Employment / Workplace Relations

Employment and industrial law is an ever-changing area of the business landscape in Australia. Legislation is continuously evolving and employment claims and compensation payments continue to rise. The right expertise and experience can make all the difference in enabling businesses to effectively manage their risks, and in ensuring individuals fully understand their rights.

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Overview

Keypoint’s workplace relations team has the experience and expertise necessary to navigate this complex area of law. We advise on all employment related issues from the hiring of new staff to the termination of employment, including performance management, disciplinary issues and grievances, redundancies and the protection of company goodwill. We help companies ensure their employment documentation is up to date to reduce risk and improve employee efficiency. Our lawyers appear in all industrial tribunals and courts and can assist with any employment related litigation. We assist clients with enterprise bargaining, complying with good faith bargaining obligations, workplace health and safety, and equal opportunity and anti-discrimination matters.

We also help individuals on their own employment rights, regularly scrutinising contracts and giving guidance on employment documentation, discrimination, bullying and harassment. We offer proactive solutions ranging from mediation and conciliation, all the way to the prosecution of claims in employment tribunals.

Keypoint Law’s experts provide a full range of advice to clients on employment matters, including:

Executive service agreements
Employment contracts
Employment policies
Employment rights
Change management and redundancy
Human rights and equal opportunity law
Restrictive covenants and the protection of company goodwill
Bullying
Unfair dismissal / general protection claims / breach of contract
Whistleblowers
Enterprise agreements and good faith bargaining
Work health and safety
Training
Investigations

For further information, please email enquiries@keypointlaw.com.au or telephone (02) 8035 5200 to speak with one of our lawyers.

Lawyers

Australia

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Lisa Faisca completed law through the Legal Profession Admission Board, University of Sydney in September 2016. Prior to her admission as a lawyer, Lisa gained a wealth of practical legal experience working as a Paralegal and Legal Secretary in various law firms, including a leading industrial relations law firm, accredited criminal law practice and a large national firm.

Lisa

Faisca

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Shana has over 20 years' experience as an employment and industrial lawyer. She began her career as a barrister in South Africa. She has a Masters in Law from Cambridge University, and was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Harmers Workplace Lawyers. She is an experienced litigator in the employment arena and is the trusted advisor for all employment related matters for her corporate and government clients.

Shana

Schreier-Joffe

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Dean graduated with distinction from the University of Technology, Sydney in 2013 having completed a combined Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Laws degree. During his university career, Dean completed specialist subjects in employment law, insolvency, family law and alternative dispute resolution. Prior to joining Keypoint, Dean worked at national specialist employment relations firm, Harmers Workplace Lawyers.

Dean

Tolkin

UK

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William joined Keystone Law in 2013 as a consultant in the firm’s Employment team. He is an experienced employment lawyer acting for employers and employees in both contentious and non-contentious human resources and employment law matters. William has specialist knowledge of dealing with SMEs, owner-managed businesses, medical partnerships and construction clients. He also acts for senior executives in exit strategy negotiations including compromise agreements and tribunal claims.

William

Addis

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Sonia is an experienced lawyer advising employers and senior executives on specialist employment matters for the Corporate, Public and Voluntary sectors. Sonia also advises on matters that arise from corporate transactions (e.g. TUPE) and is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.

Sonia

Bhola

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Andrew is an experienced commercial litigation lawyer, undertaking High Court and County Court litigation on behalf of Claimants and Defendants and having considerable experience of the mediation process. Having initially commenced his legal career with the Treasury Solicitor, Andrew has also practiced with DJ Freeman and Garretts in London and Reading.

Andrew

Fishleigh

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Louise is an experienced employment lawyer with expertise in both contentious and non-contentious employment matters. As well as providing stand-alone employment advice she advises on employment matters that arise out of corporate transactions (e.g. TUPE). Previously at Herbert Smith, she joined Keystone in 2006.

Louise

Grendon

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David is an experienced specialist employment lawyer advising employers and employees in relation to both contentious and non-contentious matters. As part of the Corporate Recovery and Insolvency Team, he advises on employment law aspects of insolvency matters. David qualified as a Solicitor in 1993 and is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.

David

Jepps

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Katy is a company/commercial solicitor who also specialises in employment matters. This unique blend enables her to act for companies, owner-managers, investors, employers as well as employees. Katy was a partner at Farrer & Co before joining the firm in 2007.

Katy

Jones

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Stephen Levinson joined Keystone in July 2013 as a consultant in the Employment team. He acts for senior executives exiting their positions or looking to take up new employment and for employers with similar issues. Stephen also regularly advises companies on handling difficult problems involving senior executives, trustees or within partnerships as well as corporate employment law issues.

Stephen

Levinson

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Bryan is a highly experienced corporate and commercial lawyer, handling the full range of corporate transactions including M&A, private equity, corporate restructures and joint ventures. He is also an employee share schemes specialist.

Bryan

Rickman

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Helen has 20 years experience in employment law advising clients on both contentious and non-contentious issues. Her clients include large city corporations and banks as well as executives such as CEOs, directors and television producers. Helen’s particular area of expertise is in acting for individuals in the negotiation of their new employment contracts and in terminations.

Helen

Sherborne

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Mark has a wealth of experience acting in a broad range of employment law matters for a variety of clients in both the private and public sectors. He has a particular expertise in discrimination law and also issues relating to redundancies, reorganisations and transfer of undertakings. Having previously practised as a barrister, Mark is an experienced advocate, representing clients both in Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

Mark

Shulman

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Susannah specialises in both contentious and non-contentious aspects of employment law. She spent over 10 years at Wedlake Bell before joining Keystone in 2005. Susannah is a Liveryman of the Drapers Company and a Member of the Employment Lawyers Association.

Susannah

Tubbs

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Philippa has wide-ranging and varied experience and advises on all areas of contentious and non-contentious employment law. Her clients include individuals, small to medium sized companies as well as public companies.

Philippa

Wood

Keynotes

Country

Australia

Flexibility in the workplace: Does it actually work?

Flexible working arrangements have become more and more popular over the years. Traditionally, this was something used by working mothers and carers, but as social norms have evolved, it has become very common for all types of workers to want to adopt flexible working arrangements. For example, flexible working arrangements allow employees to balance family, carer and other responsibilities and interests alongside their work commitments and career goals.

Posted on:

22 Jun 2018

National minimum wage update – June 2018

The Fair Work Commission handed down a decision on Friday, 1 June 2018 increasing the National Minimum Wage by 3.5%. This means the National Minimum Wage will increase to $719.20 per week or $18.93 per hour and comes into effect on 1 July 2018. The increase will affect employees paid the National Minimum Wage, or at Modern Award rates and those employees under a registered enterprise agreement which is linked to any outcome of the FWC’s annual wage review.

Posted on:

8 Jun 2018

Can you dismiss an employee by phone, SMS or email?

In a society where the use of technology including mobile telephones and computers has become so prevalent, it is no surprise that electronic devices are changing the way in which we communicate. There has been a growing trend where employees and employers now communicate almost exclusively via email or text message. As such, it is not unexpected that there are a number of employers who have terminated the employment of their staff by phone, text or email in order to avoid those hard to have conversations with their employees.

Posted on:

8 Jun 2018

Are your employment contracts 'comic' enough?

Ordinarily, there is nothing very comic about legal contracts. In particular, employment contracts can be long, difficult to understand and full of legalese. As a way of tackling this, there is an emerging trend to think outside the box when it comes to contract law and expressing legal concepts. In this week’s client alert, we discuss the creative innovations that are being considered in contract design, specifically through the use of illustrations, diagrams and other comic-book like imagery.

Posted on:

25 May 2018

Legal representation in the Fair Work Commission

If your business has a matter before the Fair Work Commission (“FWC”) you may automatically think that the you are entitled to legal representation in that matter and that your legal representative is able to appear for the business in the FWC proceedings. You would be wrong. The issue of legal representation before the FWC has become a hot topic as a result of a number of recent decisions.

Posted on:

11 May 2018

Employer's duty of care – how far does it go?

We hear the words “duty of care” used commonly but in terms of an employment relationship, what does this really mean for employers and how far does the duty really go? By way of introduction, there are a number of duties that are owed by an employer to an employee. These include, but are not limited to:

Posted on:

30 Apr 2018

Going from grey to greyer! When can social media posts result in a termination of employment?

The explosion of social media use over the years presents many challenges to the employment relationship. The use of social media has blurred the boundaries between work and non-work life. This has led to many employers having to deal with situations where employees have posted something in their private capacity on their own social media accounts, which has (or is likely to have) a negative impact on the employer.

Posted on:

13 Apr 2018

The Flexibility Quandary: Challenges for Employers in Keeping Pace with the Modern Workplace

The environment in which work is conducted is no longer constrained by traditional notions of a workplace where certain tasks and activities are completed, between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday. The modern workplace is constantly changing, and employers are having to adapt in order to keep pace. More frequently than not, work is now performed in a more dispersed and flexible manner, with emphasis being placed on the delivery of outcomes rather than satisfying attendance requirements or endless performance milestones.

Posted on:

23 Mar 2018

Quarterly Case Law Round-Up and Learnings for Employers

There have been a number of interesting and noteworthy cases determined by our judiciary in the employment law space in the last quarter. In this legal briefing we provide an overview of two significant cases. The first of the two highlights the challenge faced by employers in relying upon the opinions of medical professionals in determining whether (or not) an employee can perform the inherent requirements of the role for which they are employed and how employers ought to go about reconciling conflicting medical opinions about an employee’s fitness for work.

Posted on:

9 Mar 2018

Are Your Employees’ Personal Lives, Company Business?

In light of the recent exhaustive and intrusive media coverage about The Honourable Barnaby Joyce MP’s affair with his staffer, the question that should be asked is whether the personal life of an employee is something with which the employer should be concerned or have any say. In this regard, the Prime Minister clearly is of the view that the answer to this question is in the affirmative.

Posted on:

23 Feb 2018

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Zero-hours contracts: a time and a place

With zero-hours contracts proving as divisive as ever, Keystone Law’s ]]>Michelle Last]]> and ]]>Philippa Wood]]> explain whether they have a place in the SME business.

Posted on:

22 May 2017

Analysis - FB 2014: Employee share schemes

Draft Finance Bill 2014 contains more than 100 pages on employee share schemes. Key clauses on approved schemes provide for a switch from HMRC approval to self-certification and increases in the limits for SAYE option schemes and SIPs. For unapproved schemes, draft provisions take forward some of the OTS’s recommendations, including: changing the basis of the taxation of shares and options granted to internationally mobile employees; introducing a new rollover relief for certain share exchange arrangements; and extending corporation tax relief for employee share acquisitions.

Posted on:

20 Dec 2013

Q&A: Can I sack someone for extremist views?

One of my directors recently told me that a senior employee has a very strong affiliation with an extreme political group which would certainly offend much of our client base, as well as other employees. In all areas of his work, however, he is a model employee who has worked with us for many years. I fear for the reputation of my business if his beliefs were to come out into the open, and I have also received complaints from other members of staff. Does the law allow me to dismiss him?

Posted on:

10 Feb 2014

Employment Law Update - Flexible working changes

As of 30 June 2014, the statutory right to request flexible working extends to all qualifying employees. The current statutory procedure for considering such requests will be removed and employers will instead be required to consider all such requests in a reasonable manner. They will, however, retain the right to refuse requests on business grounds.

Posted on:

27 May 2014

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