Jedat Pty Ltd T/A Werribee Superbowl
[2010] FWA 1395
•22 FEBRUARY 2010
[2010] FWA 1395 |
|
DECISION |
Fair Work Act 2009
s.185 - Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement
(AG2009/21611)
COMMISSIONER LEWIN | MELBOURNE, 22 FEBRUARY 2010 |
Werribee Superbowl/Jedat Pty Ltd Agreement.
[1] On 9 December 2009, Jedat Pty LTd t/as Werribee Superbowl lodged an application in Fair Work Australia for the approval of an enterprise agreement under s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). An employer’s declaration in support of the application was provided with the application. The declaration states that the Agreement was made on 7 December 2009.
[2] Section 186 of the Act requires that in order to approve an enterprise agreement, (not a greenfields agreement), an agreement must have been genuinely agreed to by the relevant employees.
[3] Section 188 of the Act provides that for an enterprise agreement to be approved, Fair Work Australia must be satisfied that the agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the relevant employees having regard to specific statutory requirements. The provisions of s.188(a)(ii) of the Act are set out below:
“An enterprise agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees covered by the agreement if FWA is satisfied that:
(a) the employer, or each of the employers, covered by the agreement complied with the following provisions in relation to the agreement:
(ii) subsection 181(2) (which requires that employees not be requested to approve an enterprise agreement until 21 days after the last notice of employee representational rights is given);
…
[4] Section 181 of the Act is in the following terms:
“181 Employers may request employees to approve a proposed enterprise agreement
(1) An employer that will be covered by a proposed enterprise agreement may request the employees employed at the time who will be covered by the agreement to approve the agreement by voting for it.
(2) The request must not be made until at least 21 days after the day on which the last notice under subsection 173(1) (which deals with giving notice of employee representational rights) in relation to the agreement is given.
(3) Without limiting subsection (1), the employer may request that the employees vote by ballot or by an electronic method.
[5] At question 2.6 of the Form 17—Employer’s Declaration in Support for Approval of Enterprise Agreement (the Declaration), filed in the Tribunal on 9 December 2009, the Company declared that employer first requested that the employees approve the agreement by voting for iton 6 November 2009.
[6] Section 173 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) requires that an employer who will be covered by a proposed enterprise agreement must take all reasonable steps to notify employees who will be covered by the agreement of the right to be represented by a bargaining agent as will be observed above, by force of s.181(2) of the Act, a request to vote cannot be effective for approval purposes where the vote occurs less than 21 days after the last notice of representational rights is given. At 2.7 of the declaration, the Company declared that the employer provided the last notice of the employees’ representational rights pursuant to s.173(1) of the Act on 28 November 2009. The Agreement was made on 7 December, 9 days after than notice.
[7] On the material before me, I cannot be satisfied that the provisions of sections 188(1)(a)(ii) and 181(2) of the Act have been met. The statutory requirements referred to above are mandatory. There is no discretion vested in Fair Work Australia to approve an agreement if those requirements have not been met.
[8] For the reasons stated the Agreement cannot be approved.
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