Food Australia Group Pty Ltd

[2013] FWCA 7369

[2013] FWCA 7369

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

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

Food Australia Group Pty Ltd
(AG2013/7719)

FOOD AUSTRALIA GROUP PTY LTD ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2013

Retail industry
COMMISSIONER BULL	SYDNEY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2013

Application for approval of the Food Australia Group Pty Ltd Enterprise Agreement 2013.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Food Australia Group Pty Ltd 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 21 August 2013, the Commission alerted the Applicant via their representative that it had a number of concerns with aspects of the Agreement. These issues concerned the ordinary hours of work and penalty rates with respect to weekend work and public holidays.

[3] Correspondence was received from the Applicant’s legal representative on 2 September 2013.

[4] The Commission notes that the Agreement does not provide penalty rates to employees if they work on weekends. The Applicant has provided a number of indicative rosters and calculations to demonstrate that employees receive a higher rate of pay than they would under the Award. I am satisfied that employees under the Agreement would be better off overall.

Undertakings

[5] With respect to Part 5 - Hours of work, and in particular, sub clause 1, the Applicant has provided an undertaking that the ordinary hours of work on a Sunday for Retail employees will be 9:00am to 6:00pm and for Food Production employees on a Monday to Friday will be 6:00am to 6:00pm.

[6] With respect to Part 6 - Leave entitlements, and in particular, sub clause 7, the Applicant has provided an undertaking that where a permanent employee works on a public holiday, they will be paid at rate of time and one half for any hours worked and will be entitled to have another day off without loss of pay at another time agreed with management.

[7] With respect to Appendix A - Minimum Rates of Pay, the Applicant has advised that an issue was identifies during the review process in relation to the concerns of the Commission has provided an undertaking that increases the minimum rates of pay for supervisors.

[8] The 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.

[9] All undertakings are taken to be terms of the Agreement. A copy of the undertakings is attached at Annexure A.

[10] 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.

[11] The Agreement is approved. In accordance with s.54(1) the Agreement will operate from 1 October 2013. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 1 July 2017.

COMMISSIONER

Annexure A

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