Employment Law

Our employment law services include:

• Contractors vs Employees – It is important to ensure that you correctly classify contractors and employees from the start, as a failure to do so could mean that you are liable to a “contractor” for employee entitlements. It does not matter what the contract says, and we can examine the substance of the arrangement and provide you with advice on how to navigate the issue and reduce your exposure to contractors.
• Award Classification – With over 100 industry and occupation based Awards in Australia, it can be difficult to know which one applies to your staff. In certain cases, multiple Awards may apply. We can review the coverage sections and position descriptions in Awards and provide you with simple and clear advice on which Award/s apply and what that means for your business.
• Employment Contracts – We can prepare full time, part time and casual employment contracts, as well as contractor agreements and individual flexibility agreements. Our team stays on top of the trends and advancements in employment law to ensure your contracts comply with best practice and provide the highest level of protection for your business.
• Above Award & Set Off – If you don’t want to pay your employees in accordance with an Award and would prefer to pay one fixed hourly rate that compensates employees for all payments, your contracts need to include a special set off clause that complies with the Fair Work Act and Awards. Our team can prepare this for you.
• Employee Share Schemes & Share Option Plans – If you are looking to incentivise your employees with an offer of shares or options, our team can advise you on how to ensure the structure complies with the ATO’s relatively recent start up concessions for ESSs and ESOPs.
  Enterprise Bargaining – Our team can advise you on whether enterprise bargaining is an appropriate option to reduce your compliance burden and then manage the process for you.
• Redundancy – Our team has extensive experience in advising on restructures and redundancies, including how to meet your consultation obligations and effect the restructure with the lowest possible risk.
• Termination – We can advise you on termination strategies, and particularly how to ensure a termination complies with your obligations under the Fair Work Act, applicable Award and employment contract in order to reduce the risks of successful claims being made against you.
• Unfair Dismissal and other Claims – Our litigation team provides strategic advice on managing and settling claims to ensure you achieve the most cost-effective outcome in the shortest period of time.