AGENDA

• 9:00 AM

  Opening remarks from the chairperson

  

  Roxanne Hart

  Director & Senior Lawyer
  Hart & Co Lawyers

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  Roxanne Hart

  Director & Senior Lawyer
  Hart & Co Lawyers

• 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. 

  • Upcoming reform to the paid parental leave system
  • Changes to the superannuation guarantee and eligibility threshold
  • Increases to the high-income threshold and compensation cap for unfair dismissal    
  • Changes to employee share scheme laws 
  • Proposed reform of enterprise bargaining and other changes proposed in the 2022 budget

  

  Roxanne Hart

  Director & Senior Lawyer
  Hart & Co Lawyers

  ×

  

  Roxanne Hart

  Director & Senior Lawyer
  Hart & Co Lawyers

• 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]

  

  Emma Burn

  Senior Associate
  Baker McKenzie

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  Emma Burn

  Senior Associate
  Baker McKenzie

   

  Emma Burn is a Senior Associate in the Employment team at Baker McKenzie, an international law firm. Emma practices in employment, workplace relations, and work health and safety laws. She works with clients in a broad range of industries including retail, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and financial services. She provides advice on employment issues and safety obligations. She is also experienced in contested employment matters, safety prosecutions and coronial inquests, assists with employment aspects of corporate transactions, and provides pro bono employment advice to charitable organisations.

• 10:30 AM

  Morning tea and refreshment break

• 11:00 AM

  Keeping up to date with Occupational Health and Safety Law in Victoria and beyond

  With plenty of regulatory action in the workplace health and safety area and employers facing ongoing safety issues related to COVID, this session will provide an overview of the current safety landscape in Australia.    

  • Impact of increasing nationalisation of Victorian OHS law and beyond  
  • Understanding Board responsibilities and officer liability  
  • Lessons from recent industrial manslaughter prosecutions 
  • Lessons from Mariam Gharib v Dnata Airport Services Pty Ltd [2022]    
  • Lessons from Jason Lubiejewski v Australian Federal Police [2022] 

  

  Som Leung

  Senior Associate
  Mills Oakley

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  Som Leung

  Senior Associate
  Mills Oakley

  Som is a senior associate in the Melbourne Office, working within the Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety team.

  Som has over 20 years’ experience advising employers on all aspects of employment law, industrial relations and occupational health and safety.  Som has worked both as an internal HR advisor and as an inhouse employment lawyer global financial services institutions.  He has particular expertise in relation to advising multinational employers on their Australian operations.  Som also advises Boards and senior managers in relation to sensitive internal investigations and the management of bullying, unlawful discrimination and sexual harassment claims.

  Having worked for 10 years as an employment lawyer in China and Hong Kong, Som regularly advises Chinese owners/operators of Australian businesses in Mandarin or Cantonese.

• 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]

  

  Catherine Dunlop

  Partner
  Maddocks

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  Catherine Dunlop

  Partner
  Maddocks

  Catherine is one of Australia’s leading lawyers in work health and safety (WHS). She leads the Maddocks safety practice and advises on all aspects of safety, including procurement and contractor management, WHS systems, asbestos, due diligence and responding to prosecutions. With her extensive experience in providing incident response advice, Catherine assists clients in dealing with police and other investigative authorities, and working with media and reputation advisers. She also advises on government related employment matters. She has particular experience in helping clients with bullying claims and workplace investigations, managing injured workers, dismissals, privacy, protected disclosures and discrimination.

  Catherine has acted in three Royal Commissions in Victoria, and two national Royal Commissions. She acts for public sector clients in significant coronial inquests, Ombudsman’s inquiries and in parliamentary inquiries. Catherine’s has a background and broad knowledge of administrative law and statutory interpretation, and brings this to her work for government clients and regulated bodies to assist them with issues such as regulatory reform and judicial review.

• 12:30 PM

  Networking lunch

• 1:15 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] 

  

  Melinda Bell

  Partner
  Norton Rose Fulbright

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  Melinda Bell

  Partner
  Norton Rose Fulbright

  Melinda has over 15 years’ experience providing strategic and practical advice on a range of employment and industrial relations law issues for clients in the public and private sectors. Her advice covers general employment law, commercial transactions, enterprise bargaining and industrial relations, underpayments issues and investigations.

  Among Melinda’s clients are international and domestic organisations that are active in Australia. She has advised US and European companies conducting mergers and acquisitions in Australia, as well as transactions in the financial services, government, construction, real estate, retail and franchising sectors. She also regularly represents clients and advises on unfair dismissal, general protections and industrial dispute matters at the Fair Work Commission.

• 2:00 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

  

  Michaela Moloney

  Partner
  K&L Gates

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  Michaela Moloney

  Partner
  K&L Gates

  Michaela Moloney is a partner in the labour, employment and workplace safety practice, providing advice and supporting employers in all aspects of employment, industrial and discrimination law. She has significant expertise supporting government organisations and providing advice in the health and sporting industries.

  In sensitive and high risk matters, Michaela is known as being a trusted advisor to her clients’ C-suite, board and senior management and supports organisations to manage both internal and external stakeholders. She conducts complex workplace investigations, including whistleblower complaints, particularly where allegations are levelled at members of senior management.

  Michaela prides herself on partnering with clients to deliver proactive, straight talking practical solutions that align with an organisation’s objectives and values. She works with clients to understand their requirements and seek an early resolution of workplace issues, whether they be individual grievances or collective disputes.

  Where litigated claims cannot be avoided, Michaela has significant litigation experience and has successfully defended a number of large Australian employers in claims including unfair dismissal, discrimination, industrial disputes, general protections and breach of contract in the state and federal courts.

  As a mediator, Michaela is able to facilitate mediations in all areas of employment and industrial law including bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment. She is also regularly invited to present training across the scope of her employment, safety, industrial relations and discrimination law expertise.

• 2:45 PM

  Afternoon tea and refreshment break

• 3:00 PM

  Determining modern award and enterprise agreement 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

  

  Rohan Doyle

  Partner
  Herbert Smith Freehills

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  Rohan Doyle

  Partner
  Herbert Smith Freehills

  Rohan is a genuine national expert in the field of enterprise bargaining and industrial disputes, with clients spanning all States and Territories in Australia.

  Whilst Rohan has a broad practice spanning all aspects of employment law, his passions are enterprise bargaining, resolving industrial disputes, and helping clients achieve the best possible results in complex employment litigation. He is also particularly experienced in developing and implementing strategies to achieve workplace change.

  Rohan has built his practice and reputation to an extent where he is in demand as a first class negotiator, advocate, and litigation and enterprise bargaining strategist. He is also the author, editor and driving force behind the highly regarded and unique textbook “Bargaining under the Fair Work Act”.

  Rohan has achieved first class outcomes on many high profile matters, and is a valued advisor to some of Australia’s largest organisations such as Lion, CSL, South32 and Incitec Pivot, among many others. Rohan has particular expertise in the aviation, mining and resources, construction and infrastructure, manufacturing, and public sectors.

• 3:45 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

  

  Rick Catanzariti

  Partner
  DLA Piper

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  Rick Catanzariti

  Partner
  DLA Piper

  For more than 20 years, Rick has advised leading private and public sector clients in the complex area of workplace relations, discrimination, employment & occupational health and safety (OHS) law.

  His experience covers the full spectrum of industrial relations, employment and discrimination litigation, in addition to advising on the management of employee issues, including in relation to corporate restructures, mergers and acquisitions. He brings an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the Australian regulatory framework and combines excellent technical and analytical skills to help organisations to minimise their legal exposure and achieve their desired commercial outcomes.

  Rick has advised on a number of significant industrial disputes in the former Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) and regularly appears in the Fair Work Commission on behalf of his clients which range from public hospitals, tertiary institutions and Victorian and Federal Government departments to private companies in the electricity, health, manufacturing and labour hire industries.

  Rick’s additional experience in privacy legislation and OHS gives him a complete understanding of workplace grievances and issues, enabling him to bring an innovative, holistic solution to problems. His breadth of knowledge in this area also enables him to bring a strategic focus to regulatory compliance issues.

  Rick leads the Melbourne Employment team.

• 4:15 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.

  

  Rick Catanzariti

  Partner
  DLA Piper

  ×

  

  Rick Catanzariti

  Partner
  DLA Piper

  For more than 20 years, Rick has advised leading private and public sector clients in the complex area of workplace relations, discrimination, employment & occupational health and safety (OHS) law.

  His experience covers the full spectrum of industrial relations, employment and discrimination litigation, in addition to advising on the management of employee issues, including in relation to corporate restructures, mergers and acquisitions. He brings an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the Australian regulatory framework and combines excellent technical and analytical skills to help organisations to minimise their legal exposure and achieve their desired commercial outcomes.

  Rick has advised on a number of significant industrial disputes in the former Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) and regularly appears in the Fair Work Commission on behalf of his clients which range from public hospitals, tertiary institutions and Victorian and Federal Government departments to private companies in the electricity, health, manufacturing and labour hire industries.

  Rick’s additional experience in privacy legislation and OHS gives him a complete understanding of workplace grievances and issues, enabling him to bring an innovative, holistic solution to problems. His breadth of knowledge in this area also enables him to bring a strategic focus to regulatory compliance issues.

  Rick leads the Melbourne Employment team.

• 4:30 PM

  Event concludes