This offer of employment is a legal expression of the employer’s intentions. The range of choices will depend on the entity which employs the employees as well as individual considerations. The possible choices available are:
Award — for which award covers the relevant employees, see Award Links. An award should always be supplemented by a written contract of employment settling out the minimum period of notice required to terminate the employment.
Enterprise (‘group’) Agreement — this is made between an employer, groups of employees and (sometimes) unions. All industrial relations systems in Australia make provision for this type of agreement. An enterprise agreement should always be supplemented by a written contract of employment for each individual employee covered by it, which sets out the minimum period of notice required to terminate the employment.
Written Contract of Employment — this can be expressed in a letter format.
Combination of award and written contract — this is common for award-covered employees. Note: It is important that the written contract does not attempt to override award conditions. If this is desired, consider an Enterprise Agreement. Individual Flexibility Agreement (Agreement-covered), Individual Flexibility Agreement (Award-covered), all of which are available on HR Advance.
Combination of Enterprise Agreement and written contract — this is common for Enterprise Agreement-covered employees. Note: It is important that the written contract does not attempt to override the Enterprise Agreement conditions. If this is desired, consider using an Individual Flexibility Agreement.