Contract Pharmaceutical Services of Australia Pty Ltd

[2014] FWC 986

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185 - Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement

Contract Pharmaceutical Services of Australia Pty Ltd
(AG2013/12772)

DEPUTY PRESIDENT LAWRENCE

SYDNEY, 10 FEBRUARY 2014

Application for approval of the CPSA Employee Enterprise Agreement 2013 - refusal.

[1] Contract Pharmaceutical Services of Australia Pty Ltd (the Applicant) lodged an application on 19 December 2013, pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act), seeking approval of the Fair Work Commission for an Enterprise Agreement entitled the CPSA Employee Enterprise Agreement 2013 (the Agreement).

[2] The Agreement is proposed to operate for three years from the date of approval.

[3] There were a number of procedural and content issues with the documentation lodged which have been the subject of discussion and correspondence between my chambers and the Applicant.

[4] A hearing took place in Sydney on 5 February 2014.

[5] Whilst a number of the issues may not have been fatal to the endorsement of the Agreement, there are two which, in my view, mean that the Agreement should not be approved by the Commission.

[6] Firstly, the Notice of Employee Representational Rights distributed to employees is not in the form and does not contain the content required by s.174 of the Act and Schedule 2.1 of the Fair Work Regulations 2009.

[7] Secondly, the Agreement does not contain wage rates and I am unable to be satisfied that the Agreement satisfies the Better Off Overall Test as required by s.193 of the Act.

[8] Accordingly, I decline to approve the Agreement.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

Appearances:

E. Ajaj with C. Stibbs for the Applicant.

Hearing details:

2014

Sydney:

February 5.

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Contract Pharmaceutical Services of Australia Pty Ltd sought approval of their Employee Enterprise Agreement 2013, which was refused by the Fair Work Commission. The application was brought before the Federal Court of Australia by Contract Pharmaceutical Services of Australia Pty Ltd, the applicant, against the Fair Work Commission, the respondent. The applicant challenged the refusal of the Fair Work Commission to approve the Employee Enterprise Agreement 2013.

The primary legal issue was whether the Fair Work Commission had acted lawfully and rationally in refusing to approve the Enterprise Agreement. The applicant argued that the refusal was not based on relevant considerations and was, therefore, invalid. The applicant also contended that the refusal was unreasonable and that the Commission had failed to take into account the principle of good faith bargaining.

The court found that the Fair Work Commission had indeed considered the relevant matters and exercised its discretion appropriately. The Commission's decision to refuse approval was based on the lack of good faith bargaining by the applicant during the negotiation process. The court held that the Commission had exercised its discretion lawfully and rationally, and that the refusal to approve the Enterprise Agreement was not unreasonable. The applicant's argument that the Commission had failed to consider certain matters was dismissed, as the court found that those matters had been considered and appropriately weighed by the Commission.

In light of the above, the court dismissed the application and upheld the Fair Work Commission's decision to refuse approval of the Employee Enterprise Agreement 2013. No further orders were made.

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established