Yum! Restaurants Australia Pty Ltd v Full Bench of Fair Work Australia

Yum! Restaurants Australia Pty Ltd v Full Bench of Fair Work Australia concerns an appeal by Yum! Restaurants Australia against a decision of the Full Bench of Fair Work Australia regarding the making of modern enterprise awards. The appeal raises questions about the application of the modern enterprise awards objective when deciding whether or not to make a modern enterprise award, and the judicial review of the reasons provided by the Full Bench.

The primary legal issues include whether there is a distinction between the decision-making process for making a modern enterprise award and the process of determining the content of the award, and whether the modern enterprise awards objective should be considered when deciding whether to make such an award. The court was required to determine whether the Full Bench of Fair Work Australia correctly applied the relevant legislative provisions and whether the Full Bench’s reasons for decision were adequate and free of error.

The Full Bench’s reasons for decision were scrutinised by the court, and it was concluded that while there may have been errors in the primary Judge's construction of certain provisions, the Full Bench had indeed applied the modern enterprise awards objective when deciding whether to make the proposed awards. The court held that Items 4 and 6 of Part 2 of Schedule 6 to the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 1990 operate together in a single decision-making process, and that the modern enterprise awards objective must be considered when deciding whether to make a modern enterprise award. The appeals were ultimately dismissed, and the Appellant was ordered to pay the costs of the Second Respondent.