Eptec Victoria Pty Ltd

[2015] FWCA 291

[2015] FWCA 291

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Eptec Victoria Pty Ltd
(AG2014/10939)

EPTEC VICTORIA PTY LTD WILLIAMSTOWN SHIPYARD ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2014-2018

Manufacturing and associated industries
COMMISSIONER RYAN	MELBOURNE, 13 JANUARY 2015

Application for approval of the Eptec Victoria Pty Ltd Williamstown Shipyard Enterprise Agreement 2014-2018.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Eptec Victoria Pty Ltd Williamstown Shipyard Enterprise Agreement 2014-2018 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) and was made by Eptec Victoria Pty Ltd. The agreement is a single-enterprise agreement.

[2] An undertaking has been given in relation to clause 23.3 of the Agreement and this undertaking has become a term of the Agreement in accordance with s.191(1) of the Act and is appended at Appendix A.

[3] Subject to this undertaking, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss186, 187 and 188 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[4] The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is stated in sub-clause 8.2 as being “Four (4) years from the Commencement date.” The commencement date of the Agreement is 7 days after the Fair Work Commission approves the Agreement, ie 20 January 2018. The date of 20 January 2018 would be a date more than 4 years after the day on which the FWC approves the agreement and therefore in conflict with s.186(5)(b) of the Act.

[5] It does not appear that the employer and employees intended to have a nominal expiry date that exceeded the maximum period allowed by s.186(5) of the Act. It would appear that by using the words “Commencement date” in sub-clause 8.2 of the Agreement that the parties have inadvertently led themselves into error.

[6] The employer and employees who made the Agreement must be considered to have intended that sub-clause 8.2 would meet the requirements of s.186(5) of the Act and that the nominal expiry date for the Agreement would be the maximum period allowed by s.186(5) of the Act.

[7] Therefore, the nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 4 years from the date the Commission approves the Agreement, ie, 12 January 2019.

[8] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54(1), will operate from 20 January 2015.

COMMISSIONER

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APPENDIX A