WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION. Industrial Relations Act 1979. Western Australian Government Railways Commission and Australian Railways Union of Workers, West Australian Branch. No. AG 66 of 1998. Westrail Customer Service Assistant Agreement 1998. COMMISSIONER P E SCOTT. 3 June 1998. Order. HAVING heard Mr D Johnston on behalf of the Applicant and Mr R Wells on behalf of the Respondent and by consent, the Commission, pursuant to the powers conferred on it under the Industrial Relations Act, 1979, hereby orders— 1. THAT the Westrail Customer Service Assistant Agreement 1998 in the terms of the following sched- ule be registered on the 18th day of May 1998; and 2. THAT this agreement replaces AG 8 of 1996. (Sgd.) P. E. SCOTT, [L.S.] Commissioner. 1.—TITLE This agreement shall be known as the Westrail Customer Service Assistant Agreement 1998. 2.—ARRANGEMENT 1. Title 2. Arrangement 3. Parties Bound 4. Application 5. Term of Agreement 6. Contract of Employment 7. Hours of Duty 8. Additional Hours 9. Optional Shifts WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 2431 78 W.A.I.G. 10. Location 11. Stand Down 12. Wages 13. Payment of Wages 14. Sick Leave 15. Absence from Duty 16. Public Holidays 17. Annual Leave 18. Long Service Leave 19. Bereavement Leave 20. Training 21. Uniforms 22. Information Acquired During Employment 23. Health and Fitness 24. Disputes Settlement Procedure 25. Number of Employees Bound by this Agreement 26. Signatories to the Agreement Appendix A—Transitional Provisions 3.—PARTIES BOUND This agreement shall be binding on the Western Australian Government Railways Commission and the Australian Rail- ways Union, West Australian Branch. 4.—APPLICATION This agreement replaces agreement No. AG 8 of 1996 and shall apply to employees of the Western Australian Govern- ment Railways Commission (the employer) employed in the classification of Customer Service Assistant, and, in respect of those employees the provisions of the Railway Employees’ Award No. 18 of 1969 shall not apply. 5.—TERM OF AGREEMENT This agreement shall operate for a period of 24 months from April 6 1998. 6.—CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT (1) (a) Probation—Current employees appointed/promoted. (i) An employee’s appointment to the position of Cus- tomer Service Assistant will be subject to a probationary period of six months. (ii) Subject to satisfactory performance an employee’s appointment will be confirmed at the conclusion of the probationary period. (iii) During the probationary period, if the employee’s performance is not satisfactory, the employer may give the employee one week’s notice and return the employee to the classification held immediately prior to the employee’s appointment to the Customer Serv- ice Assistant position. (b) Probation—New employees (i) A new employee’s appointment to the position of Customer Service Assistant will be subject to a pro- bationary period of six months. (ii) Subject to satisfactory performance an employee’s appointment will be confirmed at the conclusion of the probationary period. (iii) During the probationary period, if the employee’s performance is not satisfactory, the employer may terminate the contract of employment by giving the employee one week’s notice or payment in lieu of notice. (2) Except as provided in subclause (1) of this clause, the contract of employment may be terminated by— (a) the employee, by the giving of four weeks’ notice in writing, or the forfeiture of four weeks’ pay in lieu of such notice; or (b) the employer, by the giving of four weeks’ notice in writing, or the payment of four weeks’ pay in lieu of such notice, provided that where the employee is aged over 45 years and has more than two years continu- ous service, the period of notice shall be five weeks; provided that where mutually agreed a shorter period of no- tice may be given without payment or forfeiture of pay in lieu. (3) In the case of misconduct which contravenes the em- ployer’s rules or regulations, or misconduct which at law would justify summary dismissal, the contract of employment may be terminated without notice and without payment or forfei- ture of pay as provided in subclause (1) of this clause. 7.—HOURS OF DUTY (1) The ordinary hours of duty shall be as shown on the Customer Service Assistant Roster and may be worked over any days of the week Sunday to Saturday inclusive. (2) Rostered shifts— (a) Up to 12 hours may be rostered in any one shift. (b) No rostered shift shall be less than four hours. (c) Rosters shall provide for a minimum of eight days off duty in 28 days on average. (3) An employee will be entitled to a minimum of a 10 hour break between any two shifts set out under the roster. (4) Meals— (a) An employee will be permitted to take a meal at an appropriate time during any shift which exceeds five hours. (b) The timing of meals will be such as to cause the mini- mum of disruption to the service provided. (c) Meal breaks will have a nominal length of 30 minutes. (5) While the number of hours in each shift and group of shifts may vary, an employee will be expected to work an av- erage of 40 ordinary hours per week over the roster cycle. (6) Where an employee is required to work between 1800 hours and 0500 hours, the employee will be paid a shift allow- ance as shown in clause 12—Wages, for each ordinary hour worked between 1800 hours and 0500 hours. In calculating the shift allowance, broken parts of an hour less than 30 min- utes on any shift shall be disregarded and 30 minutes to 59 minutes will be paid as one hour. (7) Where, at the end of a roster cycle an employee has worked more ordinary hours during the cycle than the total number of rostered ordinary hours in the cycle, the employee shall be paid at the ordinary rate of pay for all extra hours in excess of 1.25% of the total rostered hours in the cycle. (8) Where, at the end of a roster cycle an employee has been required to work fewer ordinary hours during the cycle than the total number of rostered ordinary hours in the cycle, then to the extent that the shortfall in hours is not caused by ab- sence from duty (either with or without leave) the employee will be deemed to have worked the rostered ordinary hours. 8.—ADDITIONAL HOURS (1) An employee may be required to work additional hours immediately before or immediately after the employee’s rostered ordinary hours. An employee shall not be required to work more than 12 hours continuously. (2) An employee may be required to work additional shifts to meet exceptionally busy periods. These periods include, but are not restricted to— (a) Australia Day (b) Show Week (c) Christmas Pageant (d) Major football matches (e) New Year’s Eve (3) An employee required to work additional hours in cir- cumstances specified in subclauses (1) or (2) of this clause will be paid the additional hours rate per hour as shown in clause 12—Wages, for all such hours worked. Where an em- ployee is unable to work additional hours due to sickness, no sick leave will be payable for such hours. (4) In the event that an employee is required to work an additional shift as specified in subclause (2) and the shift is cancelled within 2 hours of its starting time the employee will be compensated by payment of two ordinary hour’s pay. (5) Except where the requirement for specific skills or knowl- edge makes it desirable to require a particular employee to work an additional shift, the employer shall endeavour to allo- cate additional shifts to employees covered by this Agreement on an equitable basis. WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 78 W.A.I.G. 2432 9.—OPTIONAL SHIFTS (1) In addition to rostered shifts (referred to in clause 7— Hours of Duty) and additional shifts (referred to in clause 8—Additional Hours), the employer may from time to time offer an employee the opportunity to work optional shifts, provided that should the employee elect to accept these op- tional shifts, then the maximum number of shifts, including ordinary shifts, the employee can work consecutively without a day off is nine. (2) An employee will be paid the optional shifts rate per hour as shown in clause 12—Wages, for all hours worked in shifts elected to be worked by the employee pursuant to subclause (1). 10.—LOCATION (1) (a) Employees will be appointed to a position of Cus- tomer Service Assistant on a line or at Perth. (b) For the purpose of paragraph (a) of this subclause a line shall be— (i) Armadale to Belmont Park; (ii) Currambine to Leederville; (iii) Fremantle to City West; (iv) Midland to East Perth. (c) An employee may be required to work at any location on the suburban rail system. (2) (a) Where an employee is appointed to a line and is re- quired to commence work on another line or at Perth and the travelling time can be incorporated within a roster, no addi- tional payment will apply, however, where the travelling time cannot be incorporated in a roster, the employee shall receive an additional payment of one hour’s pay at ordinary rates for each day that the employee is required to, and does, commence work on the other line or at Perth. (b) Where an employee is appointed to Perth and is required to commence work on any line, the employee shall receive an additional payment of one hour’s pay at ordinary rates for each day that the employee is required to, and does, commence work on a line. (c) For the purposes of this subclause “work on a line” and “work at Perth” means work in accordance with the roster for the line or for Perth as appropriate. (3) Nothing in this clause places any restriction on the loca- tions, whether on the railway line or elsewhere, at which an employee may be required to carry out the duties of the posi- tion. (4) Except where otherwise agreed between the employer and the employee, an employee shall commence and finish duty at the same location. 11.—STAND DOWN (1) Where on any day or part of a day, the employer is un- able to provide useful work for the employee as a result of— (a) industrial action, whether or not on the part of the employer’s employees; or (b) any cause outside of the employer’s control, the employer is entitled to stand down the employee and not pay the employee for the day or part of a day. (2) The employee may elect to have the day or part of a day on which the employee is stood down paid as annual leave if the employee has an entitlement to such leave. (3) If the employee is stood down, the employee will not be entitled to payment for any public holiday occurring during the period of stand down. (4) Any period for which the employee is stood down under the provisions of subclause (1) of this clause will count as service for the accrual of leave to which the employee would otherwise be entitled under this Agreement, provided that the employee resumes work as required at the end of the stand down period. 12.—WAGES (1) Each employee will be paid wages as shown in the table below which, other than as expressly set out in this agree- ment, includes all allowances, penalties and special rates whatsoever. Wages per Additional hours Optional shift Shift Allowance fortnight rate per hour rate per hour per hour $ $ $ $ Wage rate at date agreement is registered 1263.60 23.69 23.69 2.26 Wage rate at 12 months after date agreement registered 1288.87 24.16 24.16 2.26 (2) Except as provided in subclause 7(6) ordinary time pay- ment each fortnight shall be for eighty (80) hours irrespective of the rostered hours. 13.—PAYMENT OF WAGES (1) Wages shall be paid fortnightly. (2) All wages shall be paid into accounts (nominated by the employee) with a bank, building society or credit union. (3) If an employee is required to repay an amount to the employer, the amount to be repaid from any fortnightly pay will not exceed 10% of the employee’s base pay unless an- other arrangement has been agreed to between the employer and employee. The repayment may be for, but not limited to, overpayment of base rate, additional shifts, or allowances. 14.—SICK LEAVE (1) In the event of an employee being sick, the employee may be paid up to 80 hours sick leave each completed year of service for ordinary time lost from duty as a result of such sickness. (2) Sick leave will be paid for the actual rostered time lost due to sickness. (3) The employer may request a medical certificate for (a) any absence due to sickness which occurs after two separate absences without a certificate in any one year; or (b) absences due to sickness for two (2) or more con- secutive days. (4) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this clause, the employer may at any time request the employee to provide evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person of the authen- ticity of any absence claimed to result from illness. Evidence may be required regardless of whether or not the employee claims payment for the absence. (5) Any unused sick leave will accumulate from year to year. 15.—ABSENCE FROM DUTY (1) Any employee who is absent from duty due to illness or injury, shall, as soon as possible, advise the supervisor in suf- ficient time to permit arrangements to be made for the performance of the employee’s duties. (2) Any employee absent from duty, shall notify the super- visor of the date on which the employee will be able to resume duty in sufficient time to enable the necessary arrangements to be made. 16.—PUBLIC HOLIDAYS (1) “Public holiday” means any of the following days which are proclaimed to be public holidays in the State of Western Australia— • New Year’s Day • Australia Day • Labour Day • Good Friday • Easter Monday • ANZAC Day • Foundation Day • Celebration Day • Christmas Day • Boxing Day (2) Where an employee is not required to work on a day solely because it is a public holiday, the employee will be paid as if the employee were required to work on that day. (3) Where an employee is required to work ordinary hours on December 25 or on Good Friday, the employee will be paid an allowance of 50% of the ordinary hourly rate of pay for each ordinary hour worked on the day. (4) Except as provided in subclause (3) of this clause, where an employee is required to work on a day that is a public holi- day, the employee will not be entitled to receive any additional WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 2433 78 W.A.I.G. payment or to receive a day off in lieu because the day is a public holiday. 17.—ANNUAL LEAVE (1) Each employee is entitled to 160 hours paid leave per year for each completed year of service. (2) (a) A minimum of eighty (80) hours leave must be taken each year at a time or times acceptable to the employer and the employee, provided that where agreement cannot be reached the employer shall determine when the leave is to be taken. (b) An employee may request, and subject to mutual agree- ment may be permitted, to accrue leave up to a maximum of 320 hours. (3) Annual leave shall be paid at the rate of pay provided in clause 12—Wages, of this Agreement. (4) For the purpose of debiting annual leave, a day’s leave shall be deemed to be eight hours and a week’s leave shall be deemed to be 40 hours. (5) Employees resuming from annual leave will work the next rostered shift as shown on their roster on the day follow- ing the completion of the leave. 18.—LONG SERVICE LEAVE (1) After each ten years’ continuous service with the em- ployer, the employee shall be entitled to 13 weeks’ long service leave. The rate of pay for the employee on long service leave shall be the rate of pay provided in clause 12—Wages. (2) An employee will be entitled to pro rata long service leave only if employment is terminated— (a) by Westrail for other than disciplinary reasons; (b) due to the retirement of the employee on the grounds of ill health; or (c) due to the death of the employee, in which case the payment would be made to the employee’s estate. (3) (a) For the purpose of this clause, service shall include any period of leave approved by the employer except any form of leave without pay which exceeds two weeks, in which case only the first two weeks of such leave shall count as service. (b) Continuity of service shall not be broken by the absence of the employee on any form of approved leave or by the stand- ing down of an employee under the terms of this agreement. 19.—BEREAVEMENT LEAVE (1) On the death within Australia of — (a) the spouse, father, mother, brother, sister, child or stepchild of an employee; (b) father, mother, brother or sister of the spouse of an employee; or (c) any other person who, immediately before that per- son’s death, lived with an employee as a member of the employee’s family, that employee shall be entitled on notice, to leave of absence without deduction of pay. (2) Such leave of absence, up to and including the day of the funeral, shall be for a period up to but not exceeding the number of hours worked by the employee in three ordinary working days, having regard for the circumstances of the case. (3) Proof of death shall be provided by the employee to the satisfaction of the employer. (4) Payment in respect of bereavement leave shall be made only where the employee otherwise would have been on duty and shall not be granted in any case where the employee con- cerned would have been off duty in accordance with the roster, or on annual leave, long service leave, sick leave, workers’ compensation or leave without pay. 20.—TRAINING (1) The employer may establish a joint employer/employee committee to assess training requirements to enable employ- ees to carry out their role in a professional manner. (2) Training may be delivered on or off-the-job. (3) Provided the employer determines the training to be re- quired, the employer will meet all reasonable costs associated with the training. (4) Each employee must be prepared to undertake whatever training is necessary and qualify to carry out the employee’s role to the required standard. 21.—UNIFORMS (1) Each employee will wear and maintain the uniform pro- vided for the employee by the employer and present in a clean pressed uniform at all times. (2) Consultation will occur between the employer and em- ployee regarding the uniform to be provided. (3) Each employee will carry and use as required, all protec- tive clothing and equipment provided by the employer. 22.—INFORMATION ACQUIRED DURING EMPLOYMENT (1) Except as expressly authorised by the employer and re- quired by the employee’s duties, an employee shall not directly or indirectly reveal to any third party any confidential deal- ings, finances, transactions or affairs of the employer or any of its clients which may come to the employee’s knowledge during the course of employment. (2) The obligation imposed under subclause (1) of this clause shall continue to apply after the termination of employment without limits in time. (3) All records, documents and other papers, together with any copies or extracts thereof, made or acquired by an em- ployee in the course of employment, shall remain the property of the employer and must be returned to the employer on de- mand or otherwise no later than upon termination of employment. (4) Any changes, innovations and ideas initiated by an em- ployee during the course of employment with the employer, shall belong to the employer and the employee shall do all such things as are necessary to completely vest ownership of such matters in the employer. 23.—HEALTH AND FITNESS (1) To ensure that an employee is medically fit to carry out the duties in a satisfactory and safe manner the employee will, if required, undergo a medical examination with the employ- er’s Occupational Physician. (2) The employer will pay the costs of any medical exami- nation conducted by the employer’s Occupational Physician. However, subject to any policy to the contrary, the employee is responsible for any costs associated with any treatment of a condition identified by the employer’s Occupational Physi- cian. (3) The employee will, as required, undergo drug and alco- hol testing in accordance with the employer’s policies on the safety of personnel working on or about the railway system. 24.—DISPUTES SETTLEMENT PROCEDURE In the event of any questions arising between the employer and its employees about the meaning or effect of the Agree- ment, including any provisions implied in the Agreement by the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act, or any dispute arising during the term of this Agreement, the following pro- cedure will apply— (1) The employer and the employee will make every at- tempt to resolve the issue amicably and internally. (2) Reasonable time limits will be allowed to resolve any issue but it must be within 14 days of the dispute arising. (3) If the matter cannot be successfully resolved, the em- ployee may refer the matter to the union and the union and the employer will attempt to resolve the issue. (4) If the matter is still not resolved, either party may refer the question or dispute to the Western Austral- ian Industrial Relations Commission. Provided that persons involved in a question, dispute or difficulty are to confer among themselves and make reason- able attempts to resolve those matters before taking those matters to the Commission. (5) The parties covered by this Agreement will maintain and will not disrupt the provision of services to the public while disputes are being dealt with under this procedure. WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 78 W.A.I.G. 2434 25.—NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES BOUND BY THIS AGREEMENT The estimated number of employees bound by this agree- ment upon registration is 34. 26.—SIGNATORIES TO THE AGREEMENT The Common Seal of the Western Australian Government Railways Commission was hereunto affixed in the presence of signed Common Seal ................................. Acting Commissioner signed ................................. Secretary Date 24 / 4 /98 Signed for and on behalf of the Australian Railways Union, West Australian Branch by signed Common Seal ................................. State Secretary Date 15 / 4 /98 APPENDIX A—TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS The following provisions apply to an employee who, imme- diately prior to appointment to the position of Customer Service Assistant was employed by the employer. 1.—APPOINTMENT An appointment to the position of Customer Service Assist- ant shall not take effect until the appointee has successfully completed all the required training. 2.—ACCRUED LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS (1) Accrued sick leave entitlements up to the date of ap- pointment shall be transferred to the new position. The date of appointment shall be the date for commencement of sick leave entitlements under this Agreement. (2) Annual Leave— (a) Annual leave entitlements transferred to the position of Customer Service Assistant shall be treated ac- cording to the following formula— Annual Leave Entitlement (Hours) x Rate of Pay A Rate of Pay B where— (i) Rate of Pay A is the hourly rate of pay for the designated position occupied by the appointee immediately prior to appointment as a Cus- tomer Service Assistant; provided that where an employee immediately prior to appointment as a Customer Service Assistant is in receipt of a rate of pay in excess of the employee’s designated rate and has been so for a period of three months continuous with that time, the rate of pay for the designated position shall be deemed to be the rate which was paid for the majority of the three month period; and (ii) Rate of Pay B is one eightieth of the rate of pay expressed in clause 12 of this Agreement. (b) An employee may transfer annual leave entitle- ments accrued to the date of appointment as a Customer Service Assistant up to an equivalent of 320 hours after the application of the formula in paragraph (a). (c) The date of appointment shall be the date for the commencement of annual leave benefits under this agreement (d) Any annual leave entitlement accrued to the date of appointment and which is not transferred under the provisions of paragraph (b) shall be commuted to cash payment at the rate of pay defined in subparagraph (a)(i). (3) Any days in lieu of public holidays and accrued credit days shall be commuted to cash payment at the rate of pay defined in subparagraph (a)(i). (4) Long Service Leave— (a) Long service leave entitlements transferred to the po- sition of Customer Service Assistant shall be treated according to the following formula— Long Service Leave Entitlement (Weeks) x Rate of Pay C Rate of Pay D where— (i) Rate of Pay C is the weekly rate of pay for the designated position occupied by the appointee immediately prior to appointment as a Cus- tomer Service Assistant; provided that where an employee immediately prior to appointment as a Customer Service Assistant is in receipt of a rate of pay in excess of the employee’s designated rate and has been so for a period of 12 months continuous with that time, the rate of pay for the designated position shall be deemed to be the rate which was paid for the majority of the three month period; and (ii) Rate of Pay D is one half of the rate of pay expressed in clause 12 of this Agreement. (b) An employee may transfer long service leave enti- tlements accrued to the date of appointment as a Customer Service Assistant up to an equivalent of 13 weeks after the application of the formula in para- graph (a). (c) Any long service leave entitlement transferred in ac- cordance with subparagraph (b) shall be taken within three years of the date of appointment. (d) Any long service leave entitlement accrued to the date of appointment and which is not transferred under the provisions of paragraph (b) shall be com- muted to cash payment at the rate of pay defined in subparagraph (a)(i). (e) Where at the date of appointment to the position of Customer Service Assistant an employee has com- menced a seven year qualifying period for accrual of long service leave such qualifying period shall be adjusted on the following basis— Number of Months completed in 7 year qualifying period x 120 84 WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 2435 78 W.A.I.G. PUBLIC SERVICE ARBITRATOR— Awards/Agreements— Variation of— ELECTORATE OFFICERS ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 1996. No. PSA AG 139 of 1996.