Eco-farms Pty Ltd

[2013] FWCA 5589

[2013] FWCA 5589

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

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

Eco-farms Pty Ltd
(AG2013/1638)

ECO-FARMS PTY LIMITED ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2013

Retail industry
COMMISSIONER BULL	SYDNEY, 12 AUGUST 2013

Application for approval of the Eco-Farms Pty Limited Enterprise Agreement 2013.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Eco-Farms Pty Limited Enterprise Agreement 2013 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The Agreement is a single-enterprise agreement.

[2] On 29 July 2013 a conference was held to discuss a number of concerns the Commission had with respect to the Agreement. The Applicant’s representative attended the conference in the absence of the Applicant. Following the conference a number of undertakings were provided.

Undertakings

[3] An undertaking with respect to clause 7 - Hours of work, in particular, subclause 7.1 has been provided by the Applicant. The undertaking provides that subclause 7.1 will be deleted in its entirety and replaced with a new subclause 7.1 that provides that ordinary hours of work for employees will not exceed 152 hours, averaged over 4 weeks and provides a span of ordinary hours for groups of employees covered by the Agreement.

[4] An undertaking has been provided by the Applicant that employees may only work a maximum of 10 ordinary hours (exclusive of meal breaks) per shifts.

[5] An undertaking with respect to clause 8 - Overtime, in particular, subclause 8.1 has been provided by the Applicant. The undertaking provides that subclause 8.1 will be deleted in its entirety and replaced with a new subclause 8.1 that provides for all time worked outside ordinary hours will be overtime, and that for part time employees, time worked outside of the agreed weekly hours as defined in subclause 3.2 of the Agreement will be overtime.

[6] The Applicant provided correspondence stating that upon review of the Commission’s concerns they have realised there was a calculation error in the Monday - Friday component of the rates of pay for Storage and Warehouse employees at Schedule A of the Agreement. The Applicant has provided an undertaking to rectify this calculation error. A number of indicative rosters have been provided to the Commission to demonstrate that employees paid under Schedule A of the Agreement are better off overall.

[7] These undertakings are not so substantial that if asked to vote again the employees would not approve the Agreement. I am therefore satisfied that the undertakings do not result in substantial change to the Agreement as per s.190(3)(b) of the Act.

[8] The undertakings are taken to be a term of the Agreement. A copy of the undertakings is attached at Annexure A.

[9] I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186, 187 and 188 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[10] The Agreement is approved. In accordance with s.54(1) the Agreement will operate from 19 August 2013. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is four years from the date of operation.

COMMISSIONER

Annexure A

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