Employment & Workplace Law
We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of changes in employment and industrial relations in Australia. We only act for employers, and bring a pragmatic, commercial and practical approach to the table.
We can assist with...
- Redundancy and stand down advice
- Performance management advice
- Termination advice and strategy
- Employee share option plans & share schemes
- Employment contracts, including executive contracts
- Individual flexibility agreements
- Settlement deeds
- Labour hire agreements & advisory
- Contractor agreements and advice on sham contracting
- Award compliance and advice on set offs
- Enterprise bargaining
- Commission structures
- Policies and procedures
Recent highlights
- Preparation of a suite of employment contracts for an international private company based in the UK entering the Australian market. This involved preparing an executive-level contract for their Australian Managing Director which included terms in respect of linking KPIs to remuneration, share incentives, and restraints and non-solicitation obligations.
- Preparation of a unique employee share scheme (non-concessional) for the executive employees of a Victoria wide commercial construction business.
- Acting for various renewables businesses across Australia in preparing credit applications and independent contractor agreements, particularly in relation to the installation of solar panels and the provision of wind farm services.
- Advising an ASX listed professional services business on stand-downs, salary reduction and the redundancy of staff across the business during COVID-19.
- Acting for one of Victoria’s largest steel foundry businesses in drafting and negotiating two enterprise agreements, including assessing whether the agreements meet the better off overall test as against the relevant Award and advising on recommended changes. We acted for the business from the start of the process through to applying for approval in the Fair Work Commission and working with the business to have it approved.
- Preparation of labour hire agreements for clients in various industries.
- Advising a VFL club on the termination of an underperforming coach.
- Advising an Australian based boutique clothing retailer (with both an online presence and 10 boutiques across Australia) on distribution agreements, supply terms, commercial contracts more generally, and employment law (including Award compliance). In June and July 2018, Roxanne advised the retailer on their organisational restructure from an employment law perspective (including redundancies).
- Advising an ASX listed software company on the process of restructuring their organisation and making a substantial number of their engineering team redundant. This involved providing strategic commercial advice on the best removal options available under the Corporations Act, Shareholders Agreement and Constitution, and ultimately executing the strategy with the best upside for the RTO with the least risk.
- Advising numerous businesses including both professional services firms and software technology businesses on the different options around giving employee’s shares, advising on compliance with the Employee Share Scheme (“ESS”) tax incentive laws, and preparing ESS’s and Employee Share Option Plans (“ESOPs”), Vesting Deeds and Shareholders Agreements.
- Advising a national commercial lighting business on the termination of an underperforming and disruptive executive director and shareholder.
- Advising on the termination strategies for disruptive managerial and executive-level employees and co-founders, including advice on how to deal with the associated vested and unvested shares in respect of both listed and private entities.
- Preparation of labour hire agreements for clients in various industries, including hirers in the mining industry, hiring out workers to complete specific jobs; Hirers in the insurance and health industry, hiring out specialist doctors and psychologists to leading health insurers; and Hirers in the trade industry, hiring out painters, carpenters, chippies and other tradies to commercial and residential developers.
- Advising a prominent NSW sporting organisation on the termination of an underperforming executive director (who also held shares which were bought back as part of the settlement).
- Preparation of Associate Services & Room Licencing Agreements for medical practices and doctors.
