Entry ‘Rights’ Back on the Bargaining Agenda ... For Now

Employment E-Alert

Under the Fair Work Act, the job of reviewing enterprise agreements for approval has been returned to the industrial tribunal, Fair Work Australia. Until an agreement has been approved, it will not operate to provide full protection from agitation about changes to conditions and industrial action. Getting agreements in a form able to be approved is a crucial step in the smooth introduction of new or revised conditions in enterprise agreements.

The tribunal is taking its job very seriously. Agreements have been refused approval for a wide variety of reasons, from mistakes in meeting timing requirements to failing to demonstrate that an agreement passes the "better off overall test". The Fair Work Act has introduced a new bargaining regime, and reliance on past experience of what can be achieved is liable to mislead. Undertakings to the tribunal can cure only some errors.