Shire of Northampton

[2022] FWCA 608

[2022] FWCA 608

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009

s.185—Enterprise agreement

Shire of Northampton

(AG2022/18)

Shire of Northampton Collective Agreement 2021

Local government administration
DEPUTY PRESIDENT YOUNG	MELBOURNE, 22 FEBRUARY 2022

Application for approval of the Shire of Northampton Collective Agreement 2021

1. Shire of Northampton (the Employer) has made an application for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Shire of Northampton Collective Agreement 2021 (the Agreement) pursuant to s 185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The Agreement is a single-enterprise agreement.

1. The Employer has requested that the Commission exercise the discretion available to it under s 586(a) of the Act to allow a correction or amendment to the proposed Agreement. The correction involves an amendment to clause 3.2 of the Agreement. The Employer submits that the Western Australian Shire Councils Municipal Road Boards, Health Boards, Parks, Cemeteries and Racecourse Public Authorities, Water Boards Union (the Union) was not a bargaining representative for the Agreement and reference to the Union in the clause is an historical error.

1. I am satisfied that it is appropriate for the Commission to exercise the discretion available to it to correct the Agreement in the manner proposed on the basis that the reference to the Union was an historical error and is to ensure the Agreement accurately reflects what was agreed to and approved by the parties and the employees who voted to approve the Agreement.

1. The Employer has provided a revised copy of the Agreement that contains the amended correction. It will now be published on the Commission’s website in place of the copy that was submitted to the Commission at the time the application was made.

1. The Notice of Representational Rights (NERR) was provided to a covered employee more than 14 days after the notification time. Further, a final copy of the Agreement was not provided to all employees. The Employer provided submissions as to these errors on 16 and 21 February 2022. I am satisfied having regard to those submissions and the Full Bench decision in Huntsman Chemical Company Australia Pty Ltd T/A RMAX Rigid Cellular Plastics & Others[1] (Huntsman) that these constitute minor technical or procedural errors for the purposes of s 188(2)(a) of Act. Further, I am satisfied that employees were not likely to have been disadvantaged by these errors.

1. Accordingly, notwithstanding the matters identified in paragraph [5] above, I am satisfied that the Agreement has been genuinely agreed within the meaning of s 188(2).

1. On the basis of the material contained in the application, and the accompanying statutory declaration and the additional information provided by the Employer, 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.

1. Pursuant to s 205(2) of the Act, the model consultation term prescribed by the Fair Work Regulations 2009 is taken to be a term of the Agreement.

1. The Agreement was approved on 22 February 2022 and, in accordance with s 54, will operate from 1 March 2022. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 22 February 2026.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

[1] [2019] FWCFB 318

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