Section 438 — Fair Work Act 2009: Restriction on when application may be made

(1) If one or more enterprise agreements cover the employees who will be covered by the proposed enterprise agreement, an application for a protected action ballot order must not be made earlier than 30 days before the nominal expiry date of the enterprise agreement, or the latest nominal expiry date of those enterprise agreements (as the case may be). (2) To avoid doubt, making an application for a protected action ballot order does not constitute organising industrial action.