Sovereign Hotel Group Pty Ltd

[2014] FWC 1341

[2014] FWC 1341

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.248 - Application for a single interest employer authorisation

Sovereign Hotel Group Pty Ltd
(B2014/544)

COMMISSIONER ROE MELBOURNE, 27 FEBRUARY 2014

Regarding the proposed Sovereign Hotel Group (Single Interest Employers) Enterprise Agreement 2014-2017.

[1] Sovereign Hotel Group Pty Ltd (the applicant) has made an application under Section 248 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) for a single interest employer authorisation in respect of itself and its wholly owned subsidiary Transit Pty Ltd. The application was made on 20 February 2014.

[2] In considering such an application, the relevant provisions of the Act are as follows:

“248 Single interest employer authorisations

(1) Two or more employers may apply to FWA for an authorisation (a single interest employer authorisation) under section 249 in relation to a proposed enterprise agreement.

Note: The effect of a single interest employer authorisation is that the employers are single interest employers in relation to the agreement (see paragraph 172(5)(c)).

(2) The application must specify the following:

(a) the employers that will be covered by the agreement;

(b) the employees who will be covered by the agreement;

(c) the person (if any) nominated by the employers to make applications under this Act if the authorisation is made.

[3] Section 172(5) of the Act states:

“Single interest employers

(5) Two or more employers are single interest employers if:

(a) the employers are engaged in a joint venture or common enterprise; or

(b) the employers are related bodies corporate; or

(c) the employers are specified in a single interest employer authorisation that is in operation in relation to the proposed enterprise agreement concerned.”

[4] Attached to the application was a statutory declaration from Mr K J Butterworth, Director of Sovereign Hotel Group Pty Ltd. The statutory declaration specified the employers who will be covered by the agreement, the classifications of the employees who will be covered by the agreement and the nomination of Stonier and Associates as the person to make applications under the Act if the authorisation is made.

[5] Section 249 of the Act outlines when the Fair Work Commission (the Commission) must make a single interest employer authorisation. This section relevantly states:

“(1) FWA must make a single interest employer authorisation in relation to a proposed enterprise agreement if:

(a) an application for the authorisation has been made; and

(b) FWA is satisfied that:

(i) the employers that will be covered by the agreement have agreed to bargain together; and

(ii) no person coerced, or threatened to coerce, any of the employers to agree to bargain together; and

(c) the requirements of either subsection (2) (which deals with franchisees) or (3) (which deals with employers that may bargain together for a proposed enterprise agreement) are met.

Franchisees

(2) The requirements of this subsection are met if FWA is satisfied that the employers carry on similar business activities under the same franchise and are:

(a) franchisees of the same franchisor; or

(b) related bodies corporate of the same franchisor; or

(c) any combination of the above.

Employers that may bargain together for the agreement

(3) The requirements of this subsection are met if FWA is satisfied that all of the employers are specified in a declaration made under section 247 in relation to the agreement.”

[6] On the basis of the application that has been lodged together with the statutory declaration, I am satisfied that the pre-conditions set out in section 249(1)(a) and section 249(1)(b) have been met.

[7] With respect to the requirements set out in section 249(1)(c), I am satisfied that these requirements have been met. This is on the basis that the statutory declaration of Mr Butterworth makes it clear that the employers who are the subject of the authorisation carry on similar business activities in common, with Transit Pty Ltd being a wholly owned subsidiary of Sovereign Hotel Group Pty Ltd. As well, the statutory declaration indicates that the employers, who are the subject of the application have the necessary relationships such that the requirements of section 249(2)(a) are satisfied. Mr Butterworth is the sole Director of Sovereign Hotel Group Pty Ltd and a joint Director of Transit Pty Ltd, and in his capacity as a Director in common to both corporate entities, through Sovereign, continues to remain jointly responsible for the operation of the overall group of restaurants.

[8] Having been satisfied as to the pre-conditions set out in sections 249(1), (2) and (3), I must therefore make the single interest employer authorisation for which the application has been made.

[9] In accordance with the requirements of section 250 of the Act, the single interest employer authorisation will specify that the employers who will be covered by the agreement will be Sovereign Hotel Group Pty Ltd and its wholly owned subsidiary Transit Pty Ltd, which operate a range of licensed venues including Transport Public Bar, Taxi Dining Room, Transit Lounge Garden and Feddish Restaurant and Bar (section 250(1)(a)).

[10] The single interest employer authorisation will specify for the purposes of section 250(1)(b), that the employees who will be covered by the agreement will be employees of the employers named employed in the classifications of the new Enterprise Agreement which shall utilise the provisions of the Hospitality Industry General Award for the purposes of the BOOT assessment.

[11] Further, the single interest employer authorisation will specify, for the purposes of section 250(1)(c), that the person nominated by the employers to make applications under the Act is Stonier and Associates.

[12] For the purposes of section 250(1)(d), there are no procedural rules which prescribe any other matter(s) to which I need to attend.

[13] The single interest employer authorisation will come into operation from the date of this decision, 27 February 2014.

COMMISSIONER

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