Agreements
Enterprise agreements and other registered agreements are agreements covering employers and employees that set out minimum employment terms and conditions.
On this page:
- Who do agreements apply to?
- Find an agreement
- Make an enterprise agreement
- Tools and resources
- Related information
Who do agreements apply to?
There are three types of enterprise agreements that can apply to employers and employees collectively. These are:
- single enterprise agreements (covering a single business or enterprise)
- multi enterprise agreements (covering more than one business or enterprise)
- greenfields agreements (covering new enterprises that don’t have any employees yet).
Other registered agreements can also apply to one business, a group of businesses, or an individual employee (but these types of agreements can’t be made anymore).
If an enterprise agreement or another registered agreement applies to employees in a workplace, no award will apply to those employees. However:
- the base pay rate in the agreement can’t be less than the base pay rate in the award
- the National Employment Standards still apply
- any terms about outworkers in the award still apply.
Enterprise agreements and other registered agreements apply until they are terminated or replaced.
For more information about types of agreements, visit Fair Work Commission – About enterprise agreements.
Find an agreement
You can find enterprise agreements and other registered agreements at Fair Work Commission website – Find an agreement.
Make an enterprise agreement
What needs to be included
There are certain terms that need to be included in all enterprise agreements. These include a:
- coverage term explaining who and what work will be covered by the agreement
- nominal expiry date for the agreement that must be within four years of the Fair Work Commission approving the agreement
- dispute resolution term referring certain disputes to the Fair Work Commission or an independent person or body
- flexibility term enabling an employee and the employer to agree to an individual arrangement varying certain terms of the agreement
- consultation term requiring employers to consult with employees if there are major changes to the business likely to have significant effects on employees or changes to regular rosters or ordinary hours of work.
What else can be included
Other terms that can be included in enterprise agreements include terms about:
- pay rates, including penalty rates
- overtime
- allowances
- hours of work
- leave entitlements
- deductions from wages that are authorised by an employee.
Enterprise agreements can also include other terms relating to:
- the relationship between an employer and their employees covered by the agreement or the relationship between an employer or employers and one or more unions
- how the agreement will operate.
The Fair Work Commission has more information on:
- how to make an enterprise agreement
- who can make an enterprise agreement
- what an enterprise agreement can include
- terminating enterprise agreements.
Visit Fair Work Commission – Enterprise agreements.
The Fair Work Commission can also help employers and employees with enterprise bargaining via their New Approaches: Cooperative Workplaces program. Find out more about New Approaches at Fair Work Commission – Cooperative Workplaces program.
Tools and resources
- Enterprise bargaining fact sheet
- Find an agreement – Fair Work Commission
- New Approaches: Cooperative Workplaces program – Fair Work Commission
