HR Policy – Hot Topics Philip Pearson Employee Relations Consultant Policy and Employee Relations Branch Human Resource Division

Hot Topics Outline for Today School Council Employment Fixed-term Employment Salary Progression Cycle Victorian Government Schools Agreement Update

School Council Employees School Council Employment School council employees are employed under Part 2.3 of the Education and Training Reform Act School council employee terms and conditions of employment are largely set out under Ministerial Order 200. The Order provides terms and conditions relating, but not limited to: Leave entitlements Salaries (for teachers and education support class) Allowances Attendance Requirements Unsatisfactory performance procedures And MORE

School Council Employees CRT employed behind a teacher on personal leave Where a CRT is employed to replace a teacher absent on personal leave that is anticipated to be thirty consecutive working days or less but the absence extends beyond thirty consecutive working days, the CRT must be offered employment on a fixed term basis in the Teaching Service. The duration of the fixed term employment will be until the teacher she or he is replacing returns to duty or the end of the school year whichever occurs first. In this case a fixed term offer of employment letter must be provided to the teacher. Schools Recruitment Unit will need to be contacted to give effect to the offer.

School Council Employees Entitlements of school council employees not employed as a teacher or ES? Order 200 provides for the entitlements of school council employees not employed as teachers or ES, except for wages. Under Ministerial Order 200, section –(1) The council may determine the salary of any employee for whose circumstances no provision is made in this Part. When determining the salary of the employee the school council must ensure the employee is paid no less than the minimum prescribed under a Modern Award. Minimum wage increases are applied to Federal Modern Awards on or after 1 July of each year.

School Council Employees Which Award? The Educational Services (Schools) General Staff Award 2010 should be referred to in the first instance when considering employees not employed as a teacher or ES. Positions provided for under the Award: –Canteen Assistant, Canteen Manager, Cooks –Grounds/Maintenance –Out of School Hours Care –Instructors/Coaches (sport/music) –And more!! To determine the rate: –Classification level and grade; –Salary Commencement level and prior experience; –Once minimum is identified, add casual loading (for casuals only) and any extra the school council wishes to pay to attract applicants.

Fixed Term Employment Employees will be employed ongoing except: –to replace an employee who is absent on leave of twelve months or less other than a parental absence; –for a fixed period of seven years to replace an employee on a parental absence; –a potential excess staff situation; –to undertake a specific project for which funding has been made available for a specified period of time; –for a fixed period of seven years specifically linked to Student Support Funding. –where a fully qualified teacher is not available and a less than fully qualified teacher is employed for a fixed period of time not exceeding five years. –to replace an ongoing employee who is on temporary transfer or secondment.

Fixed Term Employment Offers of further periods of Fixed-term employment: Clause 21(2)(ii) of the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2013 sets out : –(ii) A person employed in response to an advertised fixed term vacancy may be offered one further period of fixed term employment, without advertisement of the position, provided the position continues to satisfy the criteria set out in subclause (d). The further period of fixed term offered under this subclause cannot be for a longer period than the period set out in the original advertised vacancy. This can not be provided to employees transferred from another school who are employed on an ongoing basis. End dates of fixed term contracts (education support class) No prescribed end date under the Agreement or policy Principal can make a financial or a people focused decision No policy prescribing a re-hire date

Fixed Term Employment Temporary transfers vs fixed term employment (ongoing employees): Where an ongoing employee is the successful applicant for an advertised vacancy of twelve months or less the employee will be temporarily transferred to that position for the period of the vacancy. At the expiration of the fixed period the employee will return to his or her original school. If an ongoing employee is selected for a further fixed term position of twelve months or less at the same school: the temporary transfer will be extended and the employee (other than where that employee has priority status) will return to his or her original school at the expiration of the subsequent fixed period; or the employee must be offered permanent transfer to the position if that employee has priority status and the initial and subsequent fixed periods exceed twelve months in total at the same school. Note: There is no provision to allow a further period of employment to be offered without advertisement (unlike fixed-term employment).

Fixed Term Employment Documentation for a Temporary Transfer Generally an offer of employment is not required in respect of the transfer or promotion of an existing ongoing employee other than in respect of an assistant principal position. Principals should provide ongoing employees selected for promotion or transfer (other than assistant principal positions) with a letter setting out the: classification level and range (where applicable) tenure (such as leading teacher positions) number of days of attendance during school vacation periods (only for education support class and only where attendance during school vacation periods was specified in the advertisement) time fraction commencement salary commencement date.

Salary Progression Cycle Progression Cycle Salary progression cycle remains 1 May to 30 April Pre 1 March Notification The Agreement provides that: –If written notice of failure to meet the requirements for salary progression is not provided to an employee before 1 March, salary progression for that cycle must be provided to the employee. The written notice must communicate: –The standards of performance that are expected; –The areas of the employee’s performance that do not meet the required standards; –The consequences of continued or repeated failure to meet these standards; and –Provide the opportunity to enable improvement in performance to the required standard Note: Receiving salary progression does not mean the employee has satisfactorily met the required performance standards and does not prevent an unsatisfactory outcome on the Performance and Development Plan (PDP)

VGSA Negotiations Update Negotiations have commenced Notice of Employee Representational Rights was issued by the Department on 26 February 2016 More information can be found on the “Enterprise Bargaining” page on HR Web.

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