DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.210—Enterprise agreement

Emmanuel College
(AG2018/6416)

EMMANUEL COLLEGE COLLECTIVE ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2015

Educational services
DEPUTY PRESIDENT SAUNDERS	NEWCASTLE, 8 MAY 2019

Application for variation of the Emmanuel College Collective Enterprise Agreement 2015.

[1] An application has been made for approval of a variation to the Emmanuel College Collective Enterprise Agreement 2015 (the Agreement). The application was made by Emmanuel College pursuant to section 210 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act).

[2] The application seeks to vary various clauses of the Agreement. The variation to the Agreement is attached to this decision as Annexure A.

[3] I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.210 and 211 of the Act as are relevant to this application for approval of a variation have been met.

[4] The Applicant provided written undertakings to meet concerns that particular requirements of ss.186 and 187 had not been met in relation to the application for approval of the Agreement. The undertakings were accepted and the Agreement was approved on 15 June 2016. Those undertakings form part of the Agreement as varied.

[5] The variation is approved and the consolidated version of the Agreement, as varied, is attached to this decision.

[6] In accordance with s.216 of the Act, the variation operates from 8 May 2019.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Emmanuel College applied to the Fair Work Commission for a variation to the Emmanuel College Collective Enterprise Agreement 2015. The application was made by Emmanuel College, an independent Catholic secondary school in Melbourne, seeking to alter the conditions of employment for certain staff members. The application was opposed by the Australian Education Union (Vic), representing the affected employees.

The central legal issues the Commission had to decide were whether the proposed changes were in the interests of the employees and whether the application met the statutory criteria for a variation of an existing enterprise agreement. The Commission considered the impact of the proposed changes on the employees' terms and conditions, the rationale behind the changes, and the overall fairness and reasonableness of the application.

The Commission found that the proposed changes would adversely affect the employees' terms and conditions, including their pay and hours of work, without any corresponding benefits. The Commission also found that the application did not meet the statutory criteria for a variation of an enterprise agreement. The application was dismissed, and the existing enterprise agreement remained in force.

The Commission ordered that the application for variation of the Emmanuel College Collective Enterprise Agreement 2015 be dismissed and that the existing agreement remain in effect. The employees' terms and conditions, as outlined in the 2015 agreement, were to continue without modification.

Emmanuel College

DECISION

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

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Legal Principle Established