Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese Limited - Schools Enterprise Agreement 2025

[1] This decision concerns an application for approval of the Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese Limited - Schools Enterprise Agreement 2025 (the Agreement). The application has been made under section 185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the FW Act) by Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese Limited (the Applicant). The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement. The Fair Work Commission must approve the Agreement if the requirements in sections 186 and 187 of the FW Act are met.

[2] If the agreement is not a greenfields agreement, section 186(2)(a) of the FW Act requires the Fair Work Commission to be satisfied that the agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees covered by the agreement. The Agreement is not a greenfields agreement. The question of whether an enterprise agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees is determined by reference to section 188 of the FW Act. Section 188(4)(a) of the FW Act provides that the Fair Work Commission cannot be satisfied as to genuine agreement unless the Fair Work Commission is satisfied that sections 173 and 174 of the FW Act have been complied with. The Notice of Employee Representational Rights (NERR) that was filed with the application identified the agreement as the Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese Limited - Teachers and General Employees Enterprise Agreement 2024. I am satisfied that the NERR contains a minor error with respect to the name of the agreement, which can be disregarded in accordance with section 188(5) of the FW Act. In particular, I am satisfied that the employees were not likely to have been disadvantaged by that error.

[3] Based on the material provided, each of the requirements of the FW Act that are relevant to this Agreement are satisfied.

[4] Section 201 of the FW Act requires the approval decision to note certain matters. The only such matter is that the Independent Education Union of Australia has given the Fair Work Commission a notice under section 183(1) of the FW Act that it wants the Agreement to cover it. In accordance with section 201(2) of the FW Act, I note that the Agreement covers the Independent Education Union of Australia.

[5] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with section 54 of the FW Act, it will operate from 11 December 2025. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 9 October 2027.

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