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Conference Agenda

8:50

Chairperson Welcome Address

  • Employment Law Major Updates including Fair Work Act revisions, Casual Employment Updates, Gender equity reporting changes, Minimum Wage Increase, Superannuation contributions

Sydney: Erin Lynch, Partner, Gadens

Brisbane: Meghan De Pinto-Smith, Senior Associate, McKays Solicitors

Melbourne: David Dilger, Director, Edge Legal

Perth: Kate Walawski, Barrister 

09:05

Workplace Mental Health, Psychosocial Hazards, and Duty of Care

  • ​The regulatory updates on psychosocial hazards

  • Addressing duty of care obligations and psychosocial hazards for a remote, hybrid and flexible workforce

  • Identifying workforce issues leading to employee fatigue and burnout

  • How employers can take proactive steps to embed psychosocial safety in their organisations

Sydney: Emily Strachan, Senior Associate, Kingston Reid

Brisbane: Liam Fraser, Partner, Kingston Reid

Melbourne: Sarah-Jayne Rayner, Senior Associate, Kingston Reid

Perth: Shannon Walker, Special Counsel, Kingston Reid

09:50

Flexible Arrangements, Entitlements and the Modern Working Environment

  • Identifying evolving HR and organisational risk exposure 

  • Addressing developments in working arrangements, leave, and pay

  • Maximum term and fixed term contracts

  • Additional hours - what is reasonable?

  • Wage theft: everything you need to know

Sydney: Clancy King, Partner, DLA Piper

Brisbane: Mitch Robertson, Special Counsel, DLA Piper

Melbourne: Elizabeth Cole, Senior Associate, DLA Piper

Perth: Leanne Nickels, Partner, DLA Piper

10:35 Morning Tea and Networking Activity

10:55

Handling Complaints and Conducting Investigations

  • Ensuring procedural fairness is followed during a workplace investigation

  • Do employees have the right to see the complaint, what is the time frame?

  • Can employment be terminated without a workplace investigation?

  • Standard of proof required in workplace investigations

  • Powers of Australian regulators and implications for employees involved in investigations

Sydney: Ben Motro, Partner, Piper Alderman

Brisbane: Tim Capelin, Partner, Piper Alderman

Melbourne: John Evans, Senior Associate, Piper Aldermanle, Senior Associate, DLA Piper

Perth: Danielle Flint, Special Counsel, HWL Ebsworth

11:40

Terminations and Preventing Unfair Dismissal Claims

  • Conduct vs performance-based termination

  • When is a redundancy genuine?

  • Is a demotion a termination?

  • Strengthening your disciplinary and termination processes

  • Common pitfalls and when liabilities related to terminations emerge – including termination of fixed term and rolling contracts

Sydney: Elizabeth Radley, Partner, Moray & Agnew

Brisbane: Louise Hogg, Partner, Moray & Agnew

Melbourne: Madelaine August, Partner, Moray & Agnew

Perth: Brian Jackson, Special Counsel, Moray & Agnew 

12:25 Lunch

1:10 

INTERACTIVE SCENARIO BASED DISCUSSION: Managing Poor or Difficult Employee Behaviour and Serious Misconduct 

Join us for a session designed to encourage critical thinking about employment law in a scenario context. The session includes small group discussions, group reporting, expert feedback with insights and take-aways from our lawyer, and a Q&A session.

Sydney: Alicia Mataere, Partner, Holman Webb

Brisbane: Shelley Williams, Partner, Kingston Reid 

Melbourne: Emily Dempster, Special Counsel, HWL Ebsworth 

Perth: Kate Walawski, Barrister 

1:55

Managing Ill and Injured Employees

  • Navigate the complexities of gathering and using medication information

  • Clarify what to do when in doubt about legitimacy of illness or injury claims

  • Identifying key return to work risks of ill & injured employee

  • Abandonment of employment

  • Leverage case law examples and real-world practical strategies to manage ill and
    injured workers and mitigate the risk of claims

Sydney: James Allen, Senior Associate, KHQ Lawyers

Brisbane: Francesca Musumeci, Senior Associate, HWL Ebsworth

Melbourne: Claire Brown, Principal Solicitor, KHQ Lawyers

Perth: Jo Alilovic, Director, 3D HR Legal; Cara Leavesley, Special Counsel,  3D HR Legal

2:40 Afternoon Tea

3:00

Panel: How To Make Your Workplace More Inclusive

  • Making the workplace Neuro-Inclusive

  • Inclusive recruitment and flexibility during the interview and hiring process

  • The role of managers in providing an inclusive working environment

  • Reasonable accommodations - what are they?

  • Learning and development policies that support inclusion

  • Auditing the workplace for compliant access and accessibility

3:45

INTERACTIVE ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS

Roundtable discussion to work through and resolve a common, yet complex
HR issue whilst increasing awareness of relevant employment laws and policies.

Possible areas of discussion:

  • The Right to Disconnect 

  • Sexual harassment positive duty

  • Post-employment obligations, protecting your organisation’s information

  • Awards and Enterprise bargaining agreements – what you need to know

  • Latest trends in HR policies

Sydney: Kaushalya Mataraaratchi, Special Counsel, Gilbert & Tobin
             Cynthia Elachi, Special Counsel, Clayton Utz
             Bryony Binns, Partner, Gadens; Louise Rumble, Partner, Gadens
             Shanni Zoeller, Senior Associate, HWL Ebsworth

Brisbane: Andrew Cardell-Ree, Partner, Thomson Geer
                Laura Hillman, Special Counsel, Clayton Utz
                Helen Donovan, Special Counsel, Hopgood Ganim

Melbourne: Stephen Silvapulle, Special Counsel, Clayton Utz
                   Kaushalya Mataraaratchi, Special Counsel, Gilbert & Tobin

                   Diana Diaz, Special Counsel, Gadens

                     George Haros, Partner, Gadens 

                   Jessica Smith, Lawyer, Gadens 

                   Virginia Liu, Special Counsel, Holding Redlich 

Perth:  Jo Alilovic, Director, 3D HR Legal
           Cara Leavesley, Special Counsel, 3D HR Legal
           Gemma Wheeler-Carver, Senior Associate, Kennedy Vinciullo

           Holly Gretton, Lawyer, Hall & Wilcox

4:30 Chairperson’s Key Takeaways and Closing Address

4:40 End of Conference

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