Aldi Foods Pty Limited v Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees Association & Anor

Aldi Foods Pty Limited (Aldi) and the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees Association (SDA) were parties to an enterprise agreement approved by the Fair Work Commission (FWC). The dispute concerned Aldi's application to the FWC for approval of a new enterprise agreement, which the SDA opposed. The FWC refused to approve the new agreement, and Aldi appealed this decision to the Full Federal Court.

The Full Federal Court was required to determine whether the FWC had erred in its refusal to approve the new enterprise agreement. Specifically, the court considered whether the FWC had correctly applied the relevant provisions of the *Fair Work Act 2009* (Cth) in assessing the agreement, particularly concerning the requirement that the agreement must be genuinely agreed to by the employees and that the employer must not have contravened the general protections provisions of the Act.

The Full Federal Court found that the FWC had made an error in its assessment of the agreement. The court reasoned that the FWC had placed undue emphasis on certain aspects of the negotiation process and had not given sufficient weight to the evidence demonstrating that the employees had genuinely agreed to the terms of the new agreement. The court applied the principles of statutory interpretation to the *Fair Work Act 2009* (Cth), focusing on the legislative intent behind the approval provisions for enterprise agreements.

The Full Federal Court upheld Aldi's appeal, set aside the FWC's decision, and remitted the matter back to the FWC for redetermination according to law.