Introduction
Give the Notice of Employee Representational Rights (NERR) to employees to tell them that the bargaining process has started. You have 14 days after the date of notification.
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The laws covering agreement making changed on 6 June 2023. Use this information if your notification time is before 6 June 2023. If notification time for your application is on or after 6 June 2023, see Changes to making Agreements for a summary of the new laws.
1. Give the NERR to all employees within the deadline
As soon as possible, you must give the NERR to all employees who:
- the agreement will cover
- are employed on the date of notification.
The deadline is no later than 14 days after the date of notification.
We may not approve the agreement if you miss this deadline. Use our Date calculator for single enterprise agreements for help with timeframes.
You have to take reasonable steps to give employees a copy of the NERR, or access to the NERR. For advice, see Plan to communicate your new agreement.
You do not have to give a copy of the NERR to employees who you hire after the date of notification.
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Example of the deadline
14 May: You decide to start bargaining. This is the notification date.
15 May: You have 14 days to give the NERR to your employees, one clear day after the notification date.
28 May: You must give your employees the NERR no later than this date.
2. Record how and when you distribute the NERR
When you lodge your application, Form F17 asks you for:
- the date you gave the NERR to employees (if you did this on one day only) OR
- the last date you gave the NERR to employees (if you did this over multiple days).
If you miss the 14-day deadline, you will need to tell us why.
Keep a record of how you distributed the NERR. You will need to lodge this information with Form F17:
- How you gave your employees the notice (such as via email, mail), or gave them access to it.
- Information about the appointment of any bargaining representatives that employees give to you.