned if employment with GGS had proceeded to the employee s normal retirement date. Revised 1 st April 2006-8 -
GRIEVANCE AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION The following procedure for grievance and dispute resolution procedure may be used by any employee when an informal method does not or cannot resolve the problem or concern of the employee. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Discuss the situation with the immediate supervisor/manager. If in the opinion of the employee the grievance or dispute is of such a nature that the employee does not wish to discuss it with their immediate supervisor/manager, then the employee may refer the issue to the Manager/Head of Department of the immediate supervisor/manager for resolution. If the employee is not satisfied with the outcome of the resolution process or period of time taken to resolve the matter, then the employee may refer the matter in writing to the Human Resources department for resolution. Every attempt will be made to resolve a grievance by discussions between GGS and the employee. This does not preclude the right of either party to seek advice from outside the School, nor does it necessitate such an approach. Where a grievance is not resolved by Step 1 and 2, GGS or the employee may seek the assistance of a union, employer association or other representatives in order that a further attempt may be made to resolve the matter. Where GGS and the employee are still unable to resolve the matter, either party may refer the matter for mediation by a mediator agreed between the parties or in default of agreement appointed by the Chairman of the GGS School Council, with the costs of the mediator to be borne equally by GGS and the Teacher(s). Either party may have the assistance of a representative at the mediation. STAND DOWN Geelong Grammar School may stand down an employee for any part of a day or days during which the employee cannot usefully be employed, due to a cause for which the School cannot be held responsible (i.e. power failure, strike etc) During this stand down period, the employee will be unpaid. Alternatively the employee may choose to take annual or recreational leave entitlements. ACCIDENT MAKE UP PAY Where an employee is incapacitated for work by reason of a work related injury or illness and becomes entitled to receive weekly payments under the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic), GGS must pay to the employee the difference between such weekly payments and the normal remuneration of the employee for a period or periods in the aggregate of up to thirty nine (39) weeks in respect of each such injury or illness but only for so much of that period as the employee remains employed by GGS. Revised 1 st April 2006-9 -