Social, community, home care and disability services

Application for approval of the genU Disability Services Tasmania Enterprise Agreement 2025

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the genU Disability Services Tasmania Enterprise Agreement 2025 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). It has been made by Karingal St Laurence Limited Trading As genU (the Employer / genU). The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] I note that the Notice of Employee Representational Rights (NERR) was not provided in the correct form. The NERR contained a minor difference in the title for the Agreement to the one noted above. However, I am satisfied that this constitutes a minor procedural or technical error, that the employees were not likely to have been disadvantaged by the error, and the error may be disregarded pursuant to s.188(5) of the Act.

[3] The Health Services Union (HSU) is a bargaining representative for this Agreement and in their Form F18 advised the Commission that they do not support approval of the Agreement and that they disagreed with a number of statements in the employer's declaration (Form F17B). genU provided a response to the matters raised, however the HSU maintained a number of objections. Accordingly, I convened a conference between the parties on 22 December 2025. Following the conference genU was required to provide undertakings by mid-January 2026. On 19 January 2026 genU provided their proposed undertakings and on 20 January 2026, HSU advised they agreed with the Employer's undertakings however noted that two of their concerns had still not been addressed.

[4] The HSU raised concerns with the broken shift definition and sleep disturbances contending that while the Agreement's definition triggers an afternoon shift allowance in certain circumstances, it does not trigger an allowance as provided by the SCHADS Award. The Applicant submits that this issue was discussed at length during bargaining and the parties agreed to adopt the provisions in the predecessor agreements. Nevertheless, the Applicant provided modelling in response to the concerns raised which demonstrate that employees are better off overall in up to 4 separate examples. The Commission finds no issue with the Applicant's modelling and its own BOOT analysis did not find any concerns with this aspect of the sleepover/ broken shift provisions. I am satisfied that the HSU's objections concerning allowances were adequately addressed with an undertaking provided by the Applicant which meets the BOOT.

[5] I sought and received a finalised copy of genU's undertakings on 24 February 2026. No further submissions were received from the HSU. A copy of the undertakings is attached in Annexure A. I am satisfied that the undertakings will not cause financial detriment to any employee covered by the Agreement and that the undertakings will not result in substantial changes to the Agreement. The undertakings are taken to be a term of the Agreement.

[6] Subject to the undertakings referred to above, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186, 187, 188, 193 and 193A as are relevant to this application for approval have been met. The Agreement does not cover all of the employees of the employer, however, taking into account the factors in ss.186(3) and (3A) I am satisfied that the group of employees was fairly chosen.

[7] The Health Services Union being a bargaining representative for the Agreement, has given notice under s.183 of the Act that it wants the Agreement to cover it. In accordance with s.201(2) I note that the Agreement covers the organisation.

[8] The Agreement is approved and in accordance with s.54, will operate from 18 March 2026. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 18 March 2029.

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