The day you and your employees start to bargain (or agree to bargain) is called the date of notification.
Recording this date is important because it affects the timing of other steps in the agreement making process.
The process of bargaining usually begins with you initiating or agreeing to bargain for a proposed agreement with your employees.
Complete the NERR with the name of employer, proposed title and proposed coverage and select the relevant paragraphs that apply to the workplace.
The NERR comes from the Fair Work Regulations 2009 (Cth) (the Regulations). The NERR must contain only the content prescribed by the Regulations and no other content except that which the Regulations require the employer to insert or omit.
If the NERR is not in the prescribed form, the Commission may not be able to approve the agreement.
Use our NERR generator to make sure your NERR complies with the Regulations.
For more information, see our Guide – Notice of Employee Representational Rights (NERR)
Make sure you keep records of when you distributed the NERR to employees.
You will need to provide this information when you lodge your application.
The Act requires you to provide a copy of the NERR to employees who are engaged at the date of notification.
Record the date that you last provided the NERR to employees.
If you issued the last NERR over 14 days from the date of notification to these employees, record the reasons why.
You do not have to provide a copy of the NERR to employees who are engaged after the date of notification.
Make sure you keep records of:
You will need to provide this information when you lodge your application.
For more information see sections 173 and 174 of the Act.
For more information about bargaining, please see our About enterprise bargaining page