LINEAGE AUS TRS PTY LTD LURNEA CONVENIENCE & QSR ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2025

Application for approval of the Lineage AUS TRS Pty Ltd Lurnea Convenience & QSR Enterprise Agreement 2025

[1] Lineage AUS TRS Pty Limited Trading as Lineage (the Employer) has made an application for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Lineage AUS TRS Pty Ltd Lurnea Convenience & QSR Enterprise Agreement 2025 (the Agreement) pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

[2] The Agreement will apply to employees who are covered by the Storage Services and Wholesale Award 2020 (the Award).

[3] Clause 8.1.5 of the Agreement states that if an employee fails to give the required notice, the Employer may withhold from any monies due to the employee on termination under this Agreement, an amount not exceeding the amount the employee would have been paid under this Agreement in respect of the period of notice required by this sub-clause, less any period of notice actually given by the employee. This may restrict an employee's entitlement to payment of NES entitlements upon termination of employment which is inconsistent with Part 2-2 Division 2 of the Act.

[4] The Agreement contains a delegates' rights term at Clause 7.1, however the Agreement only provides for two days paid initial training time whereas clause 29A.8 of the Award provides five days paid training time and at least one day each subsequent year.

[5] Section 205A(2) of the Act provides that where a delegates' rights term is less favourable in an agreement compared to the modern award, the agreement term will have no effect, and the most favourable modern award term shall be taken to be a term of the enterprise agreement. Accordingly, the workplace delegates' rights term from the Award is taken to be a term of the Agreement. A copy of the workplace delegates' rights term can be found in Annexure C.

[6] The Commission raised the following issues with the Employer which are relevant to whether employees are better off overall under the Agreement compared to the relevant Award:

1. There is some ambiguity as to whether clause 2.5.1 of the Agreement provides shift and overtime penalties for casual employees calculated on the hourly base rates of pay or the casual hourly rates of pay.

2. Clause 5.4.1 of the Agreement provides that an afternoon shift means any shift finishing after 8:00pm and at or before midnight, which is inconsistent with clause 20.1(d) of the Award which provides that an afternoon shift means a shift finishing after 6:00pm and at or before midnight. Further, the span of hours under clause 3.1 of the Agreement is from 8am-7pm. Therefore, employees who regularly finish a shift between 6pm and 7pm under the Agreement would always be entitled to the afternoon shift penalties under the Award for the entirety of the shift.

[7] The Employer provided written undertakings to address the above NES and BOOT issues. A copy of the undertakings is attached in Schedule 1. 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.

[8] Subject to the undertakings referred to above, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186, 187, 188 and 190 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[9] The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU) being a bargaining representative for the Agreement, has given notice under s.183 of the Act that it wants the Agreement to cover it.

[10] In accordance with s.201(2), I note that the Agreement covers the AMIEU.

[11] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 9 September 2025. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 31 July 2029.

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