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Flexitime

Date last modified: 22/08/12
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Introduction

1. Flexitime is a system of attendance whereby individual employees select their starting and finishing times from day to day, subject to the concurrence of their Head of Work Unit and the requirements of the organisational unit within which they work.

2. The following provisions apply where employment is governed by the University's current Enterprise Agreement. Flexitime arrangements governed by other industrial instruments may differ.

Definitions

3. The following definitions apply in the application of these provisions:

  • 'Employee' refers to full-time professional employees.
  • An 'employee's contract hours' are seven daily and 140 for a four week settlement period.
  • 'Ordinary hours' for professional employees are 35 hours per week, to be worked during the normal hours of operation of the University, between 9.00 am to 5.00 pm Monday to Friday inclusive.

Entitlement

4. The availability of flexitime is dependent on the needs of the workplace and should be negotiated by the employee and their supervisor.

Hours of Attendance

5. Unless another 12 hour span of hours is otherwise agreed between the employee and the Head of Work Unit, flexitime may be worked between 7.00 am to 7.00 pm Monday to Friday, inclusive.

6. Normally, the period during the span of hours that an employee is required to be on duty, unless on authorised leave, is between the hours 9.30 am to 3.30 pm, Monday to Friday, inclusive.

7. An employee may only elect to work up to ten hours in any one day, subject to the availability of work as determined by the supervisor.

8. An employee may be directed to work more than 10 hours in any one day as a consequence of:

  • Plant, equipment, network, software or system failure;
  • An emergency or other condition that if not rectified would compromise the normal functioning of the University and or the safety of staff, students or the public; or
  • An abnormal peak workload demand.

    In which case, overtime rates are paid for those hours worked in excess of seven. Both ordinary hours worked and approved overtime are recorded on the employee's attendance record in MyHR.

9. An employee may revert to working ordinary hours by consent or at the direction of the University with one month's notice.

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Contract Hours

10. An employee's contract hours are seven daily or 140 for a four week settlement period.

Accumulated Flexitime Credits or Debits

11. The University will specify the dates of each four week settlement period. At the end of each flexitime period the cumulative total of hours worked is compared with the contract hours (140 hours for full-time employees) and the difference is recorded as a carryover debit or credit and transferred to the next flexitime period.

12. The maximum credit or debit that may be carried from one settlement period to the next is 15 hours. At the end of each settlement period, credits in excess of 15 hours are forfeited, and debits in excess of 15 hours will be debited against accrued recreation leave or taken as leave without pay where the employee has no accrued recreation leave entitlement. Supervisors must make every effort to ensure that an employee does not consistently or unreasonably forfeit excess credit hours.

13. Where an employee obtains the prior written approval of the relevant Executive Member, credit hours can be accumulated up to a maximum of 35 hours. Such approval is conditional on:

  • The flexitime being used by or during a specified date or period;
  • More than one day's flex leave being taken in following settlement periods until the excess hours are exhausted; or
  • The employee claiming payment at the ordinary rate of pay for all or part of the excess credit hours.

14. Accumulated flexitime credits will not be paid out on cessation of employment.

15. Where an employee has an accumulation of debit hours at the completion of the last day of service, any monies owing to that employee will be adjusted accordingly.

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Overtime

16. Except in the circumstances detailed in 8, and where employees are working standard hours, overtime will not be paid for any time worked within the span of hours 7.00 am to 7.00 pm Monday to Friday inclusive.

17. An employee is not entitled to claim time worked as overtime unless the work was authorised as overtime by their supervisor. Where an employee elects to work more than seven hours in any one day, no right to overtime payment exists.

Meal Breaks

18. The normal meal break is one hour. The maximum meal break is two and one half hours, and any meal break in excess of one hour requires approval by the employee's supervisor.

19. The minimum meal break is 30 minutes.

20. An employee will not be required to be on duty more than five hours from their commencement time without a meal break.

Taking Flexi-leave

21. Unless otherwise varied in accordance with paragraph 13, the flexi-leave entitlement of an employee will be either one full day or two half days in any settlement period, subject to the prior approval of the supervisor as to when the flexi-leave is to be taken.

Eligibility for Other Types of Leave

22. Where an employee takes approved leave, other than flexi-leave, the leave will be debited from the employee's leave entitlement as follows:

  • Where an employee intended to work on a particular day but did not do so and later applied for leave, a seven hour debit to their leave entitlement applies and their attendance record will show them as being on seven hours approved leave for the day; and
  • Where an employee worked on a particular day and applied for leave for part of that working day, the debit against their leave entitlement will be seven hours less the number of hours worked on that day. Their attendance record will show them as being partly on duty and partly on approved leave for the day and the total hours for the day will be seven.

23. Once a period of flexi-leave has commenced, other forms of leave (such as sick leave) cannot be substituted for the flexi-leave.

Variations to the Standard Flexitime Agreement

24. Variations to the standard flexitime agreement may be put in place through a process of consultation, and subsequent written agreement between the University and affected employees. Variations currently exist for gardening and outdoor staff, library staff and technical staff.

Updated: 09 April 2013