Terms of employment are the conditions that an employee and employer agree upon for a particular job, and generally include job responsibilities, pay, work days, hours, breaks, holiday and sick days. Terms of employment, including awards and enterprise agreements, must meet the Fair Work Act standards. For example:
- Entering into an award or agreement that contains discriminatory terms is unlawful. For example, the terms of an agreement cannot disadvantage someone because of their sex, age, religion or disability.
- Employers are required to include a ‘flexibility term’ in their awards and enterprise agreements, which allows the employee and employer to negotiate non-standard working conditions based on genuine need and individual circumstances. For instance, non-standard working conditions might be negotiated so that the worker can better manage their epilepsy.