Fair Work Act 2009

The FWC must take into account the statement of principles made under section 188B in determining whether it is satisfied that an enterprise agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees covered by the agreement.

The FWC cannot be satisfied that an enterprise agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees covered by the agreement unless the FWC is satisfied that the employees requested to approve the agreement by voting for it:

have a sufficient interest in the terms of the agreement; and

are sufficiently representative, having regard to the employees the agreement is expressed to cover.

In One Key Workforce Pty Ltd v Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union [2018] FCAFC 77 (2018) 262 FCR 527, a Full Court of the Federal Court observed that whether an agreement has been genuinely agreed involves consideration of the authenticity of the agreement of the employees, including whether the employees who voted for the agreement had an informed and genuine understanding of what was being approved.

The FWC cannot be satisfied that an enterprise agreement to which section 180A or 180B applies has been genuinely agreed to by the employees covered by the agreement unless the FWC is satisfied that the employer complied with section 180A or 180B (as the case requires) in relation to the agreement.

Subsection (4) applies in relation to an enterprise agreement if an employer was required by subsection 173(1) (which deals with giving notice of employee representational rights) to take all reasonable steps to give notice in relation to the agreement.

The FWC cannot be satisfied that the agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees covered by the agreement unless the FWC is satisfied that the employer complied with the following provisions in relation to the agreement:

sections 173 and 174 (which deal with giving notice of employee representational rights);

subsection 181(2) (which requires that employees not be requested to approve certain enterprise agreements until 21 days after the last notice of employee representational rights is given).

The FWC cannot be satisfied that the agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees covered by the agreement unless the FWC is satisfied that the employer complied with subsection 180(5) in relation to the agreement.

In determining whether it is satisfied that an enterprise agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees covered by the agreement (including determining whether it is satisfied that an employer complied with the provisions mentioned in subsection (2A) or (4) or (4A)), the FWC may disregard minor procedural or technical errors made in relation to the following requirements if it is satisfied that the employees were not likely to have been disadvantaged by the errors:

section 173 or 174 (which deal with notices of employee representational rights for certain agreements);

subsection 180(5) (which requires employers to explain the terms of agreements);

section 180A or 180B (which deal with agreement of certain bargaining representatives);

subsection 181(2) (which requires that employees not be requested to approve certain enterprise agreements until 21 days after the last notice of employee representational rights is given);

subsection 182(1) or (2) (which deal with the making of different kinds of enterprise agreements by employee vote).

The FWC cannot be satisfied that an enterprise agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees covered by the agreement unless the FWC is satisfied that the requirements (if any) prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection are met.