Binding aspirational statements in enterprise agreements

It is common to find aspirational statements in enterprise agreements. Often they are simply intended to extol organisational aims, rather than create binding obligations. Although permissible, the danger of such statements is that they might be construed as creating binding obligations, which carry with them penal consequences for non-compliance.

This is amply demonstrated by the decision of the majority of the Full Court of the Federal Court in National Tertiary Education Union v La Trobe University [2015] FCAFC 142 (8 October 2015).

THE LITIGATION

The appellant (NTEU) and the respondent (La Trobe) were covered by an enterprise agreement known as the La Trobe University Collective Agreement 2014 (Agreement).