Removing an employer and employees from a multi-enterprise agreement

Multi-enterprise agreements, approved after 6 June 2023, can be varied to remove an employer and their employees, if 2 or more employers are covered by the agreement.

The variation has no effect unless it is approved by us.

If an employer is removed from a multi-enterprise agreement, the agreement’s terms will no longer apply to that employer or their employees.

This does not apply to greenfield agreements. 

An employer and their employees can only be removed from the coverage of a multi-enterprise agreement by agreement.

Step 1: A vote must be held

First, a vote must be held for the employees who would be removed.

The employer may request the affected employees to approve the proposed variation by voting on it.

The affected employees are the employees employed at the time who will no longer be covered by the agreement if the variation is approved.

The variation is made when a majority of the affected employees who cast a valid vote approve the variation.

This vote can be by ballot or by an electronic method.

Before making the request, the employer must:

• take all reasonable steps to notify the employees of the time, place and method of the vote, and
• give the employees a reasonable opportunity to decide whether they want to approve the proposed variation (to be removed from the coverage of the multi-enterprise agreement).

Step 2: An application to approve the variation must be made to us

If the variation is made, the employer, an affected employee or an employee organisation covered by the agreement that can represent the industrial interests of an affected employee must apply to us to approve the variation.

An application must be made within 14 days after the variation is made or such further time as we consider fair.

Step 3: The application must be approved by us

A variation has no effect unless it is approved by us.

We must approve the variation of the agreement if we are satisfied that:

• the employer took all reasonable steps to notify the employees of the time, place and method of the vote and gave the employees a reasonable opportunity to decide whether they wanted to approve the proposed variation
• the affected employees have voted, by ballot or electronic method, on whether to approve the variation and the majority of those who cast a valid vote approved the variation
• there are no other reasonable grounds for believing that a majority of the affected employees who cast a valid vote did not approve the variation, and
• each employee organisation covered by the agreement that can represent the industrial interests of one or more affected employees agrees to the variation.

An approved variation operates from the day specified by us. The employer and affected employees are no longer by covered by the agreement after that time.

An agreement that has been varied remains a multi-enterprise agreement despite the variation.

Use the following forms to apply to vary a multi-enterprise agreement to remove an employer and their employees.

Follow the instructions on each form. The form will explain how to lodge or submit it to us.

There are different processes to vary a multi-enterprise agreement to add employers and their employees for each type of multi-enterprise agreement. 

You can find more information on our Change an agreement page.