Reservoir Private Hospital Day Procedure Centre

[2014] FWCA 229

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Reservoir Private Hospital Day Procedure Centre
(AG2013/12208)

RESERVOIR PRIVATE HOSPITAL DAY PROCEDURE CENTRE NURSES’ ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2013

Health and welfare services
COMMISSIONER CRIBB	MELBOURNE, 9 JANUARY 2014

Application for approval of the Reservoir Private Hospital Day Procedure Centre Nurses’ Enterprise Agreement 2013.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Reservoir Private Hospital Day Procedure Centre Nurses’ Enterprise Agreement 2013 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). It has been made by Reservoir Private Hospital Day Procedure Centre. The agreement is a single-enterprise agreement.

[2] 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.

[3] The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) 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) of the Act I note that the Agreement covers the organisation.

[4] The Agreement was approved in Chambers on 9 January 2014 and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 16 January 2014. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 1 July 2017.

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The applicant, Reservoir Private Hospital Day Procedure Centre, sought the approval of the Reservoir Private Hospital Day Procedure Centre Nurses’ Enterprise Agreement 2013, which had been reached through a negotiation process with the hospital’s registered nurses. The application was heard in the Fair Work Commission, which is the body responsible for approving such agreements under the Fair Work Act 2009.

The legal issues before the Commission involved ensuring that the terms of the agreement were consistent with the requirements of the Act, particularly in relation to the processes by which the agreement had been negotiated and the content of the agreement itself. The Commission had to consider whether the agreement had been fairly and genuinely negotiated, and whether it contained only matters that were genuinely about industrial matters and not other extraneous matters.

The Commission found that the negotiation process had been conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Act, and that the agreement was fairly and genuinely negotiated. The Commission also determined that all the provisions of the agreement were genuinely about industrial matters and were not extraneous. Consequently, the Commission approved the Reservoir Private Hospital Day Procedure Centre Nurses’ Enterprise Agreement 2013.

The Fair Work Commission approved the Reservoir Private Hospital Day Procedure Centre Nurses’ Enterprise Agreement 2013.

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established