Workplace Law Symposium
Issues covered include: underpayment, sexual harassment, out of hours conduct, unfair dismissal, termination, casual workers, surveillance, drug and alcohol testing, enterprise bargaining, industrial disputation
Description
It’d be nice if you could simply tell yourself and your clients to keep calm and carry on working. But with so many rapidly developing changes, growing risks, and ever increasing challenges for employment lawyers, it’s never so simple. Gain essential knowledge from our panel of experts as they delve into the most topical contemporary issues including the changing employment landscape, unfair dismissal, drug and alcohol testing, surveillance in the workplace and more.
Attend and earn 7 CPD units in Substantive Law
This symposium was recorded in NSW on 8 March 2019
Session 1
Workplace Disputes and Claims
Chair: Judith Healy, Partner, JH Law
9.00am to 10.00am: #wagetheft: Underpayment Claims
- The underpayment regime: the current state of play and what’s planned
- Accessorial liability: Who flung that?
- The role of regulators and unions in these claims
- Setting penalties: the principles
Presented by Tim Frost, Partner, PwC
10.00am to 11.00am: Working with Claims of Sexual Harassment
- A step by step guide to processing a claim
- The Weinstein clause: Is it necessary and what will it mean for a business?
Presented by Dimity Leahy, Special Counsel, Colin Biggers and Paisley Lawyers
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea
11.15am to 12.15pm: Out of Hours Conduct and the Workplace
- When is out of hours conduct the business of the employer?
- Employer liability for out of hours conduct by an employee
- When can an employee be disciplined or terminated for out of hours conduct?
- Practical case examples
Presented by Deirdre McEvoy, Senior Associate, McArdle Legal; Accredited Specialist in Employment and Industrial Law
12.15pm to 1.15pm: Termination of Employment: Unfair Dismissal
Review a range of significant unfair dismissal case law and developments across a range of topics.
- Statistical trends from the past year concerning unfair dismissal applications at the conciliation and hearing stages
- Jurisdictional matters: high income earner, casual and fixed term contractor, access to the jurisdiction
- Procedural issues, cases, costs orders and decisions about permission to appear
- Substantive issues that grapple with broader health and safety changes to the workplace, such as sexual harassment and medical incapacity
Presented by Alex Grayson, Principal Lawyer, Maurice Blackburn
Session 2
Workplace Practices and Enterprise Bargaining
Chair: Nicola Martin, Principal, McCabe Curwood
2.00pm to 2.45pm: From Casual to Permanent: The Changing Employment Landscape
- Apostolides v Mantina Earthmovers & Constructions [2018] FCCA 279
- WorkPac v Skene [2018] FCAFC 131
- Implications of recent decisions for employers
- Transition of employees from ‘casual’ to permanent
Presented by Michael Byrnes, Partner, Swaab
2.45pm to 3.30pm: Surveillance in the Workplace
- Practical applications of:
- The Surveillance Devices Act NSW
- The Workplace Surveillance Act NSW
- The Evidence Act NSW
- Admission of evidence illegally obtained
- Exemptions to the Surveillance Devices Act
- Entitlements of employers under the Workplace Surveillance Act
- History of sanctions
Presented by Chris McArdle, Principal, McArdle Legal
3.30pm to 3.45pm Afternoon Tea
3.45pm to 4.30pm: Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace: the Law and Practice
- Preventative measures to introduce a safe working culture
- Understand the links to mental health and other workplace issues
- Legal considerations when introducing testing in the workplace
- How to roll out policies and procedures in a clear and comprehensive manner
Presented by Dr Nicole Lee, Director at 360edge and Adjunct Professor at the National Drug Research Institute and Sebastian McIntosh, Barrister, Thirteen Wentworth Selborne Chambers
4.30pm to 5.15pm: Strategies and Developments in Enterprise Bargaining and Industrial Disputation
- Is an enterprise agreement necessary or even desirable anymore?
- Terminating enterprise agreements: The way of the future?
- Understanding how to apply the better off overall test (BOOT)
- Developments in good faith bargaining
- New limits on industrial action
Presented by Stephen Trew, Managing Partner and Louise Rumble, Special Counsel, Holding Redlich