Workplace and Employment Law

We understand that not everything will always go right and that receiving an unfair dismissal, general protections, discrimination, or underpayment claim can be incredibly upsetting and stressful.

Our skilled team of experts is available to defend your business in the Fair Work Commission, Federal Court of Australia, Equal Opportunity Commission or in any other court or tribunal that you may receive a claim.

To assist with the initial stages of defending an unfair dismissal claim, we offer a competitive fixed fee which will reduce the stress of defending a claim, allowing you to focus on running your business.

Our team brings a vast amount of experience in strategic bargaining and has achieved sensible and commercially beneficial outcomes for the WA business community. We work with you to understand the goals you are seeking to achieve by introducing an enterprise agreement into your organisation, and then help you develop strategies and negotiation plans to best position you to obtain those outcomes.

Our practical experience in bargaining will also level the playing field against union bargaining representatives and other experienced industrial relations advocates when navigating the complexities of the Fair Work Act and modern awards framework.

We also understand what issues might arise in the lodgement and approvals process of the Fair Work Commission, and help to draft unambiguous enterprise agreements, that are more likely to pass the better off overall test, as well as be straight forward and easy to interpret and for your employees to read and understand.

It is critical that claims of harassment, bullying or other types of misconduct are investigated in an effective and impartial way when required. An investigation should always be undertaken by a suitably qualified and skilled person and if not conducted properly, may be unfair to the employee and may expose a business to further risk and liability.

Our team of experienced workplace investigators understand how to best manage the sensitive nature of many claims as well as the procedural rules and technical requirements of investigations and ensure that they are undertaken in an impartial, confidential, consistent, and fair manner.

We’ll also offer alternatives to an investigation where appropriate, including mediation or legally privileged advice and guidance.

Our team can assist with responding to underpayment claims received from employees, unions or the Fair Work Ombudsman.

We’ve all read about cases of high-profile Australian businesses underpaying their staff in the media. This can lead to a disengaged workforce, and turn into a serious breach in workplace law, high penalties and significant reputational damage and costs to the business.

Recent award changes have increased the likelihood of accidental underpayments. Businesses of all sizes and across all sectors have been caught out – even those with well-informed and resourced HR teams who thought they had it covered.

We can assist with pay rate calculations to reduce the risk of underpayment, ensure fair treatment of your workforce and ensure your business is complying with the modern award. We provide assistance with all the complex considerations to be taken into account when determining the correct rates of pay, such as award coverage and classification levels.

Mediation can be a fast, cost-effective, flexible and confidential way to resolve disputes both within a business and between businesses. It can often prevent the need for protracted legal action and resolve disputes in a less formal environment. Our skilled Mediators can assist your business with these goals, through our trusted independent mediation service.

Mediation is a constructive way for individuals to resolve disputes and establish a productive way of working together. Our experienced mediators can offer a range of mediation services, including:

• Workplace mediation between two employees at your business to resolve issues that the parties may be experiencing, at any level in the business.
• Independent commercial mediation between your business and another business.

As a trusted organisation, with a strong reputation in the WA business community, our team of qualified mediators offer professional and cost effective solutions.

If you receive a claim, notice or any other correspondence or documentation from a union that you do not understand, we are here to help.

Unions are frequently involved in workplace matters and our team has substantial experience in assisting clients to advise on or manage union right of entries and defend unlawful industrial action.

We regularly work with clients to manage other union-related matters including attendances at disciplinary meetings, underpayment or other wage-related disputes, enterprise agreement related disputes, work health and safety issues and other industrial disputes.

Our Legal team can draft and review your employment contracts, policies, and procedures to ensure your business is following best practice documentation while keeping you up to date with any changes to legislation and awards. This will reduce the risk to your workers and help you meet your various employment and safety compliance obligations.

We review existing sets of contracts or can create a new set of customised contracts for your business, from apprentices all the way up to senior management and executives. This includes assistance with all the complex considerations for a written contract such as:

• The relevant Modern Awards which covers your workforce
• Arrangement of working hours and pay structures
• Set off clauses for salaried employees or all-inclusive hourly rates
• Recommended modes of employment (e.g. full-time, part-time, casual, daily hire)
• Assistance with temporary contracts for fixed-term or project-based work
• Licence requirements (e.g. driver’s licence, working with children’s check)
• Provisions for leave entitlements under the National Employment Standards
• Protections for confidential information
• Protections for intellectual property
• Restraint of trade and non-solicitation clauses

As businesses grow, it is easy to forget that a well-drafted set of customised policies and procedures can be important to help ensure fair treatment of employees, contractors and customers, mitigate legal risks as well as help manage employee performance and misconduct. We regularly assist clients to prepare and implement workplace policies, including:

• Employee code of conduct
• Drug and alcohol policy
• Grievance resolution procedure
• Performance management and disciplinary procedure
• Anti-bullying policy
• Sexual harassment policy
• E-mail and internet usage policy
• Flexible work policy
• Social media policy
• Equal opportunity policy (anti-discrimination)
• Personal leave policy
• Family and domestic violence leave policy
• Mobile phone policy
• Smoke-free policy
• Motor vehicle policy
• Dress policy
• Privacy policy.

We can provide a full suite of these essential policies and procedures for a competitive fixed fee.

Or create a bespoke set of policies and procedures tailored to your organisation as required.

We can also review your business’ existing policies to ensure compliance with changes to legislation, case law or best practice.

We assist businesses with their management of the COVID-19 vaccination roll out in the workplace, assisting them to be compliant with government directions, occupational health and safety obligations and workplace laws including those around discrimination.

Our team of workplace relations lawyers can help to prepare a workplace vaccination policy that is tailored to your businesses to significantly reduce your risk of significant penalties (currently up to $100,000 for a business and $20,000 for an individual employee) for breaching the government directions or claims from employees who believe they have been unfairly dismissed or discriminated against.

We can also advise on what to do where employees refuse to get vaccinated, how to deal with collection and storage of information under the Privacy Act and the practical HR implications of mandating vaccinations in your workplace if you are required to do so.

Contact us today on (08) 9365 7746