Teachers Collective Agreements: A Must-Read Guide for Every Educator and Employer in New Zealand

Collective agreements are an essential component of the employment landscape in New Zealand's education sector. 

There are different agreements that apply to different types of staff, each with its own scope, provisions, and legal requirements.

And so it’s not uncommon for employers to get caught up in the complexities of these agreements, especially with them being quite heavy with legal jargon.

Often what happens, as a result, is they get caught up in the details and miss important nuances - which can cause many non-compliance headaches down the road. 

In this blog, we'll provide a comprehensive overview of the collective agreements in the New Zealand education sector, breaking down the legal jargon and how they apply to different categories of staff.

We’ll also include practical examples to help you understand how they apply to your organisation. 

These agreements set out the group's employment terms and conditions, including wages, working hours, leave entitlements, and other benefits.  

In New Zealand's education sector, the NZEI (New Zealand Educational Institute) is the largest trade union representing teachers and governing the negotiations for teacher collective agreements.

You may be interested in reading about the NZEI collective agreement process. 

However, there are other trade unions across New Zealand, including the following: 

• Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA)
• Secondary Principals' Association of New Zealand (SPANZ)
• E tū
• Amalgamated Workers Union (AWUNZ)

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These agreements include the following: 

If an employee falls within the scope of any of the listed trade unions, these collective agreements will govern the employment relationship.

You might be interested in reading our comprehensive overview of the Support Staff in Schools Collective Agreement.

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This includes provisions related to wages, benefits, hours of work, overtime pay, and other terms and conditions of employment.

Example

Let's say that an early childhood education centre has an employee named Sarah, a member of the NZEI. 

The collective agreement that currently governs her employment relationship with the education centre is the Early Childhood Education Collective Agreement.

According to the definitions section of the agreement, Sarah falls under the permanent part-time early childhood teacher classification because she works less than 40 hours per week on a permanent ongoing basis. 

She also holds a recognised three-year early childhood teaching, so the education centre must apply that to her pay rate. 

Based on the above, Sarah works 30 hours per week, and her hourly pay rate is $25.00.

One week, due to a staff shortage, the centre needs Sarah to work an additional 5 hours, bringing her total hours worked for the week to 35.

Under the overtime clause of the collective agreement, Sarah is entitled to be paid at 1.5 times her hourly rate for the first 3 hours of overtime worked and two times her hourly rate for any additional hours worked beyond that.

Therefore, for the first 3 hours of overtime worked, Sarah should be paid at $37.50 per hour. For the additional 2 hours of overtime worked, Sarah should be paid $50.00 per hour. 

So, in total, Sarah should be paid for her overtime as follows:

3 hours of overtime at a rate of $37.50 per hour = $112.50

2 hours of overtime at a rate of $50.00 per hour = $100.00

Total overtime pay = $212.50

It is education centre’s responsibility to ensure that Sarah is paid correctly under the collective agreement's overtime clause. 

Based on this example, it’s clear that employers must correctly classify an employee based on their job responsibilities to determine their pay rate and hours of work.

Once the employer has determined these factors according to the relevant collective agreement, they can establish when the employee is eligible for overtime pay and how much they should receive for the additional hours they work beyond their regular schedule.

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This software can integrate an employer's payroll data with the terms and conditions of the collective agreement and automatically apply the relevant provisions to employee pay rates, hours of work, and overtime pay. 

It’ll also allow you to update payroll templates once a new collective agreement has been negotiated.

Automating this process can reduce errors and inconsistencies and ensure that employees are compensated fairly and in accordance with their collective agreements.

Additionally, cloud payroll software can generate reports and analytics that provide employers with valuable insights into their labour costs and productivity, which can help them make informed decisions about resource allocation. 

So, overall, cloud payroll software can streamline payroll processing and ensure compliance with collective agreement requirements while providing valuable data and analytics to employers.

How Can Pay Cat Help You Implement Cloud Payroll Software?

Pay Cat's team of experts can provide valuable training and support to help schools and education centres optimise their use of payroll software. 

We can assist with every aspect of software configuration and setup, ensuring that the transition from manual agreement interpretation and payroll processing is seamless and hassle-free.

By leveraging Pay Cat's expertise, education organisations can reduce the risk of errors and compliance issues while maximising the benefits of automated payroll processing. 

Our team will also provide hands-on support for software implementation, training on software functionality, and ongoing assistance to resolve any issues as soon as possible.

If you want to learn more about implementing payroll software to automate your collective agreement processes, contact us today. 

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