Capitol Chilled Foods (Australia) Pty Ltd

[2022] FWCA 1702

[2022] FWCA 1702

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009

s.185—Enterprise agreement

Capitol Chilled Foods (Australia) Pty Ltd

(AG2022/1317)

Bega Griffith Enterprise Agreement 2021

Food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing industry
COMMISSIONER MIRABELLA	MELBOURNE, 24 MAY 2022

Application for approval of the Bega Griffith Enterprise Agreement 2021.

1. Capitol Chilled Foods (Australia) Pty Ltd (the Employer) has made an application for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Bega Griffith Enterprise Agreement 2021 (the Agreement) pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

1. The Employer has provided written undertakings. A copy of the undertakings is attached in Annexure A. I am satisfied that the undertakings will not cause financial detriment to any employee covered by the Agreement and that the undertakings will not result in substantial changes to the Agreement. The undertakings are taken to be a term of the Agreement.

1. Subject to the undertakings referred to above, and on the basis of the material contained in the application and accompanying declaration, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of sections 186, 187, 188 and 190, as are relevant to this application for approval, have been met.

1. The Employer did not provide the notice of employee representational rights to employees in the prescribed form. Pursuant to s.188(2), I am satisfied that the Agreement would have been genuinely agreed to but for the minor procedural error made in relation to the requirement in s.174(1A) of the Act. I am satisfied that the employees covered by the Agreement were not likely to have been disadvantaged by the error. As a result, I am satisfied that the Agreement has been genuinely agreed to within the meaning of s.188(2) of the Act.

1. I observe that certain provisions of the Agreement are likely to be inconsistent with the National Employment Standards (NES). However, noting clause 5.1 of the Agreement, I am satisfied that the more beneficial entitlements of the NES will prevail where there is an inconsistency between the Agreement and the NES.

1. The Agreement was approved on 24 May 2022 and, in accordance with s.54, will operate from 31 May 2022. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 30 June 2024.

COMMISSIONER

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Annexure A