Hours of Work

6.1 Application

This clause 6 applies to Employees other than shiftworkers. 6.2 Ordinary Hours

(a) The ordinary hours of work of full time employees shall be 36 hours per week and may be worked in accordance with this clause.

(b) The ordinary hours of part time and casual employees will be in accordance with clauses 5.3 and 5.4

6.3 The Maximum daily hours

Unless varied in accordance with this Agreement, the ordinary hours of work shall not exceed 8 hours on any day.

6.4 Span of Hours

Unless varied in accordance with this Agreement, the ordinary hours of work can be worked any time between the span of 6.00 am to 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday.

6.5 Cycle of Ordinary hours of work

(a) The ordinary working hours shall be worked in a 10 day/2 week cycle, Monday to Friday inclusive, with eight hours worked for each of nine days, and with 0.8 of an hour on each of those days accruing towards the tenth day, which shall be taken as a paid day off. The tenth day of the cycle shall be known as the RDO, and shall be taken in accordance with the principles in clauses 6.2 to 6.5 and the industry calendar as per clause 9.3. Payment on such an RDO shall include the daily Travel Allowance, and any applicable Site Allowance as prescribed by this Part B - Construction.

(b) Starting times

If there is no existing starting time in a workgroup, the starting time of the ordinary hours of work for the work group may be established by the Employer between 6:00am and 8:00am (unless regulatory requirements or exceptional circumstances exist that require a later start time or as otherwise agreed between the Parties). The starting time must be in accordance with the above principles in clauses 6.2 to 6.5 and the industry calendar as per clause 9.3.

6.6 Varying Cycle and Start and Finish Times

(a) The following matters may be varied by agreement between the Employer, the Union and the majority of the employees concerned, to accommodate the hours of work required for the most efficient and safe operation of the Employer and the requirements of its client.

(i) How the hours are to be averaged in a work cycle (ii) The duration of the work cycle

(iii) Rosters which specify start and finishing times

(iv) Arrangements allowing flexibility in taking of rostered days off (RDOs) (v) Daily maximum ordinary hours

(b) Where agreement is reached to work alternate hours, occupational health and safety principles will prevail. Proper health monitoring procedures will be introduced and suitable rosters clearly agreed prior to commencing work. Adequate supervision must always be provided.

(c) Illustrative example

Without limiting the operation of this clause 6, the types of working arrangements that may be implemented under these provisions include, by way of example: (i) a nine day fortnight (e.g. 9 x 8 hour days)

(ii) a four day week (e.g. 2 x 10 hour days and 2 x 8 hour days) (iii) a four day week (e.g. 4 x 9 hour days)

(d) 4 Day Week and Other Flexible Working Arrangements

(i) The ETU and NECA agree to fund a study to be undertaken by an agreed competent organisation (such as ACIRT) to examine the issues, advantages and disadvantages of a 4-day week or other similar working arrangements for the electrical construction industry.

(ii) The parties to this Agreement note that sub-clause 6.6 of the "Hours of Work" clause provides for the introduction of alternative hours of work arrangements by agreement between the Employer, Union and majority of effected employees which could include the introduction of the 4 day working week or other flexible working arrangements.

(e) Where agreement is reached to work alternate cycles, occupational health and safety principles will prevail. Adequate supervision must always be provided. (f) Each day of paid leave taken and any holiday occurring during any cycle shall be

regarded as a day worked for accrual purposes.

(g) By agreement between the Employer, the Union and the employees concerned, which will not be unreasonably withheld:

(i) daily maximum ordinary hours of 12 hours may be worked;

(ii) start and finishing times may be varied, provided that the start and finish times are not varied by more than 2 hours at either end of the span. 6.7 Staggered Start / Finish Times

It is recognised that operational difficulties may exist with all employees commencing work at the same time. Accordingly, the Employer may establish staggered start and finish times. Once introduced, these times may be varied by agreement between the Employer and the majority of employees concerned or an individual employee concerned to assist overcoming these operational difficulties. As a consequence, the time for taking breaks during the course of the day will also be varied.

6.8 Timeliness

All persons covered by this Agreement recognise that inefficiency may exist with work not commencing or finishing on time. In an endeavour to overcome this inefficiency it is agreed that employees will be ready to work at the rostered starting time and cease work at the rostered finishing time (subject to any requirement to work overtime).

6.9 Pro-rata Application

Upon commencement of employment, employees who have not worked, or who are not regarded as having worked a complete cycle, shall receive pro-rata accrual entitlements for the first RDO or group of RDOs falling after their commencement of employment. Thereafter, for the duration of employment with the Employer, RDOs will be, subject to accrual in accordance with this clause, paid in full as they occur.

6.10 Hourly Rate Divisor

The hourly rate for the purposes of the calculation of overtime is the weekly all-purpose rate contained in Appendix A for the relevant classification, divided by 36.

7

Overtime

7.1 Payment for working overtime

(a) For all work done outside ordinary hours, the rates of pay will be:

(i) Until 30 September 2011: time and a half for the first two hours and double time thereafter;

(ii) From 1 October 2011: double time.

provided that clause 7.1(a)(i) will apply and clause 7.1(a)(ii) will not apply for the duration of the projects set out in Appendix B Employer Specific Provisions. (b) Except as provided in clause 8.4, in computing overtime each day’s work will

stand alone.

(c) To avoid doubt, the payment provisions in this clause do not apply to continuous shift workers.

7.2 Reasonable overtime

(a) There is a requirement to work reasonable overtime. Subject to this requirement being met, it is not compulsory for an employee to work overtime in a particular case.

(b) On jobs where overtime is necessary, the work crew may be rostered so that each employee is not disadvantaged as to the amount of overtime worked (subject to the Employer being able to maintain appropriate levels of coverage as required to meet operational needs). On any day that overtime is worked there will be no necessity for all employees on that particular job to work.

(c) Excessive overtime shall not be worked. It is agreed that every effort shall be made to eliminate excessive overtime and create as many employment opportunities as possible. Any suggested and agreed measures to address this shall be discussed by the persons covered by this Agreement and reviewed regularly on all projects throughout the life of this Agreement.

(d) Overtime Limit

There shall be a maximum limit on overtime of ten hours per employee in total per week. Specific exemption for one off, emergency work may be agreed following application to the ETU detailing the nature of any emergency work and need for exemption. Agreement shall not be unreasonably withheld.

7.3 Minimum payment

An employee (other than a shiftworker) required to work overtime on a RDO, Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday prescribed in this Agreement must be paid a minimum of four hours at the relevant penalty rate, set out in clause 7.4.

7.4 Sunday and public holiday work

For employees other than shiftworkers, double time must be paid for work done on Sundays and double time and a half must be paid for work on any of the public holidays prescribed in this Agreement.

7.5 Call-back

(a) An employee recalled to work overtime after leaving the Employer’s business premises or the jobs at which the employee is engaged (whether notified before or after leaving) must be paid for a minimum of four hours’ work at the appropriate rate for each time the employee is so recalled.

(b) This will not apply where it is customary for an employee to return to work to perform a specific job outside normal working hours or where the overtime is

continuous (subject to a reasonable meal break) with the completion or commencement of ordinary working time.

8

Breaks

8.1 Meal breaks and rest breaks

(a) An employee, other than a continuous shiftworker, is entitled to an unpaid meal break of not less than 30 minutes.

(b) A continuous shiftworker will be entitled to a paid meal break of 20 minutes per shift.

(c) All employees will be allowed a rest break of 10 minutes, between the time of commencing work and the usual meal break. This rest break will be counted as part of time worked.

(d) The timing of meal breaks and rest breaks on any particular job may be discussed between the Employer and the majority of employees at a particular site and varied by agreement. Occupational health and safety considerations will always prevail.

(e) An employee shall not be compelled to work for more than six hours without a break for a meal. Where possible the normal meal break should be as near as practicable to the middle of the period of duty or shift in lieu thereof.

8.2 Payment for work during meal break

For all work done by employees other than a continuous shiftworker during the normal meal break and thereafter until a meal break is allowed, time and a half rates must be paid.

8.3 Rest breaks during overtime

(a) Crib Time on Construction Projects

(i) If the period of overtime is more than one and half hours (for all time prior to 1 October 2011) or two hours (for all time thereafter), an employee before starting overtime and after working ordinary hours, will be allowed a meal break of twenty minutes which will be paid at ordinary rates. (ii) In the event of an employee remaining at work after the usual ceasing

time without taking the crib time of twenty minutes and continuing at work for a period of more one and half hours (for all time prior to 1 October 2011) or two hours (for all time thereafter), he/she will be regarded as having worked twenty minutes more than the time worked and be paid accordingly.

(b) An employee must be allowed a paid rest break of 20 minutes after each four hours of overtime worked, if the employee is required to continue work after the rest break. Provided that where a day worker on a five day week is required to work overtime on a Saturday, the first prescribed rest break, if occurring between 10.00 am and 1.00 pm, must be paid at ordinary rates.

8.4 Minimum break between work on successive days or shifts (a) Employees other than shiftworkers

(i) When overtime work is necessary it must, wherever reasonably practicable, be arranged so that employees have at least 10 consecutive hours off work between ceasing the overtime work and commencing their next period of ordinary hours.

(ii) An employee (other than a casual employee) who works so much overtime between the termination of ordinary work on one day and the commencement of ordinary work on the next day that the employee has not had at least 10 consecutive hours off work between those times must be released after completion of the overtime until the employee has had 10 consecutive hours off work without loss of pay for ordinary working time occurring during such absence.

(iii) If on the instructions of the Employer an employee resumes or continues work without having had the 10 consecutive hours off work, the employee must be paid at double time until released from work for such period. The employee is then entitled to be absent until they have had 10 consecutive hours off work without loss of pay for ordinary working time occurring during the absence.

(b) Shiftworkers

(i) A shift worker, when going on shift, changing shift or returning to day work shall have at least 10 consecutive hours off duty on completion of the day work, shift and any overtime and shall not suffer any loss of pay for any ordinary time, or any ordinary shift time as is appropriate in the circumstances for any such off duty period.

(ii) Provided that, if on the instructions of the Employer, such an employee resumes or continues to work without having had such 10 consecutive hours off duty, the employee shall be paid at double time rates until released from duty and shall then be entitled to 10 hours off duty and shall not suffer any loss of pay for any ordinary time, or any ordinary shift time as is appropriate in the circumstances, for any such off duty period.