Helicopter Resources Pty Ltd

[2024] FWCA 4475

[2024] FWCA 4475

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009

s.185 - Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement

Helicopter Resources Pty Ltd

(AG2024/4420)

HELICOPTER RESOURCES PTY LTD ENGINEERS ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2024

Airline operations
COMMISSIONER PERICA	MELBOURNE, 13 DECEMBER 2024

Helicopter Resources Pty Ltd Engineers Enterprise Agreement 2024

1. An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Helicopter Resources Pty Ltd Engineers Enterprise Agreement 2024 (the Agreement). The application is made under section 185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

Late lodgement and extension of time

1. The application was lodged 76 days after the Agreement was made, which is 62 days after the 14-day time limit required by s 185(3)(a). This matter was listed for a mention hearing on 6 December 2024 in relation to this issue.

1. Mr. Pulford explained the delay on the following basis.

• He had only ever filed an F17 before. He had not previously filed all the relevant documents to make an application for approval to the Commission. He checked the Commission website and completed the Form F17B. He had looked at the F16 form and “seeing that it contained the same (but less) information as the Form F17B, formed the erroneous belief that submitting the F17B form was sufficient. I failed to understand that the F17B and F16 form were both required”.

• Two months later, when he followed up with the progress of the application, he was informed of his error and immediately completed and submitted the F16 form with an explanation of the delay.

1. Following the discovery of his error, Mr. Pulford explained it to the engineers who would be bound by the Agreement together with Mr. Dylan Jarvis, the bargaining representative, and gave an undertaking that he would backdate “the benefits of the Agreement so that the engineers did not suffer any detriment due to my error.”

1. Ahead of the hearing, Mr. Rodney Pulford, General Manager, lodged undertakings which included the following:

“Backdating – the Company undertakes to backdate the benefits of the Agreement, including the nominal expiry date included in Clause 2.1, by 62 days from the date the Fair Work Commission approves the Agreement.”

1. At the mention, Mr. Dylan Jarvis, the Employee Bargaining Representative, supported the undertaking and the extension of time to file the application.

1. In his poem An Essay on Criticism published in 1711, Alexander Pope famously wrote “to err is human, to forgive divine”. The error made by Mr. Pulford was understandable and genuine. I accept the undertaking ensures the employees bound by the Agreement are not disadvantaged by it. Therefore in all the circumstances, I consider it fair to extend the time to file the application to the date it was actually made under s 185(3)(b).

Other matters

1. At the mention, Mr. Jarvis objected to the form of an undertaking concerning casual employment. The parties resolved to discuss the issue outside the Commission and provide an update within one week. Amended undertakings were then lodged on 11 December 2024 which satisfy all parties.

1. A copy of the undertakings is attached in Annexure A. I am satisfied the undertakings will not cause financial detriment to any employee covered by the Agreement and that the undertakings will not result in substantial changes to the Agreement. I therefore note the undertakings are taken to be terms of the Agreement under section 201(3) of the Act.

1. Subject to the undertakings, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of sections 186, 187, 188, 190, 193 and 193A relevant to this application for approval have been met. The Agreement does not cover all the employees of the employer, however, taking into account the factors in sections 186(3) and (3A), I am satisfied that the group of employees was fairly chosen.

1. The Agreement is approved today 13 December 2024. It will operate from 20 December 2024 as required by section 54 of the Act. The nominal expiry date is 13 December 2028.

COMMISSIONER

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

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Annexure A