Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation v Kaizen Hospitals (Essendon) Pty Ltd

The appeal before the Court was between the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and Kaizen Hospitals (Essendon) Pty Ltd. The dispute arose from the negotiation and approval of an enterprise agreement between the parties. The matter was heard by the Federal Court of Australia.

The legal issues before the Court involved whether Mr Subramanian, who signed the enterprise agreements on behalf of the employer, had the apparent authority to do so under section 793(1) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The Court also had to determine whether the enterprise agreements were validly made. Furthermore, the Court had to consider whether the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission fell into jurisdictional error when exercising or purporting to exercise jurisdiction under the Act.

The Court held that the Deputy President was not in error when he relied on Mr Subramanian's apparent authority to sign the enterprise agreements. The Court found that it was open to the Fair Work Commission to conclude that the enterprise agreements were validly made. The Court also held that the Full Bench did not make a jurisdictional error when it refused permission to appeal against the Deputy President's decision. The Court upheld the appeal and set aside the orders made by the primary judge.

The Court dismissed the application filed in the Federal Court by the first, second and third applicants on 8 July 2013. The appellant was protected from costs by the Fair Work Act, and no submission had been made that the protection had been lost.