The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) says that some terms cannot go into
enterprise agreements, or can be disallowed by Fair Work Australia
– but how far does it go? Some useful clarification of
the lawfulness of some common terms has been given by the Full
Federal Court.
In Australian Industry Group v Fair Work Australia [2012] FCAFC
108, four key elements of the enterprise agreement between ADJ
Contracting and its workers were challenged – and all
four were upheld by the Full Federal Court.
The restriction on outsourcing to independent contractors
– is it adverse action?
ADJ agreed to "only engage contractors and employees as
contractors, to do work that would be covered by the Agreement if
it was performed by the Employees, who apply wages and conditions
that are no less favourable than that provided for in this
Agreement".
