6.0 CATEGORIES OF EMPLOYMENT
6.1. Categories
6.1.1 Employment at SBS under this Agreement will be based on programming and operational requirements. Under this Agreement, Employees may be engaged on the following bases:
(a) Ongoing Employment, where an Employee is engaged on a permanent and ongoing basis, which may be on the basis of either full-time or part-time hours.
(b) Limited-Term Employment, where an Employee’s employment will automatically terminate upon completion of a specified period or task, if not terminated earlier in accordance with any right to do so.
(c) Casual Employment, where an Employee is engaged by SBS on the basis that it makes no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work. Casual Employees are engaged by the hour and have no continuing employment relationship with SBS between engagements.
6.2. Limited-Term Employment
6.2.1 SBS will not engage employees as Limited-Term Employees as a substitute for probation, or to avoid merit-based selection processes where they are required.
6.2.2 Limited-Term Employees will be provided with a letter of engagement which specifies the relevant period or task. In the case of engagement for a specified task, the letter will include the nature and expected duration of the task.
6.2.3 If SBS proposes to offer a Limited-Term Employee a further period of employment in the same position, it will where possible advise the Employee of this at least 2 weeks before the end of their period of employment.
6.2.4 Ordinarily an Employee will not be engaged on a Limited-Term arrangement for more than 2 years, or more than 2 consecutive engagements (whichever comes first). A Limited-Term Employee who is on at least their second consecutive contract for a specified period or specified task may request to have their employment converted to Ongoing Employment.
6.2.5 A request under clause 6.2.4 must be made in writing to SBS.
6.2.6 SBS may agree to or refuse a request made under clause 6.2.4. A request made under clause 6.2.4 may only be refused on reasonable business grounds, which includes that it is known or reasonably foreseeable that the Limited-Term Employee’s position will not be filled on an Ongoing basis beyond the expiry of the Limited-Term Employee’s current contract for a specified period or specified task.
6.2.7 Where SBS intends to refuse a request made under clause 6.2.4, it must do so in writing and within 21 days of the date of the request, giving reasons for the refusal.
6.2.8 Where SBS intends to agree to a request made under clause 6.2.4, it must do so in writing and confirm to the Limited-Term Employee the form of employment to which the Limited-Term Employee will convert i.e. Ongoing Employment on either full-time or part time hours.
6.2.9 SBS will notify Limited-Term Employees of their right to request conversion to Ongoing Employment under clause 6.2.4.
6.2.10 Subject to clause 6.2.11, a Limited-Term Employee engaged for a specified task or specified period must not be engaged or re-engaged (which includes a refusal to reengage), or have their hours reduced or varied, in order to avoid any obligation in respect of the Limited-Term Employee’s right to request conversion to Ongoing Employment.
6.2.11 Despite clauses 6.2.4 and 6.2.6, an Employee may be engaged under Limited-Term Employment arrangements for more than 2 years/engagements, for up to 5 years without conversion to Ongoing Employment in circumstances where:
(a) either:
(i) they are backfilling for one or more Employees who are temporarily absent from their position(s), in which case they must be informed in writing at the commencement of the Limited-Term Employment that they are backfilling another Employee or Employees; or
(ii) they are engaged to perform a specific task and the position is not an ongoing one; and
(b) entry into the contract is permitted by the provisions of the FW Act dealing with fixed-term contracts.
6.3. Casual Employment
6.3.1 Casual Employees will receive a 22.5% loading in lieu of the following:
(a) paid leave entitlements (except long service leave); and
(b) the benefits provided for in clauses 39.3.2, 45, 49 and 50, Part 3 (Public Holidays, other than the penalty rate for working on SBS Holidays) and Part 4 (Leave) of this Agreement and corresponding entitlements under the NES which do not apply to Casual Employees, except unpaid leave required to be granted in accordance with the NES and long service leave (which will be provided in accordance with the provisions of the Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976).
6.3.2 The casual loading in clause 6.3.1 will be included for the purpose of calculating allowances, overtime and penalty payments.
6.3.3 Notwithstanding clause 50.6, an SBS Employee whose employment is terminated by reason of redundancy may apply and will be eligible for potential Casual Employment.
6.3.4 Casual conversion
(a) A “regular casual Employee” is a casual employee who has:
(i) been employed by SBS for a period of at least 12 months, and
(ii) during at least six months of that employment, worked a pattern of hours on an ongoing basis which, without significant adjustment, the Employee could continue to perform as a fulltime Employee or part-time Employee under the provisions of this Agreement.
(b) Subject to the remainder of this clause, SBS will make an offer of full-time or part-time employment to Employees who meet the definition of a regular casual Employee. Offers of full-time or part-time employment under this clause will be made in writing within the period of 21 days after the 12 month period referred to in clause 6.3.4(a) 6.3.4(a)(i) ends.
(c) Notwithstanding clause 6.3.4(b) above, SBS is not required to make an offer where there are reasonable grounds not to do so, based on facts that are known or reasonably foreseeable at the time of deciding not to make the offer. Without limitation, such reasonable grounds may include that it is known or reasonably foreseeable that, within the 12 months from when the offer would normally be made:
(i) the Employee’s position will cease to exist; or
(ii) the hours of work that the employee is required to perform will be significantly reduced; or
(iii) there will be a significant change to the days and times that work is required to be performed which cannot be accommodated by the Employee’s available periods.
(d) If SBS decides not to make an offer, it will write to the Employee advising of this decision, and the reasons for the decision, no later than 21 days from the period referred to in clause 6.3.4(b). (e) If an Employee has been employed for a period of at least 12 months and has in the last 6 months worked a regular pattern of hours on an ongoing basis which, without significant adjustment, they could continue to work as a full-time or part-time Employee under this Agreement, they may make a written request that their casual employment be converted to full-time or part-time employment as applicable. The request must specify the work arrangement to which the Employee wishes to convert (i.e. full-time or part-time).
(f) Clause 6.3.4(e) above does not apply if in the period of 6 months before making a request, an Employee has:
(i) refused an offer of casual conversion by SBS of the kind referred to in clause 6.3.4(b) and/or the corresponding NES provisions;
(ii) been given a notice by SBS that it has decided not to make an offer to them on reasonable grounds, of the kind referred to in clause 6.3.4(c) and/or the corresponding NES provisions; or
(iii) received a response from SBS refusing a previous request for casual conversion under clause 6.3.4(e) and/or the corresponding NES provisions.
(g) If SBS receives a request for conversion under clause 6.3.4(e), it will respond to that request in writing within 21 days after the request is given to SBS. If SBS declines the request, its response to the Employee will include reasons for its decision. SBS may decline a request, after consulting with the Employee, where it has reasonable grounds to do so in the same sense described in clause 6.3.4(c) above.
(h) If an Employee accepts an offer or SBS accepts a request under this clause, their new employment arrangements will have effect in accordance with the NES.
(i) Where this clause uses terms which are not defined in this Agreement, they have the same meaning as in the NES provisions dealing with offers of and requests for casual conversion.
7.0 PROBATION
7.1. All new Employees, with the exception of Limited-Term Employees, will have their performance (and if necessary due to the requirements of the position, medical fitness) assessed during a period of probation. New Employees will be notified in advance of their probationary period.
7.2. The probationary period will be 6 months for all Employees.
7.3. SBS may confirm an Employee’s appointment at any time during the probationary period.
7.4. SBS may waive the requirement for a new Employee to complete a period of probation if their performance (and, if necessary because of the requirements of the position, their medical fitness) has already been assessed within the SBS workplace. 7.5. Despite the other matters in this clause, trainees recruited to SBS will remain on probation for the entirety of their traineeship.