Employers face a multitude of legal challenges that impact their daily operations, decision-making and risk management. As employment laws and regulations rapidly evolve, it is essential for HR professionals to stay abreast of the latest legal developments and navigate these challenges proactively. This year’s employment law conference explores the current legal challenges facing workplaces today and provide insights into how employers can best manage these challenges effectively. Sessions covered include the right to flexible work, conducting effective employee investigations, as well as a deep dive into the new industrial relations reforms. It also examines employee right to privacy, as well as managing the risk of accessorial liability.

Employee Rights and Behaviour

• Has Flexible Work become a Non-Negotiable Right?
• Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: Do Employees have a Right to Privacy?
• The Tipping Threshold: When do Additional Work Hours become Unreasonable?
• Guilty until Proven Innocent? Avoiding the Knee Jerk Reaction in Employment Investigations

The New Industrial Landscape

• No Bargains for Employers in the New Industrial Relations Reforms
• Respect@Work: What Does it Mean in Practice?
• It’s the Little Things That Matter: Employment Law Round-Up from the last 12 Months

Managing Workplace Risks

• Taking a Risk Management Approach to Mental Health in the Workplace
• Compliance begins with a “See”: Modern Awards in the Spotlight
• In the Firing Line: The Risk of Accessorial Liability

All Good Things Must Come to an End

• Restructuring and Redundancies: Difficult Decisions Ahead
• Making Executive Decisions: Enquiring, Hiring and Firing

Elizabeth Devine, Principal, Devine Law at Work, Sydney

Leah Mooney, Director, KPMG, Brisbane

Stephen Woodbury, Partner, Ashurst, Sydney

Mark Howard, Partner, HWL Ebsworth, Melbourne

Nick Ruskin, Partner, K&L Gates, Melbourne

Mark Branagan, Partner, Thomson Geer, Melbourne

Wendy Fauvel, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills, Brisbane

Belinda Winter, Partner, Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers, Brisbane

Jennifer Wyborn, Partner, Clayton Utz, Canberra

Victoria Hepburn, Managing Partner, MinterEllison, Brisbane

Ashlee Wheeldon, Senior Associate, Franklin Athanasellis Cullen, Brisbane

Adrian Barwick, Director, Williamson Barwick, Sydney