FWC uses new legislation to approve enterprise agreement despite minor procedural errors

The Fair Work Commission has utilised recent changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) to approve an enterprise agreement despite minor technical and procedural errors.

There are strict requirements under the Fair Work Act that must be adhered to for an enterprise agreement to be approved by the Fair Work Commission. These include:

1. A Notice of Employee Representational Rights (NERR) must be issued to employees within 14 days of the employer agreeing to bargain or initiating bargaining;
2. The NERR must be in exactly the form required by the Fair Work Regulations and must not contain any other material;
3. Any vote to approve an enterprise agreement must occur at least 21 days after the NERR is issued;