The High Court has provided some welcome relief for employers in
the increasingly challenging enterprise bargaining environment.
In its decision in Aldi Foods Pty Limited v Shop,
Distributive & Allied Employees Association & Anor
[2017] HCA 53, the Court confirmed that an employer can enter into
an enterprise agreement with existing employees to cover a new
enterprise that it is establishing, without needing to wait until
those employees are actually working in that enterprise to vote on
the agreement.
Background
In early 2015, Aldi Foods Pty Limited (Aldi)
was in the process of establishing a new undertaking in Regency
Park in South Australia (Regency Park region). It
sought expressions of interests from its existing employees in its
stores in other regions to work in the Regency Park region.
Seventeen employees accepted offers of employment to work in the
Regency Park region when it was established. Aldi then commenced a
process of bargaining with those
