Business Law Project: Enterprise Agreements, BOOT, and Qantas Dispute

This business law project delves into the intricacies of enterprise agreements, exploring their function in setting employment conditions and the role of collective bargaining. It examines the Fair Work Act 2009 and the National Employment Standards (NES), highlighting the importance of the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT) in ensuring fair employment practices. The project analyzes the RMIT enterprise agreement as a case study, illustrating how agreements are tailored to specific organizations. It also addresses the necessity of including NES in enterprise agreements and concludes with an examination of the Qantas dispute, demonstrating the Fair Work Commission's role in resolving industrial action and ensuring compliance with employment laws. The project provides a comprehensive overview of Australian employment law and its practical applications.

Business Law Project

Table of Contents
Answer 1..........................................................................................................................................3
Answer 2..........................................................................................................................................3
Answer 3..........................................................................................................................................4
Answer 4..........................................................................................................................................4
Answer 5..........................................................................................................................................4
Answer 6..........................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................5

Answer 1
The enterprise agreements set out the conditions regarding employment, for a group of
employees at the workplaces. These agreements are negotiated by the parties with the help of
collective bargaining in good faith, specifically at the enterprise level. As per the Fair Work Act
2009, an enterprise needs to engage itself in any kind of business, project, activity or
undertaking. The modern awards and National Employment standards (NES) are the minimum
employment standards which apply to an industry. The enterprise agreements apply to all
organizations operating in one or more industries and are more generalized in terms of their
application. Also, these agreements contain a wide range of terms and conditions such as dispute
settlement procedures, flexibility terms, consultation terms and such others. The BOOT related
tradeoffs are also mentioned in enterprise agreements, clearer than the modern awards or NES
(Australian Government, 2018).
Answer 2
RMIT enterprise agreement for academic and professional staff can be thought of a single
enterprise agreement, as it is made between a single employer (Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology) and employees employed in an organization at the time of their joining. The
agreement includes all the provisions which need to be fulfilled between the employees and the
employers since the time of commencement of their respective jobs. Also, all the clauses and
provisions made in the agreement are as per the guidelines of Fair Work Act 2009 and all the
terms such as flexibility terms, consultation terms and such others are mentioned in it (RMIT
University Academic & Professional Staff Enterprise Agreement, 2014).

Answer 3
Better off overall test (BOOT) can be described as a point in time test which states that each
award covered employee as well as the prospective award covered employee must be “better off
overall” at the time of test. If the employee is not better off overall, the enterprise agreement into
consideration does not pass the BOOT. It works under Section 193(7) of the Fair Work Act
permits the Commission and assumes that if the employee belongs to a particular class, he/she
would be better off under the enterprise agreement rather than the relevant modern award. The
conditions and formalities required for BOOT are mentioned in employer’s Form F17 statutory
declaration (Fair Work Legal Advice, 2018).
Answer 4
Yes, our organization is governed by an enterprise agreement and it also meets the BOOT test in
my opinion. The following two examples will provide the reason for stating this:
 There is a team in the organization which examines the arrangements and practices related to
the working of employees within ordinary or overtime hours and ensure that the employees
are better off with the work conditions and are not overloaded with work even after the work
hours.
 Sample rosters are used in the organization for comparing remuneration developed using
loaded rates pay structure instead of modern award (Fair Work Legal Advice, 2018).
Answer 5
This statement is absolutely true and all the enterprise agreements must include NES as the Fair
Work Act 2009 provides the minimum conditions and terms, which are required for ensuring fair

employment practices with employees. It includes the information pertaining to flexible work
arrangements, maximum weekly hours, and provision for annual leaves, Fair Work Information
Statement and many such other aspects. They help in forming sorted relationships between the
employees and employers.
Answer 6
The Qantas dispute was due to the dissatisfaction of the industrial unions of baggage staff,
engineers and catering staff of the airlines over the work conditions as well as the remuneration.
Since, it was an issue which was related to the violation of the Fair Work Act 2009, the FWC
had all the authority to interfere in the matter and ensure that the employees are given proper
work conditions and deserving payments. Thus, FWA terminated the industrial action between
the three unions and Qantas which meant that, if no resolution was reached between the two
parties in a 21-day period, an arbitrated outcome would be imposed on them by FWA (ABC
News, 2011).
References
ABC News, 2011. Why Fair Work Australia terminated the Qantas industrial action. [Online]
Available at: http://theconversation.com/why-fair-work-australia-terminated-the-qantas-
industrial-action-4092 [Accessed 30 March 2019].
Australian Government, 2018. Enterprise bargaining. [Online] Available at:
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/how-we-will-help/templates-and-guides/fact-sheets/rights-and-
obligations/enterprise-bargaining [Accessed 30 March 2019].

Fair Work Legal Advice, 2018. Better Off Overall test explained. [Online] Available at:
https://fairworklegaladvice.com.au/better-off-overall-test-explained/ [Accessed 30 March 2019].
RMIT University Academic & Professional Staff Enterprise Agreement, 2014. RMIT University
Academic & Professional Staff Enterprise Agreement. Melbourne, Australia: RMIT University.