Does your enterprise agreement allow disputes to be settled by arbitration? Maybe not...

Enterprise agreements must include a dispute resolution term that enables disputes about the agreement or National Employment Standards to be settled by arbitration, whether the parties want to or not, following a recent decision of Fair Work Australia (FWA).

The employer applied to FWA for approval of an enterprise agreement made between it, the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association and its employees.

The agreement contained a dispute resolution clause that allowed disputes to be referred to FWA for conciliation; failing resolution at that stage, the Director of Human Resources and the employee (or the union on his or her behalf) would attempt to resolve the dispute. If the dispute was still not resolved, the agreement enabled the parties to refer the dispute to FWA for arbitration, but only where both parties agreed.