In accordance with s.173 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) an employer that will be covered by a proposed enterprise agreement that is not a greenfields agreement must take all reasonable steps to give notice of the right to be represented by a bargaining representative (the notice) to each employee who will be covered by the agreement and is employed at the notification time for the agreement.
The notice must be given as soon as practicable, and not later than 14 days after the notification time for the agreement. If the notice is not provided within the prescribed time, the agreement cannot be approved.
Notification time is the time when:
The Act states that the notice must contain the content prescribed by the Fair Work Regulations 2009 (the Regulations), must not contain any other content and must be in the form prescribed by the Regulations.
Schedule 2.1 to the Regulations contains the notice template. The notice must contain only the content prescribed by the Regulations and be in the form prescribed in Schedule 2.1 to the Regulations.[4] The purpose of this guide is to assist in the completion of the notice.
You can generate a notice of employee representational rights for your enterprise on the Download notice of employee representational rights page of the Commission’s website.
Note: The employer must provide the notice to all employees who will be covered by the agreement.
Email member.assist@fwc.gov.au for assistance with the legislative requirements in the agreement making process and a team member from the Commission’s agreements team will aim to contact you within 2 business days.
[1]A majority support determination is a determination made by the Commission that a majority of the employees who will be covered by an agreement want to bargain with the employer, or employers, that will be covered by the agreement.
[2]A scope order is an order made by the Commission that determines the group of employees that will be covered by an agreement that will cover the employer.
[3]A low-paid authorisation is an authorisation made by the Commission under s.243 of the Act in relation to a proposed multi-enterprise agreement. The effect of such an authorisation is that the employers specified in it are subject to certain rules that would not otherwise apply (for example, bargaining orders that would not usually be available for multi-enterprise agreements will be available). It also permits the Commission to assist the bargaining representatives for such agreements.
[4]For example, an employer should not attach any document to the notice; Peabody Moorvale Pty Ltd v Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union [2014] FWCFB 2042; Huntsman Chemical Company Australia Pty Limited T/A RMAX Rigid Cellular Plastics & Others [2019] FWCFB 318.
[5]An individual agreement-based transitional instrument is an individual transitional employment agreement (ITEA), a preserved individual State agreement, an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA) or a pre-reform AWA