19 Practical Tips for Handling Your School EBA

The single most overlooked document in most school leaders’ professional lives is the one that governs nearly every people decision they make. An enterprise bargaining agreement is not background noise. It is the legal framework within which every performance conversation, every disciplinary process, every roster change, and every difficult staffing decision either stands or falls. And yet the vast majority of principals admit they do not know their EBA well enough to use it confidently.

School leaders consistently rank workforce management as one of the most time-consuming and stressful dimensions of their role. Research commissioned by the Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey consistently identifies personnel management and conflict resolution as among the top stressors for principals. Despite this, the enterprise agreement that governs those situations often sits unread in a filing cabinet or, at best, is only consulted when a problem has already escalated past the point of easy resolution.

The goal of this article is to change that. Whether you lead a government school, a Catholic school, or an independent school, whether your EBA is negotiated through the Australian Education Union, the Independent Education Union, or a school-specific employer body, the principles of reading, applying, and leading within an enterprise agreement are remarkably consistent. Understanding your EBA is not a legal exercise reserved for HR consultants. It is a core leadership skill.

Jonno White is the bestselling author of Step Up or Step Out, a practical guide to difficult conversations and managing underperforming people that has sold more than 10,000 copies globally. He works with school principals and leadership teams across Australia on the conversations that EBAs require but cannot script. He knows from experience that the schools who navigate industrial relations most confidently are not the ones with the most expensive lawyers. They are the ones whose principals lead with clarity, consistency, and the courage to have the right conversations at the right time. If your team would benefit from a workshop that turns EBA compliance into practical leadership, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Why Your EBA Matters More Than You Think

An enterprise bargaining agreement is a legally binding document made between an employer (in most school contexts, a governing body, diocese, or state education department) and employees, typically represented by a union, under the framework of the Fair Work Act 2009. In schools, these agreements cover teachers, school support staff, and in many cases administrative and operational employees. They set out minimum pay rates, classification levels, hours of work, leave entitlements, disciplinary procedures, grievance processes, consultation obligations, and much more.

The reason it matters so profoundly to a school principal is simple: you are the person on the ground who applies it. Your HR department or employer body may have sat at the bargaining table. Your school’s governing board may have ratified the agreement. But you are the person whose daily decisions are tested against its provisions. When you ask a teacher to change their duties, the consultation clause applies. When you begin a performance management process, the disciplinary clauses govern every step. When you approve or deny leave, the entitlements in the agreement determine whether your decision will withstand challenge.

The consequences of getting it wrong are serious. An adverse action claim can expose your school to significant financial liability and reputational damage. An unfair dismissal application can unravel years of legitimate performance management if a single procedural step was missed. A poorly handled grievance can turn a manageable staffing issue into a full tribunal proceeding. Research from the Fair Work Commission’s annual report shows that education and training is consistently one of the top five industries for unfair dismissal applications lodged in Australia, reflecting the highly unionised and legally informed nature of the school workforce.

The good news is that the same agreement that creates these obligations also gives you the tools to act. A clear disciplinary clause is not a constraint on your authority. Understood and applied correctly, it is a framework that protects your decisions and gives you a fair, defensible path through even the most difficult staffing situations. To book Jonno White to run a workshop for your school leadership team on navigating difficult people situations within the requirements of your enterprise agreement, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

How This List Was Compiled

These 19 tips were developed from research across current Fair Work Commission guidance, independent school sector enterprise agreements, legal commentary from employment lawyers specialising in Australian education, and Jonno White’s direct experience working with school principals across government, Catholic, and independent school sectors. They cover the full spectrum of a principal’s interaction with an enterprise agreement, from the first time you read the document through to handling a formal grievance process. They are written for Australian school principals and are grounded in the Fair Work Act 2009 and current enterprise bargaining practice. Tips 1 through 5 address how to read and understand your EBA. Tips 6 through 10 address daily compliance. Tips 11 through 15 address performance and misconduct management. Tips 16 through 19 address grievances, disputes, and the relationship with your union.

Know Your Document

This is the foundation everything else rests on. Before you can apply your EBA confidently, you need to know what is in it, where the key clauses live, and what obligations fall directly on you as principal rather than on your governing body or HR department.

1. Read Your EBA From Cover to Cover at Least Once

This sounds obvious. Almost nobody does it. An enterprise agreement in a school context can run to 80 or 150 or even 200 pages, and most principals acknowledge they have only ever read the sections directly relevant to a problem they were already trying to solve. That reactive approach means you will always be a step behind.

Set aside a weekend or use a professional development day to read your current agreement from beginning to end. You do not need to memorise it. You need to understand its structure, know the broad categories it covers, and develop a mental map of where to look when a question arises. Many principals who complete this exercise for the first time report a significant shift in confidence: the document is less intimidating than they expected, and the practical obligations are clearer than HR briefings had implied.

Pay particular attention to the sections on disciplinary procedures, consultation obligations, leave entitlements, classification and pay, workload provisions, and the dispute resolution procedure. These are the clauses you will return to most frequently. Bookmark them, annotate your copy, and update your notes whenever the agreement is renewed. For a structured workshop on translating your EBA into practical leadership decisions, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

2. Know the Difference Between What the EBA Says and What Actually Happens

Enterprise agreements establish floors, not ceilings. They set the minimum obligations an employer must meet. At many schools, informal arrangements have developed over years that differ from what the agreement actually specifies. Some of these informal arrangements are more generous than the agreement requires. Some are inconsistent with it. And some have simply become habitual without anyone checking whether they remain lawful.

As a principal, you need to distinguish between obligations that come from the EBA and practices that come from custom. When you make a decision that changes a longstanding arrangement, even one the EBA does not require you to maintain, staff may experience it as a breach of their agreement. The conversation is very different depending on whether the practice is genuinely in the agreement or simply established by convention. Before changing any longstanding working arrangement, check your EBA and, if necessary, consult your employer body’s HR support team.

3. Identify Which Employees Are Covered by Which Provisions

Not all staff at your school are covered by the same enterprise agreement, or even by the same provisions within an agreement. Teachers and school support staff frequently have different pay scales, different workload provisions, and sometimes different dispute resolution processes. Casual, fixed-term, and ongoing employees have different entitlements. In many independent and Catholic schools, some staff may be covered by a Modern Award rather than an enterprise agreement entirely, particularly if they were engaged on different terms before the current agreement came into effect.

Creating a simple reference document that maps staff categories to their relevant agreement provisions is one of the most practical steps a principal can take. It does not need to be complex. A one-page summary of who is covered by what, and the top five clauses relevant to their employment, is sufficient and will serve you well when a specific situation arises. Jonno White works with school leadership teams to build the clarity and communication structures that prevent industrial issues from compounding. Bring Jonno in to facilitate a half-day session for your leadership team at jonno@consultclarity.org.

4. Understand Your Obligations as Distinct from Your Governing Body’s

In most school contexts, you as principal are an employee of your governing body, diocese, board, or state education department. The governing body is the “employer” for Fair Work Act purposes. That means some obligations under the enterprise agreement rest with the governing body, not with you personally. The decision to formally terminate employment, for example, typically requires sign-off at the governing body level. The obligation to notify the Fair Work Commission of bargaining for a new agreement rests with the employer entity, not the principal.

Understanding this distinction matters because it defines where your authority ends and where you need to escalate. Many principals take on too much personal liability for decisions that should go upward. Others escalate unnecessarily and delay action that sits squarely within their authority to take. A clear conversation with your line manager, HR team, or employer body about the boundaries of your authority under the current agreement is time well spent, particularly when a staffing issue first emerges rather than after it has escalated.

5. Stay Across Changes When Your Agreement Is Renewed

Most enterprise agreements have a nominal expiry date of three to four years. When the agreement expires, it continues to operate until a new one is made or terminated. Bargaining for a new agreement is typically conducted at sector level, but you will be directly affected by whatever is negotiated. New agreements frequently change workload provisions, introduce new leave entitlements, modify disciplinary procedures, or adjust consultation obligations in ways that affect your day-to-day decisions.

When your governing body, diocese, or department notifies you that a new agreement has been made, do not wait for a briefing session that may or may not cover the details that matter to you. Get the agreement, compare it to the previous one, and identify the changes that will affect your role. Ask your HR support team for a summary of the key changes and their operational implications at school level. The first term of a new agreement is when mistakes are most commonly made, simply because leaders are still operating on assumptions from the old document.

Jonno White’s book Step Up or Step Out, available at https://www.amazon.com.au/Step-Up-Out-Difficult-Conflict/dp/B097X7B5LD, gives principals a practical framework for the conversations that EBA changes sometimes require with staff.

Daily Compliance Without Daily Anxiety

Understanding the document is only half the job. The other half is translating it into the dozens of daily operational decisions you make as a school leader, from approving leave requests to managing timetables to authorising overtime.

6. Build EBA Compliance Into Your Decision-Making Habits

The most common compliance failure in schools is not willful breach of the enterprise agreement. It is the habitual decision made without pausing to check whether the agreement applies. A principal approves a workload arrangement without checking the maximum hours clause. A deputy modifies a staff member’s duties without triggering the consultation obligation. A performance conversation is documented in a way that conflicts with the prescribed disciplinary process. None of these are intentional breaches, but each creates real legal exposure.

The practical fix is simple: build a checking habit. Before making any decision that changes a staff member’s working conditions, duties, pay, or performance status, pause and ask: “Is there an EBA clause that governs this?” If you are not sure, check. The two-minute consultation with your HR support team or a quick search of your agreement document is far cheaper than the weeks of process that follow a challenged decision. For more on how to have the conversations EBA compliance sometimes requires, read Jonno White’s blog post at https://www.consultclarity.org/post/how-to-have-that-difficult-conversation-with-an-employee.

7. Keep Contemporaneous Records of Every Significant Staff Interaction

This is the single most underestimated compliance practice in schools, and the single most consequential when a matter reaches the Fair Work Commission. “Contemporaneous” means recorded at the time or immediately after, not reconstructed weeks later when a grievance is lodged. A note made on the day of a conversation carries significantly more weight in a tribunal than a note made after the dispute has been escalated.

Your records do not need to be formal or elaborate. An email to yourself summarising a conversation, a brief file note with the date, the key points discussed, and the agreed outcomes is sufficient. The critical habits are: date everything, record what was said and agreed rather than just what was decided, and keep records in a consistent location that is accessible to you but secure from general staff access. Employment lawyers who specialise in school industrial relations consistently identify the absence of contemporaneous documentation as the single most common reason winnable cases become losable ones.

8. Understand Your Consultation Obligations Before You Change Anything

Enterprise agreements in the school sector almost universally contain consultation clauses. These require the employer to notify affected employees when a decision has been made that will significantly affect their working arrangements, give them the opportunity to respond before the change is implemented, and genuinely consider their response. Consultation is not the same as agreement. You do not need staff consent to make a legitimate operational decision. But you do need to follow the process.

Principals most commonly breach consultation clauses by announcing changes rather than consulting on them. The distinction is not merely semantic. A genuine consultation process involves sharing the proposed change, explaining the reasons and the intended timeframe, inviting feedback, and documenting that the feedback was considered before implementation. In practice, this does not need to be bureaucratic. A structured conversation at a staff meeting, followed by a written summary, will often meet the obligation. What will not meet it is sending an email on a Friday afternoon announcing a change effective the following Monday.

9. Apply EBA Provisions Consistently Across All Staff

Inconsistent application of the enterprise agreement is one of the most common sources of grievances and adverse action claims in schools. If you approve flexible working arrangements for one staff member but refuse the same request from another in comparable circumstances, without a legitimate operational reason for the difference, you are creating significant legal exposure. If you apply the disciplinary process rigorously to one teacher but overlook similar behaviour from another, the affected teacher has a strong adverse action argument.

Consistency does not mean treating every situation identically, because circumstances genuinely differ. It means applying the same framework, the same process, and the same standards of evidence across all situations. When making a decision that differs from a previous one, document the operational reasons for the difference. The test is not whether the outcomes are the same. The test is whether the process was applied fairly and the reasoning was legitimate and lawful. Engaging Jonno White to run a leadership alignment session can help your leadership team develop consistent approaches to the staff decisions that carry the most legal risk. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

10. Get Legal Advice Early, Not Late

The most expensive thing a principal can do in an industrial relations matter is wait until it has escalated before seeking legal advice or HR support. At the point where a grievance has been lodged, an unfair dismissal application has been filed, or an adverse action claim is in motion, your options have narrowed significantly and the costs, in time, money, and relationship damage, have multiplied.

Most Catholic and independent schools in Australia have access to employment law advice through their employer body, whether that is the Catholic Education Commission, an Independent Schools Association, or a similar peak body. Government school principals have access to legal and HR support through their state department. These resources exist precisely to be used early. A ten-minute conversation with your HR team or legal adviser at the point where a performance issue first becomes apparent is worth ten hours of support once the issue reaches formal proceedings. Build the habit of flagging issues early and using available support proactively rather than reactively.

Managing Performance and Misconduct Within Your EBA

This is the area where most principals feel the most exposed, and where the gap between knowing the agreement and applying it confidently is most consequential. The enterprise agreement is not designed to protect underperforming employees from accountability. It is designed to ensure that accountability processes are fair, transparent, and lawfully conducted. When you understand it that way, the EBA becomes a tool that supports your authority rather than a constraint on it.

11. Follow the Disciplinary Process in Your EBA Exactly as Written

Most school enterprise agreements contain detailed disciplinary procedures that specify the steps the employer must follow before formal action can be taken against an employee. These steps typically include putting the employee on notice that their conduct or performance is of concern, providing them with an opportunity to respond, offering them the right to have a support person or union representative present, and following a prescribed sequence of warnings before more serious consequences are applied.

Failing to follow these steps, even in a case where the employee’s conduct is clearly unacceptable, creates a procedural fairness problem that can undermine the entire process. The Fair Work Commission has repeatedly upheld unfair dismissal claims from employees whose termination was substantively justified but procedurally deficient. The standard is not whether the employee deserved the outcome. The standard is whether the process was fair. Before beginning any disciplinary process, open your EBA and read the relevant clauses in full before you take a single step. Jonno White’s bestselling book Step Up or Step Out is a practical guide to having these conversations with clarity and confidence, available at https://www.amazon.com.au/Step-Up-Out-Difficult-Conflict/dp/B097X7B5LD.

12. Have the Difficult Conversation Before It Becomes a Disciplinary Matter

One of the most consistent themes in employment law commentary about schools is this: principals and school HR professionals avoid difficult conversations, the problem compounds, and an industrial issue eventually reaches boiling point. The absence of early direct feedback is not kindness. It is the most expensive decision a principal can make.

The research bears this out. Research from the Chartered Management Institute found that 57 percent of managers would do almost anything to avoid a difficult conversation. Principals who develop the habit of addressing concerns early, directly, and in a way that gives the staff member a genuine opportunity to improve, protect themselves legally and protect their staff members from a process that is far more distressing than an early honest conversation.

For more on building this habit, check out Jonno White’s blog post at https://www.consultclarity.org/post/signs-avoiding-difficult-conversation. Or read the 25 tips for difficult conversations at https://www.consultclarity.org/post/25-crucial-tips-for-handling-difficult-conversations.

13. Understand the Difference Between Misconduct and Serious Misconduct

Enterprise agreements and the Fair Work Act draw a clear distinction between misconduct and serious misconduct, and the procedural obligations and available responses differ significantly between the two. Misconduct is conduct that falls below the required standard but does not justify immediate termination: repeated lateness, failure to follow reasonable instructions, behaviour that undermines team culture. Serious misconduct is conduct so grave that it justifies summary dismissal without notice: violence, fraud, criminal conduct, or in schools, conduct that puts children at risk.

In the school context, an allegation involving child safety can override normal procedural requirements in ways that other misconduct processes cannot. As the case Parris v Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia T/A St Kevin’s College [2021] FWC 2341 established, the significant gravity and extent of serious misconduct involving a student can outweigh the school’s procedural failings in a way that other situations cannot. This is a narrow exception, not a general licence to skip process. In the vast majority of situations, the prescribed process must be followed. When child safety is at immediate risk, seek legal advice immediately, document your reasoning contemporaneously, and act through your governing body rather than as an individual.

14. Separate the People Management Conversation from the Industrial Process

A common mistake principals make is conflating the day-to-day people management work with the formal industrial process. These are distinct. Day-to-day management, setting expectations, providing feedback, having direct conversations about performance, is a leadership activity that should happen continuously and does not require the formal disciplinary provisions of the EBA to be invoked. The EBA’s disciplinary process is a formal escalation path that becomes relevant when day-to-day management has not resolved the issue.

Conflating the two creates problems in both directions. Principals who treat every performance conversation as a disciplinary matter create an adversarial dynamic and trigger union involvement prematurely. Principals who never formalise a genuine performance issue, relying instead on informal chats that leave no record, find themselves unable to defend a termination decision when the time comes. The sequence should be: clear expectations, feedback conversations, documented informal warnings, and only then the formal disciplinary process set out in the EBA. Jonno White helps school leaders navigate exactly this sequence. Bring him in for a half-day workshop with your leadership team. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

15. Build a Performance Improvement Plan That Meets EBA Requirements

When a staff member’s performance is not meeting the required standard and day-to-day feedback has not produced improvement, a formal Performance Improvement Plan is typically the next step. Most school enterprise agreements either prescribe or assume the use of a structured PIP process. A well-designed PIP sets clear, measurable expectations, a reasonable timeframe for improvement, the support that will be provided to the staff member, and the consequences of failing to meet the required standard.

A PIP that is vague, unrealistically short, or focused on subjective assessments rather than specific observable behaviours will not withstand scrutiny. A PIP that does not offer genuine support will be challenged as a process designed to manufacture grounds for dismissal rather than to genuinely support improvement. The goal of a PIP should be exactly what it says: improving performance. When it is designed and conducted with genuine intent, it protects both the school and the staff member and creates a defensible record regardless of the outcome. Jonno White is an experienced author and consultant in managing underperforming people. To engage Jonno for a school leadership session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Handling Grievances and Disputes

Even the best-managed schools face grievances. An enterprise agreement grievance is a formal claim by an employee that the agreement has been breached or misapplied. How a principal handles the initial stages of a grievance often determines whether it is resolved quickly or escalates into protracted disputation.

16. Respond to Grievances Quickly and Take Them Seriously

The grievance procedure in most school enterprise agreements sets out defined timeframes for the employer to respond at each stage. Missing these timeframes, or responding with dismissive or inadequate responses, is itself a breach of the agreement and can inflame a situation that might otherwise have been resolved informally. A grievance is also a signal. It tells you that a staff member believes something has gone wrong and feels strongly enough about it to put it in writing. Even where you believe the grievance is without merit, treating it seriously and responding promptly demonstrates good faith and reduces the risk of escalation.

Your first response to a grievance should acknowledge receipt, confirm the process that will be followed, and give the staff member a clear timeframe for the substantive response. It should not be a pre-emptive defence of your decision or a challenge to the staff member’s interpretation. Neutrality and process adherence in the early stages of a grievance are the most powerful tools you have. For a structured workshop on handling difficult staff situations including formal grievances, engage Jonno White at jonno@consultclarity.org.

17. Understand the Role of the Union Representative in Your School

Under the Fair Work Act and most school enterprise agreements, employees have the right to be represented by a union official or a union delegate in disciplinary proceedings and grievance processes. For many principals, particularly those new to the role, the presence of a union representative at a meeting can feel adversarial. It does not need to be.

A union delegate who is present at a disciplinary or grievance meeting is performing a legitimate and lawful function. They are there to support the employee and ensure the process is followed correctly. When you understand your own obligations and follow the process exactly, the presence of a union representative becomes far less threatening. Problems arise when principals treat the union representative as an obstacle, try to exclude them from meetings where they have a right to be present, or react defensively to their questions. The most effective principals develop professional, respectful working relationships with union delegates in their schools, not as a concession, but because it makes the management of difficult situations smoother for everyone.

18. Know When to Escalate and When to Resolve Locally

Not every grievance or industrial dispute needs to go to the Fair Work Commission. Most enterprise agreements include a multi-step dispute resolution procedure that begins with informal resolution at the school level, escalates to senior management or HR, and only reaches external arbitration or conciliation if internal resolution fails. Escalating too quickly, before genuine internal resolution has been attempted, is both expensive and relationship-damaging.

The principal’s role in dispute resolution is to engage genuinely with the internal steps, maintain contemporaneous records of each step, and ensure that the staff member’s concerns have been heard and given genuine consideration. Genuine consideration does not mean agreement. It means demonstrable engagement with the substance of the concern. When internal resolution has been genuinely attempted and is not progressing, escalating through your employer body’s HR team to seek external conciliation assistance from the Fair Work Commission is the appropriate next step. Attempting to resolve a genuine impasse without expert assistance usually prolongs rather than shortens the dispute.

19. Invest in Your Own Industrial Relations Literacy as a Leader

The principals who navigate enterprise agreements most confidently are not those who have perfect legal knowledge. They are those who have made industrial relations literacy part of their ongoing professional development, alongside curriculum leadership, wellbeing, and strategic planning. Your EBA is a living document in a living legal environment. The Fair Work Act continues to evolve, with significant amendments made through the Secure Jobs Better Pay legislation in 2022 and the Closing Loopholes amendments in 2024. Staying current does not require a law degree. It requires curiosity, a habit of reading the HR updates from your employer body, and a willingness to ask questions before problems arise rather than after.

Join your state principal association’s network sessions on industrial relations. Attend your employer body’s briefings when a new agreement is made. Read the Fair Work Ombudsman’s guidance materials. Follow employment lawyers who specialise in the education sector. And when you have a question you cannot answer, pick up the phone to your HR team rather than making an assumption. Jonno White works with school principals across Australia on the leadership skills that underpin industrial relations confidence, including difficult conversations, performance management, and team culture. To bring Jonno in for your school, email jonno@consultclarity.org. International travel is often far more affordable than clients expect.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Understanding what not to do is often as valuable as knowing what to do. The following mistakes are drawn from employment law commentary, Fair Work Commission decisions in the school sector, and Jonno White’s direct experience with school leadership teams.

The most costly mistake is the pastoral substitution trap. Schools, particularly those with a faith dimension, frequently substitute pastoral care for industrial process. When a teacher is struggling, the instinct is to support them pastorally and avoid the formality of a performance process. This is understandable and often appropriate in the early stages of an emerging concern. The problem arises when pastoral support continues indefinitely, no formal concerns are raised, no documentation is kept, and then an employment decision is made based on performance that was never formally managed. The pastoral approach is not wrong. The absence of parallel documentation and process is.

The second major mistake is inconsistent application of the EBA, particularly around flexible working requests, leave approvals, and workload arrangements. If you have approved an arrangement for one staff member and refuse a comparable request from another without documented operational reasons, you are creating adverse action exposure. Apply your framework consistently, document your reasoning when you make exceptions, and review your decisions periodically for unintended patterns.

The third mistake is treating HR support as a last resort rather than a first call. Employment law in the school sector is complex, jurisdiction-specific, and evolving. Your employer body’s HR team exists to support your decisions before they become contested. Using that support proactively is not a sign of weakness or indecision. It is sound risk management. Make the call before you make the decision, not after the grievance lands.

The fourth mistake is allowing the fear of union reaction to prevent legitimate management action. A well-founded, procedurally correct performance management process or disciplinary action will withstand union scrutiny. The cases that unravel are the ones where the process was flawed, the documentation was absent, or the principal acted on emotion rather than evidence. Manage people on the basis of clear expectations, consistent application, and good documentation, and the agreement will support your authority rather than undermine it.

The fifth mistake is not updating employment contracts when staff members’ roles change significantly. A teacher appointed to a deputy principal role on a contract that still describes them as a classroom teacher creates complexity if the employment relationship later becomes contested. Update contracts when roles change materially, and ensure the contract correctly reflects both the EBA entitlements and the additional responsibilities of the new role.

Implementation Guide: Your First 90 Days of EBA Literacy

Whether you are stepping into a principal role for the first time or you have been leading your school for years, this 90-day framework gives you a practical sequence for building genuine EBA confidence.

In the first month, focus on reading and mapping. Obtain the current enterprise agreement (or agreements if your school employs staff under multiple instruments) from your governing body or employer body’s HR team. Set aside time to read the full document. Create a personal reference guide that maps the five to eight clauses most relevant to your daily decisions. Note the nominal expiry date so you know when bargaining for a new agreement is likely to begin.

In the second month, focus on consistency and documentation. Review your existing practices against the agreement’s requirements. Identify any informal arrangements that differ from the agreement’s provisions. Introduce a file note habit for significant staff conversations. Talk to your leadership team about the distinction between day-to-day management and formal disciplinary process.

In the third month, focus on relationships and resources. Introduce yourself formally to your employer body’s HR and legal support team if you have not already done so. Develop a professional, respectful working relationship with any union delegates in your school. Attend your employer body’s next industrial relations briefing or your principal association’s next network session on workforce management. And if you find that your leadership team needs structured development in having the difficult conversations that EBA compliance sometimes requires, reach out to Jonno White at jonno@consultclarity.org. Organisations consistently find that international travel is far more affordable than expected, and Jonno works with schools around the world.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an enterprise bargaining agreement in Australian schools?

An enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA), now formally called an enterprise agreement, is a legally binding document made between an employer and employees (typically represented by a union) under the Fair Work Act 2009. In schools, it sets minimum pay rates, classification levels, hours of work, leave entitlements, workload provisions, disciplinary procedures, and grievance processes. It operates alongside the relevant Modern Award and the National Employment Standards, and must pass the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT) to be approved by the Fair Work Commission.

Does an EBA expire? What happens when it does?

Yes. Enterprise agreements have a nominal expiry date, typically three to four years after approval by the Fair Work Commission. When the agreement reaches its nominal expiry date, it does not automatically cease to operate. It continues in force until a new agreement is made or the Fair Work Commission terminates it. Bargaining for a replacement agreement typically begins in the lead-up to the nominal expiry date.

Can a principal be personally liable for a breach of the enterprise agreement?

In most cases, the “employer” under the Fair Work Act is the school’s governing body, not the principal individually. However, principals can face adverse action claims if they take action against an employee for exercising a workplace right, and the Commission may scrutinise the principal’s conduct in unfair dismissal or general protections matters. Principals are not insulated from consequence by their employer body, and their decisions and documentation are central to how those matters are determined.

What is procedural fairness and why does it matter?

Procedural fairness (also called natural justice) requires that before an employee is disciplined or dismissed, they are informed of the concerns against them, given an opportunity to respond, and given a fair hearing. Most school enterprise agreements codify this obligation in their disciplinary clauses. A decision that is substantively correct but procedurally unfair can still be overturned by the Fair Work Commission. This is why following the prescribed process precisely is as important as having good grounds for your decision.

What should I do if a staff member lodges a grievance?

Acknowledge receipt promptly, confirm the process and timeframe you will follow, and treat the grievance seriously regardless of whether you believe it has merit. Inform your employer body’s HR team. Follow the dispute resolution steps in your enterprise agreement in sequence. Keep contemporaneous notes of every interaction. Genuine procedural engagement at the early stages of a grievance is the most effective way to prevent escalation.

Can I hire someone to facilitate leadership development sessions on managing staff under an EBA?

Yes, and it is one of the highest-return investments a principal leadership team can make. Jonno White, bestselling author of Step Up or Step Out and host of The Leadership Conversations Podcast (230+ episodes, 150+ countries), works with school leadership teams on the conversations that enterprise agreements require but cannot script: managing underperformance, having difficult conversations early, building consistent leadership practices, and navigating the gap between pastoral care and industrial process. Jonno is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator and trusted facilitator across Australia, the UK, Singapore, New Zealand, and beyond. Many school organisations find that flying Jonno in is far more affordable than expected. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

How do I find my school’s current enterprise agreement?

For government schools, your state’s Department of Education website will publish current enterprise agreements. For Catholic schools, your diocesan Catholic Education office will hold the relevant agreement. For independent schools, your employer body (such as the Association of Independent Schools in your state or territory) can direct you to the applicable agreement. All approved enterprise agreements are also published on the Fair Work Commission’s website at fwc.gov.au.

Final Thoughts

The enterprise bargaining agreement is not your adversary. It is the framework within which you exercise your authority as a school leader, and when you understand it deeply, that framework supports you far more than it constrains you. The principals who navigate industrial relations with the most confidence are not the ones who avoid difficult situations or defer every decision to HR. They are the ones who have done the work to understand their obligations, who document consistently, who address performance and conduct issues early, and who build relationships with their union representatives and HR support teams before they need them.

The hardest part of EBA compliance is not the legal knowledge. It is the courage to have the conversations the agreement requires. It is sitting down with a teacher who has been underperforming and saying clearly what the issue is, what improvement looks like, and what will happen if it does not occur. It is following a disciplinary process that is uncomfortable for everyone while maintaining the professionalism and consistency that the process demands. These are leadership skills, not legal skills. They can be built, practised, and strengthened.

If your school’s leadership team would benefit from structured development in these skills, Jonno White’s book Step Up or Step Out, available at https://www.amazon.com.au/Step-Up-Out-Difficult-Conflict/dp/B097X7B5LD, is a practical starting point.

To bring Jonno in for a keynote, workshop, or facilitation session with your leadership team, email jonno@consultclarity.org. International travel is far more affordable than most organisations expect, and Jonno works with schools around the world.

About the Author

Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, bestselling author, and leadership consultant who has worked with schools, corporates, and nonprofits across the UK, India, Australia, Canada, Mongolia, New Zealand, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, USA, Finland, Namibia, and more. His book Step Up or Step Out has sold over 10,000 copies globally, and his podcast The Leadership Conversations has featured 230+ episodes reaching listeners in 150+ countries. Jonno founded The 7 Questions Movement with 6,000+ participating leaders and achieved a 93.75% satisfaction rating for his Working Genius masterclass at the ASBA 2025 National Conference. Based in Brisbane, Australia, Jonno works globally and regularly travels for speaking and facilitation engagements. Organisations consistently find that international travel is far more affordable than expected.

To book Jonno for your next keynote, workshop, or facilitation session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Next Read: How to Have THAT Difficult Conversation With An Employee

As I’ve coached leaders around the world, I’ve listened carefully to countless challenges. Difficult boards, drifting away from strategic plans, and frustrations with time and task management. However, there’s one challenge that comes up more than anything else. I’d estimate 50 percent of my coaching sessions have been some variation of this challenge: difficult employees. And therefore, no matter how much you hate conflict, no matter how much a “gentle little lamby” you are, you will have to have difficult conversations.

There are many occasions where a hallway conversation works well. Or, in a high-performing team, where accountability conversations can happen in a team environment. However, if it’s a sensitive topic or you’ve taken lots of small steps and nothing has been resolved, then talking privately is the answer.

Keep reading: https://www.consultclarity.org/post/how-to-have-that-difficult-conversation-with-an-employee