UrbanVirons Group Pty Ltd

[2015] FWCA 281

[2015] FWCA 281

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

UrbanVirons Group Pty Ltd
(AG2014/8388)

URBANVIRONS GROUP PTY LTD ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2014

Gardening services
COMMISSIONER GREGORY	MELBOURNE, 16 JANUARY 2015

Application for approval of the UrbanVirons Group Pty Ltd Enterprise Agreement 2014.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the UrbanVirons Group Pty Ltd Enterprise Agreement 2014 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) by the UrbanVirons Group Pty Ltd. It is a single-enterprise agreement.

[2] Clause 2.8 of the Agreement deals with training and sub clause 2.8.8 continues to indicate any payment of training fees or subsidies by the employer to an employee(s) “will be fully refundable if the employee leaves within 12 months of commencing the training,” in circumstances where the employee leaves of his/her own volition or is terminated due to unsatisfactory work performance.

[3] In this context the Commission notes the decision of Commissioner Gooley, as she then was, in Lake Imaging Enterprise Agreement (Imaging Staff – Geelong) 2010 1 in which she also considered provisions dealing with proposed deductions in regard to training costs as part of the process of dealing with an application for approval of an enterprise agreement. She concluded that such deductions may only be made if authorised by the employee in accordance with the enterprise agreement.

[4] Therefore, in addition to the enterprise agreement permitting the deduction she concluded that the individual employee must also authorise the deduction and, further, this authorisation did not simply arise from approval of the agreement. She concluded that the deduction of any such amounts without the individual employee’s authorisation would be unenforceable.

[5] However, she continued to indicate that this was not necessarily a matter that was required to be determined as part of the agreement approval process. It could, however, be relevant for consideration when the “better off overall” test requirements were being considered. The Employer indicated in that matter the training costs could be as high as $40,000 and, as such, this issue was obviously significant in any consideration about satisfaction with the requirements of the “better off overall” test.

[6] While I consider the Commissioner’s conclusions about the inclusion and operation of provisions in an agreement that provide for deductions related to training costs are equally relevant in the present matter, the same issues do not arise now to do with the requirements of the “better off overall” test because the amount of any training costs that might be incurred are of an entirely different order to those potentially involved in the matter before Commissioner Gooley.

[7] I am otherwise satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186, 187 and 188, as are relevant to this application for approval, have been met.

[8] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 23 January 2015. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 1 October 2018.

COMMISSIONER

 1   [2011] FWA 39

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