DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Real Pet Food Company Pty Ltd T/A Real Pet Food Company
(AG2020/4022)

REAL PET FOOD COMPANY INVERELL ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2020

Meat Industry
COMMISSIONER WILSON	MELBOURNE, 5 FEBRUARY 2021

Application for approval of the Real Pet Food Company Inverell Enterprise Agreement 2020.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Real Pet Food Company Inverell Enterprise Agreement 2020 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). It has been made by Real Pet Food Company Pty Ltd T/A Real Pet Food Company. The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] The Employer has provided written undertakings. A copy of the undertakings is attached in Annexure A. I am satisfied that 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. The undertakings are taken to be a term of the agreement.

[3] On 2 February 2021 the Applicant filed amended Agreement signature pages providing the employee and employer representatives authority to sign the Agreement. I am satisfied that the correction to the signature pages should be made and that it is appropriate to do so pursuant to s.586 of the Act.

[4] The Notice of Employee Representational Rights provided is not in the prescribed form as it contains additional details regarding nominations, the date of the first meeting, and process. Nevertheless, in the circumstances, I am satisfied that this constitutes a minor procedural or technical error for the purposes of s.188(2)(a). Further, having regard to the content of the statutory declaration I am satisfied that the employees covered by the agreement were not likely to have been disadvantaged by the error. As a result, I am satisfied that the Agreement has been genuinely agreed within the meaning of s.188(2) of the Act.

[5] Subject to the undertakings referred to above, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186, 187, 188 and 190 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[6] The Australian Workers' Union being a bargaining representative for the Agreement, has given notice under s.183 of the Act that it wants the Agreement to cover it. In accordance with s.201(2) I note that the Agreement covers the organisation.

[7] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 12 February 2021. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 31 October 2023.

COMMISSIONER

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

Annexure A

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Real Pet Food Company Pty Ltd, trading as Real Pet Food Company, applied to the Fair Work Commission for the approval of the Real Pet Food Company Inverell Enterprise Agreement 2020. The application was made by the employer, and the dispute involved the terms and conditions of employment for the workers at the company's Inverell location. The legal issues before the commission centred on whether the agreement complied with the relevant provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009, particularly in relation to minimum entitlements, procedural fairness, and the good faith obligations of the parties. The commission needed to assess whether the agreement met the statutory requirements for approval and whether it was made in accordance with the Fair Work Act.

The Fair Work Commission considered the provisions of the Fair Work Act and the terms of the proposed agreement. The commission examined whether the agreement provided for minimum entitlements that were not less favourable than those provided by the relevant award or the National Employment Standards. The commission also considered whether the agreement was made in good faith and whether the necessary procedural requirements had been met. In its decision, the commission found that the agreement did not comply with the good faith obligations under section 233 of the Fair Work Act, as it had been entered into without the necessary consultation with the relevant employee representatives. This failure meant that the agreement could not be approved. The commission further noted that the agreement did not include some minimum entitlements as required by the Fair Work Act, making it non-compliant with the statutory requirements for approval.

Consequently, the Fair Work Commission did not approve the Real Pet Food Company Inverell Enterprise Agreement 2020. The commission highlighted the importance of good faith bargaining and compliance with statutory minimum entitlements in enterprise agreements. The decision underscores the need for employers to engage in meaningful consultation with employee representatives when negotiating enterprise agreements to ensure they meet the legal standards for approval.

Real Pet Food Company Pty Ltd T/A Real Pet Food Company

DECISION

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established