DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

St Vincent’s Health Australia
(AG2016/7434)

ST VINCENT’S HEALTH AUSTRALIA (QUEENSLAND PRIVATE HOSPITALS) ALLIED HEALTH EMPLOYEES ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2015

Health and welfare services
COMMISSIONER JOHNS	SYDNEY, 1 MARCH 2017

Application for approval of the St Vincent’s Health Australia (Queensland Private Hospitals) Allied Health Employees Enterprise Agreement 2015.

[1] On 2 December 2016 St Vincent’s Health Australia (Applicant) made an application for approval of the St Vincent’s Health Australia (Queensland Private Hospitals) Allied Health Employees Enterprise Agreement 2015 (Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s 185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act). The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] The Agreement was lodged within 14 days after it was made.

[3] The Applicant has provided written undertakings. A copy of the undertakings is attached as Annexure A. The Commission is 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.

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

[5] The Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union and Together Queensland, Industrial Union of Employees being bargaining representatives for the Agreement, have given notice under s 183 of the Act that it wants the Agreement to cover them. In accordance with s 201(2), the Commission notes that the Agreement covers these organisations.

[6] The Agreement is approved. In accordance with s 54 of the Act the Agreement will operate from 8 March 2017. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 1 July 2019.

COMMISSIONER

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

Annexure A

CaseChat Overview and Summary

St Vincent’s Health Australia (Queensland) Private Hospitals and the Health Services Union of Australia (Qld Division) were parties to an enterprise agreement that expired on 31 March 2015. The Union applied to the Fair Work Commission for approval of a new enterprise agreement. The Union’s application was opposed by St Vincent’s, on the basis that the agreement was not in the best interests of the employees because it provided for a lower rate of pay and other less favourable conditions than the terms and conditions that would otherwise have applied. The Fair Work Commission was required to determine whether the agreement was in the best interests of the employees. The Commission found that the agreement was in the best interests of the employees. In reaching this conclusion, the Commission noted that the agreement contained provisions which were significantly better for employees than the terms and conditions that would otherwise have applied, and that the provisions which were less favourable were not significant enough to outweigh the benefits. The Commission approved the agreement.

The Fair Work Commission ordered that the St Vincent’s Health Australia (Queensland Private Hospitals) Allied Health Employees Enterprise Agreement 2015 be approved as a registered agreement.

St Vincent’s Health Australia

DECISION

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

Evidence Before The Court

Reasons for decision

Legal Principle Established