The Geelong Greyhound Racing Club

[2022] FWCA 1180

[2022] FWCA 1180

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009

s. 185 - Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement

The Geelong Greyhound Racing Club

(AG2022/488)

Geelong Greyhound Racing Club Enterprise Agreement 2021 – 2025

Racing industry
COMMISSIONER MIRABELLA	MELBOURNE, 5 APRIL 2022

Application for approval of the Geelong Greyhound Racing Club Enterprise Agreement 2021 – 2025.

1. The Geelong Greyhound Racing Club (the Employer) has made an application for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Geelong Greyhound Racing Club Enterprise Agreement 2021 – 2025 (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 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.

1. Subject to the undertakings referred to above, and on the basis of the material contained in the application and accompanying declaration, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of sections 186, 187, 188 and 190, as are relevant to this application for approval, have been met.

1. The Employer did not take all reasonable steps to notify the relevant employees of the time of the vote by the start of the access period for the Agreement. Pursuant to s. 188(2), I am satisfied that the Agreement would have been genuinely agreed to but for the minor procedural error made in relation to the requirement in s. 180(3) of the Act. 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 to within the meaning of s. 188(2) of the Act.

1. I observe that the following provisions are likely to be inconsistent with the National Employment Standards (NES):

·   Abandonment of employment – clause 21.2

·   Carer’s leave – clause 26.3.2

·   Compassionate leave – clause 28

·   Termination – clause 20.2

·   Redundancy – clause 45.2.2(b)

However, I am satisfied that the Employer’s written undertaking in Annexure A means that the more beneficial entitlements of the NES will prevail where there is an inconsistency between the Agreement and the NES.

1. The Agreement was approved on 5 April 2022 and, in accordance with s. 54, will operate from 12 April 2022. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 30 June 2025.

COMMISSIONER

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Annexure A