Understanding Your Obligations Under an ECE Collective Agreement in the Child Care Sector

As an employer, you are responsible for ensuring that your staff are treated fairly and compensated appropriately for their work. If you have employees of the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI), a union representing many early childhood educators, you may be subject to the terms of the Early Childhood Education Collective Agreement. 

This collective agreement outlines the minimum requirements for pay, working conditions, and other benefits for employees in the early childhood education sector.

However, navigating the collective agreement can be confusing, especially if you're unfamiliar with the collective bargaining process or the specific terms of the agreement.

In this blog post, we'll break down the key elements of the Early Childhood Education Collective Agreement to help you better understand your obligations as an employer and how to ensure that you're complying with the agreement

We also have a FREE ECE Collective Agreement eBook that you can use as a tool, whether you are new to the sector or looking to refresh your knowledge.

It will help you ensure that you meet your obligations under the collective agreement and provide a fair and supportive working environment for your staff.

Note: although the collective agreement has expired, it remains valid for up to 12 months after the expiry date until the collective bargaining process has been finalised.

Disclaimer: 

Please note that every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided in this guide is accurate. You should note, however, that the information is intended as a guide only, providing an overview of the general information available. This guide is not intended to be an exhaustive source of information and should not be seen to constitute legal or tax advice. You should, where necessary, seek a second professional opinion for any legal or tax issues raised in your business affairs.

It also covers employees who perform clerical and administrative duties in early childhood education centres, except for those who work for the employers: 

• Lincoln Hospitality Limited - Lincoln Childcare and Preschool Inc.
• Wellington Public Service Childcare Incorporated - Pipitea Childcare Centre
• Glenfield Community Centre Incorporated
• Mana Tamariki Incorporated
  
  

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Early childhood teachers/kaiako can be employed in different roles, including in relation to supervision, care, and education of children in licensed centres, as a coordinator of a home-based education service, or to provide supervision and care for children in out-of-school hours.

Permanent part-time early childhood teachers/kaiako work less than 40 hours per week, while part-year teachers/kaiako work less than 52 weeks in one year. 

Short-term relievers work for four consecutive weeks or less and are entitled to certain provisions of the agreement, while long-term relievers work for more than four consecutive weeks and are entitled to all the provisions of the agreement.

Clerical employees are primarily employed to undertake clerical and/or administrative duties, and their working hours differ depending on whether they are employed full-time or part-time.

Out-of-school care employees/kaimahi are employed in an out-of-school care and recreation programme or scheme, except where part of their employment is in a licensed early childhood education centre.

Leadership Positions 

The collective agreement also defines different leadership positions: 

• Senior Teacher/Tumuaki
• Head Teacher/Kaiako Kaiarahi
• Assistant Head Teacher/Kaiako Tuatahi
• Home-based early childhood Team Leader
• Home-based early childhood Visiting Teacher

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For employees in positions of leadership, such as senior teachers, head teachers, assistant head teachers, home-based team leaders, and home-based visiting teachers, the ordinary hours of work should not exceed 40 per week or 8 per day to be worked from Monday to Friday inclusive. 

However, these employees may be required to work outside or in addition to their ordinary hours from time to time to fulfil their position's requirements.

As salaried employees, they are expected to work some additional hours without additional payment, but if they are required to work more than one hour extra on any one day, they are entitled to either time off in lieu or additional payment at the ordinary rate of pay, as agreed between the employer and employee.

For qualified and certificated teachers, the ordinary work hours should not exceed 40 per week or 8 per day, to be worked from Monday to Friday inclusive between 7 am and 6 pm.

Like employees in leadership positions, qualified and certificated teachers may also be required to work outside their ordinary hours from time to time to fulfil their position's requirements.

If they are required to work more than 30 minutes extra on any one day, they are entitled to either time off in lieu or additional payment at the agreed rate.

For other employees, the ordinary hours of work should not exceed eight per day nor be less than two per day from Monday to Friday, to be worked between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm.

Note: Employees are not required to work more than their contracted hours unless they want to. But, they should ensure that no child is left alone or unattended.

Non-Contact Time

Early childhood teachers (kaiako) are entitled to non-contact time, which is time set aside for planning, assessments, portfolios, parent communication, and other non-direct teaching duties. This non-contact time should be 12.5% of their total work hours each week and can be accumulated up to a maximum of 5 hours. 

For example, if a teacher works 40 hours per week, they are entitled to 5 hours of non-contact time. If they work 10 hours, they are entitled to 1.5 hours of non-contact time.

During the non-contact time, teachers should be available to attend to emergencies if they arise. If a teacher has to work more than 35 hours of direct teaching in a week due to an emergency, the unused non-contact time can be carried over to the next month, or they can receive overtime pay.

On-Call Provisions

An "on-call" employee is someone who needs to be available to respond to emergencies even outside their normal work hours. 

For home-based early childhood team leaders or visiting teachers, they will be paid for their on-call time. The payment will be equivalent to two hours of their regular pay rate, or 2/2080ths of their annual salary, for a full week of being on-call. 

If they are on-call for only a portion of the week, they will be paid one-fifth of that amount for each day of being on-call.

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• 1.5 times their ordinary rate for the first three hours
• 2 times their ordinary rate for any hours worked beyond three hours, and if the work is done between 9 pm and 7 am, after midday on Saturday and before 7 am on Monday, or on a public holiday.

Any overtime worked is rounded up to the nearest quarter hour. 

Note: these overtime payment provisions do not apply to leadership positions or qualified and certified teachers, as discussed above. 

Example

Let's say that a teacher named Sarah normally works 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm, and her hourly wage is $20. However, her employer requires her to work an extra 3 hours on Friday to finish a project.

According to the collective agreement, any hours worked more than the regular 40 hours per week are considered overtime. So, for these extra 3 hours, Sarah would receive overtime pay, calculated as follows:

First 3 hours of overtime: time and a half.

Sarah's regular hourly wage is $20, so for the first 3 hours of overtime, she would be paid 1.5 times her regular rate, or $30 per hour. Therefore, she would earn $90 for these 3 hours of overtime.

Additional overtime hours: double time.

After the first 3 hours of overtime, any additional overtime hours are paid at double time. So if Sarah had to work an extra hour after the first 3 hours, she would earn $40 per hour ($20 x 2) instead of her regular hourly wage of $20.

What Happens if an Employee is Called Back to Work?

If an employee is called back to work after they've already finished their workday and left the workplace or are asked to start work earlier than their normal start time but don't continue working until then, they will be one and a half (1.5) times their regular wage. 

They will also be paid for at least two hours of work, even if they end up working for less than two hours.

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Public Holidays

All public holidays under the ECE collective correspond with the Holidays Act. 

You may be interested in reading our Guide to Employment Law NZ: Holidays Act 2003.

If you require your employees to work on a public holiday, the following payment conditions will apply: 

• If an employee works on a public holiday, you must pay them for the time worked plus half that amount again.
• Any time worked in excess of three hours on a public holiday should be paid at double time.
• Provide an alternative holiday in lieu of the public holiday.
• Part-time teachers should be paid for the holiday if it falls on a day they normally work.
• Part-year teachers should be paid for the number of hours they usually work on a public holiday or a pro-rata basis if the holiday falls outside their work period but on a day normally worked.
  
  

Annual Holidays

Beyond the annual leave provisions in the Holidays Act, the ECE collective agreement provides the following notes about taking annual holidays: 

• After one year of continuous service, employees are entitled to four weeks of paid annual leave.
• Employees can continue to accrue annual leave even when they're on parental leave, military service, sick leave, bereavement leave, or periods of leave without pay that are less than four weeks.
• The employer and the employee can agree on the timing of annual leave, but the employer can give two weeks' notice if there's no agreement.
• Annual leave should be taken at a time agreed upon by both the employer and the employee, except when the centre is closed for the Christmas/New Year holiday period. In that case, five days of annual leave can be taken at a mutually agreed-upon time.
• Employees with less than one year of service when the centre closes for the holiday period will be paid holiday pay as provided in the Holidays Act 2003. The date the centre closes will be considered the employment anniversary date for determining future holiday entitlements.
• After three years of continuous service with the same employer, employees are entitled to five weeks of paid annual leave instead of four.
• Employers must allow employees to take at least two uninterrupted weeks of annual leave each year.
• If an employee gets sick or injured, or if their partner or dependent gets sick or injured while on annual leave, the employer can allow them to take that time as sick leave instead.
• If an employee suffers a bereavement while on annual leave, the employer must allow them to take bereavement leave instead of annual leave.

Sick Leave

The sick leave provision in the ECE collective agreement provides more favourable leave terms than those proposed in the Holidays Act, including: 

• Employees who have worked for two continuous weeks are entitled to 12 working days of sick leave per year.
• Part-time and fixed-term employees will receive sick leave on a pro-rata basis, starting from their next anniversary on or after 24 July 2021, with a minimum of 10 working days.
• Sick leave can be used when an employee is sick or injured or when their spouse/partner or a dependent is sick or injured.
• Employees can accumulate up to 62 days of sick leave.
• If an employee takes more than three consecutive days of sick leave, they may need to provide proof of their illness or injury.
• Sick leave covers time spent attending doctor, dentist, or hospital appointments.

Other Types of Leave

Other than annual leave and sick leave, the ECE collective agreement proposes various other types of leave per the table below: 

You may be interested in reading our guide to the 16 types of leave your employees can take.

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Salaried employees receive an annual salary that includes their normal hours of work, attendance at meetings, and some additional hours. Waged employees, on the other hand, Waged employees are paid an hourly wage for all hours worked and receive overtime rates as specified earlier in this blog. 

Staff are compensated according to their classifications, such as: 

• Senior Teacher
• Head Teacher
• Assitant Head Teacher 
• Early Childhood Teacher
• Home-Based Team Leader
• Home-Based Visting Teacher
• Qualified (holds a recognised ECE teaching qualification either on leave 1, 2, 3 or 3+) 
• Certified 
• In-training 

You can read a detailed analysis of each classification in our eBook. 

Progression

The progression provision in the ECE collective agreement outlines how employees can progress through their pay scale. 

Full-time employees progress through their pay scale annually, provided their performance is competent. 

Part-time and long-term relieving employees progress through their pay scale after working 1440 hours since their employment anniversary.

If an employee improves their qualifications and moves to a higher step in their pay scale, the date they moved to the new step becomes their new anniversary date for progression through the scale. 

Example
Let's say there is a full-time early childhood teacher who started at step 2 on March 1st with a qualification level of Q3. On August 1st, this teacher improved their qualification level to Q3+ and moved to step 3 of the scale. They can move to step 4 of the scale after completing a year at step 3, which means they can move to step 4 on August 1st of the following year.

Early childhood teachers and short-term reliever employees will move up to the next step on their pay scale once they've worked 2080 hours since their employment anniversary, as long as at least 12 months have passed.

Higher Duties

If an employee in a leadership position works in a higher position for five or more days in a row, they will be paid on a higher salary scale based on the centre's staffing needs.

If an early childhood teacher agrees to work in a higher position for one or more days, they will also be paid on the higher salary scale determined by the centre's staffing needs.

The Salary and Wage Tables

You can find the salary and wage tables for each classification on pages 15-20 of the ECE agreement. Take note, however, that this is likely to change once the collective bargaining process is complete. 

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It is usually given for a specific reason, such as to compensate for expenses incurred in performing their job or to recognise a particular skill or qualification they possess that is not reflected in their base pay.

We have included a table of the different allowances in our eBook. 

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Collective agreements are agreements made between employers and employees or their unions, which set terms and conditions of employment that go beyond the minimum standards set by law.

These agreements often include provisions for wages, hours of work, leave entitlements, and other employment conditions. 

Although collective agreements provide a higher level of protection and benefits for employees, they can also add a layer of complexity to payroll compliance.

Manually interpreting and keeping track of the terms of the ECE collective agreement can be challenging for employers due to its complex nature. 

Therefore, utilising a cloud payroll software solution can help simplify the process and ensure accurate implementation of these conditions. 

Cloud payroll software can help automate and manage pay scales, sick leave entitlements, progression through scales, and payments for acting in higher positions, among other things. 

Here’s how Employment Hero works:

• Time and Attendance

Employees clock their time using NoahFace time and attendance software that syncs all data with Employment Hero's cloud payroll software.

• Live Timesheet Approval

No more manual entries or paper timesheet approvals. Supervisors and managers approve time and attendance on the go directly on Employment Hero.

• Automated Collective Agreement Compliance

Employment Hero makes it easy for payroll managers to pay staff correctly each and every pay run.

• Automated Payslips

Create and customise compliant payslips that can be easily accessed in the Employment Hero cloud.

• Payroll Complete In Under an Hour with Employment Hero

Never get it wrong. No back pay calculations. No inefficient manual interpretation. No data re-entry. Stress-free paydays that take less than an hour to complete!

If you’re interested in moving from a manual payroll system to Employment Hero, get in touch with us today for a free demo.