AGENDA

• 9:00 AM

  Opening remarks from the chairperson

  

  Karen Ansen

  Founder and Workplace Lawyer & Human Resources Consultant
  Ignite HR and Employment Law

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  Karen Ansen

  Founder and Workplace Lawyer & Human Resources Consultant
  Ignite HR and Employment Law

• 9:15 AM

  Key changes to Australian employment law in 2022 

  There have been several amendments to employment law over the past year and HR managers must navigate these developments to remain compliant and understand the implications to their organisation. This session will discuss recent and upcoming changes in employment law in 2022 and beyond.

  • Minimum wage increases from 1 July 2022
  • Potential reform to the paid parental leave system
  • Changes to superannuation guarantee and eligibility threshold
  • Increases to the high-income threshold and compensation cap for unfair dismissal

  

  Karen Ansen

  Founder and Workplace Lawyer & Human Resources Consultant
  Ignite HR and Employment Law

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  Karen Ansen

  Founder and Workplace Lawyer & Human Resources Consultant
  Ignite HR and Employment Law

• 9:45 AM

  Keeping it casual: clarity on definitions of casual employees

  We have seen developments in the Fair Work Commission’s definition of casual employee over the past year, with anticipated changes from the Albanese Government to follow. This session will provide further clarity on the rights and obligations relating to casual employment.

  • Amendments to the definition of “casual employment” and the employee relationship
  • Requirements of casual conversion and implications of employee dismissal
  • Understanding the two-limb test to determine the period of service
  • Lessons from Liting Gu v Geraldton Fishermen’s Co-operative [2022]

  

  Gareth Jolly

  Partner
  MinterEllison

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  Gareth Jolly

  Partner
  MinterEllison

  As a litigator, Gareth regularly conducts proceedings before the Fair Work Commission, the Federal Court of Australia, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, and other courts and tribunals.

  He has a background in IT and has developed a range of apps in his practice. Most recently, he was certified in Neota Logic – an environment used to develop expert systems (rule-based artificial intelligence apps) for web and mobile platforms.

• 10:30 AM

  Morning tea and refreshment break

• 11:00 AM

  Updates to workplace health and safety (WHS) laws

  With changes to workplace health and safety laws being announced and employers facing ongoing safety issues related to COVID, this session will provide an overview of the current safety landscape in Australia.

  • Understanding key amendments to the model WHS Act and regulations
  • Are employees eligible for workers’ compensation covering injuries while working from home?
  • Lessons from Mariam Gharib v Dnata Airport Services Pty Ltd [2022]
  • Lessons from Jason Lubiejewski v Australian Federal Police [2022]

  

  Stephen Hardy

  Partner
  K&L Gates

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  Stephen Hardy

  Partner
  K&L Gates

  Stephen Hardy is a partner in the labour, employment and workplace safety practice. Stephen is an established practitioner who represents Australian and international clients on a variety of employment matters. These include human resources, industrial relations, executive, business protection and complex compliance related matters, the employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions, workplace restructuring and business transformation. This work is undertaken for clients across a wide range of industries including banking and financial services, insurance, retail, transport, waste management, maufacturing, information technology, leisure, media and entertainment, property, and professional services.

  Stephen is well-known for his experience across the breadth of labour and employment related matters and also has a specialist workplace health and safety practice leading high profile and sensitive safety investigations, responding to workplace crises, establishing and auditing safety systems, defending prosecutions and appearing at coronial inquests.

  Working with his clients to structure effective workforces, Stephen supports clients on their enterprise bargaining and industrial disputes. When organisations experience significant change, Stephen is experienced at achieving the due diligence required to support mergers and acquisitions activities.

  An experienced litigator, Stephen works closely with clients on their industrial, employment and executive related disputes. He ensures clients are advocated for in state and federal courts and industrial tribunals, and supporting clients with their workplace health and safety liabilities.

  Known by clients for his pragmatic approach to solutions-led legal advice, Stephen advises clients on understanding core legal elements of their business objectives, providing a clear path to a commercial solution and regularly conducts training sessions for management, executives and boards of directors.

• 11:45 AM

  Psychiatric injury at work: employer’s obligations

  Employers have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to protect employees from mental injuries. What happens when the psychiatric health of employees is affected by their role? What are the legal risks involved when psychiatric injury claims arise?

  • What constitutes a psychiatric injury at work?
  • Managing complex performance management issues and conduct relating to psychiatric injury
  • Revising compliance and training for WHS staff in a hybrid work setting
  • Lessons from Kozarov v Victoria [2022]

  

  Brigid Clark

  Special Counsel
  Maddocks

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  Brigid Clark

  Special Counsel
  Maddocks

  Brigid advises both public and private sector clients on the full spectrum of employment, industrial and work health and safety (WHS) matters. Brigid has extensive experience working with clients from a range of industries including the financial services, retail, construction, government and manufacturing industries. As a former prosecutor for WorkCover NSW, Brigid has a deep understanding of WHS law, and conducting workplace investigations, as well as advising on termination of employment, discrimination, bullying and harassment issues.

• 12:30 PM

  Networking lunch

• 1:30 PM

  Preventing and investigating bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace

  New anti-sexual-discrimination laws in Australia have widened the scope of harassment and bullying in the workplace. What are the obligations of employers to actively prevent bullying and harassment at work?

  • Updating prevention frameworks and policies to mitigate risk
  • Examples of comprehensive compliance training for employees
  • How to deal with allegations of bullying or sexual harassment
  • Lessons from THDL [2021]

  

  Veronica Siow

  Partner
  Allens

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  Veronica Siow

  Partner
  Allens

  Veronica Siow is a Partner at Allens who specialises in employment and safety law. Veronica provides her clients with strategic advice on workforce change management (involving transfers of employment, restructures and redundancies), employment practices and payroll compliance, executive matters, corporate culture and matters of operational or reputational significance. She acts in disputes that could impact her clients’ employer brand. Veronica also advises on and conducts investigations into whistleblower complaints and bullying and harassment grievances. She provides training to boards and executive teams on officers’ due diligence obligations and employment practices risks.

  Veronica’s clients include Westpac, TPG Telecom, Mirvac, The ICONIC, Sony Music, Bank of China, DuPont, The Walt Disney Company, The Star Entertainment Group, and TransGrid.

• 2:15 PM

  Employee vs. independent contractors – lessons from the courts

  Recent court decisions indicate a move from the previously accepted ‘multi-factorial’ test to a new approach that relies on written contracts between employee and independent contractors. This session will discuss recent court decisions and considerations to differentiate the contractual relationships.

  • Lessons from Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union v Personnel Contracting Pty Ltd [2022]
  • Lessons from ZG Operations Australia Pty Ltd v Jamsek [2022]
  • Reviewing written contracts to ensure clarity on employment arrangements upon agreement

  

  Drew Pearson

  Partner
  Herbert Smith Freehills

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  Drew Pearson

  Partner
  Herbert Smith Freehills

• 3:00 PM

  Afternoon tea and refreshment break

• 3:30 PM

  Determining modern award entitlements

  The misinterpretation of modern awards can lead to incidents of underpayments and compliance issues. This session will address award and agreement interpretation to provide greater clarity on the employer’s responsibilities and the minimum terms and conditions of employment.

  • Understanding award classification in relation to the work performed by an employee
  • What are the entitlements of an employee that does not fall within the classification of an award?
  • Communicating the difference between award vs. shadowing the award to employees
  • Guidance on annualised salaries and overtime expectations

  

  Cynthia Elachi

  Special Counsel
  Clayton Utz

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  Cynthia Elachi

  Special Counsel
  Clayton Utz

• 4:15 PM

  Discipline and termination: Lessons from the court

  One of Australia’s most prominent lawyers will discuss the key takeaways from the most influential cases of the last 12 months.

  • How have judges been ruling on termination cases?
  • Trends in employee compensation rulings
  • Lessons from the recent court decisions

  

  Alexandra Shields

  Partner
  Norton Rose Fulbright

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  Alexandra Shields

  Partner
  Norton Rose Fulbright

  Alexandra Shields is an employment and labour lawyer based in Sydney, having been with the firm since 2007.

  Alexandra’s expertise are across all areas of employment, workplace relationships and industrial relations law for public and private sector clients, with very strong experience in workplace litigation, including discrimination, sexual harassment and equal opportunity claims, unfair and unlawful dismissals and Consumer Law claims.

  Alexandra has a sound understanding of her clients’ businesses and provides a practical and solutions-focussed approach.

  With a strong government practice, Alexandra is a trusted advisor to many government agencies on contentious and non-contentious matters, having also spent a substantial amount of time on in-house secondments within various agencies.

  Alexandra regularly represents and advocates for clients in conciliations and hearings in various jurisdictions and has expertise in the following:

  • strategic employment, discrimination and industrial relations advice;
  • advising on matters involving employee management and termination of employment strategies;
  • workplace investigations;
  • drafting employment contracts and policies;
  • unfair dismissal and termination of employment claims;
  • unlawful discrimination claims; and
  • workplace training.

  Alexandra is a regular presenter at client and external industry seminars on various aspects of employment law.

• 4:45 PM

  Q&A: Addressing additional concerns in employment law

  In this interactive session, delegates will have the opportunity to ask the speaker questions relating to various employment law concerns.

  

  Alexandra Shields

  Partner
  Norton Rose Fulbright

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  Alexandra Shields

  Partner
  Norton Rose Fulbright

  Alexandra Shields is an employment and labour lawyer based in Sydney, having been with the firm since 2007.

  Alexandra’s expertise are across all areas of employment, workplace relationships and industrial relations law for public and private sector clients, with very strong experience in workplace litigation, including discrimination, sexual harassment and equal opportunity claims, unfair and unlawful dismissals and Consumer Law claims.

  Alexandra has a sound understanding of her clients’ businesses and provides a practical and solutions-focussed approach.

  With a strong government practice, Alexandra is a trusted advisor to many government agencies on contentious and non-contentious matters, having also spent a substantial amount of time on in-house secondments within various agencies.

  Alexandra regularly represents and advocates for clients in conciliations and hearings in various jurisdictions and has expertise in the following:

  • strategic employment, discrimination and industrial relations advice;
  • advising on matters involving employee management and termination of employment strategies;
  • workplace investigations;
  • drafting employment contracts and policies;
  • unfair dismissal and termination of employment claims;
  • unlawful discrimination claims; and
  • workplace training.

  Alexandra is a regular presenter at client and external industry seminars on various aspects of employment law.

• 5:00 PM

  Event concludes