Employment and Industrial Relations
How we help businesses
The most expensive employment problems start as small ones that were not handled well at the start. A messy termination, a brushed-off bullying complaint, or a contract that no longer fits the role, each one can land your business at the Fair Work Commission or in court.
We act for employers, HR teams, in-house counsel and senior executives on the full range of employment matters, including contracts, investigations, restructures and disputes. Most of the work is preventative, and if something does escalate, you get an honest read on your real options and the likely costs up front.
Bullying and Harassment
Every employer carries a positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) to prevent workplace sexual harassment, and a parallel duty under Victorian work health and safety law to prevent psychosocial harm. A bullying complaint that isn’t handled properly from the beginning can end up becoming two problems: the original complaint, and a secondary claim about how it was managed.
We assist employers build the policies, training and complaint pathways the regulators now expect, and if necessary, run independent investigations when something is raised, and defend stop-bullying and stop-sexual-harassment applications in the Fair Work Commission.
What we do
- Anti-bullying, harassment and sexual harassment policies
- Manager and decision-maker training programs
- Independent workplace investigations into bullying complaints
- Defence of Fair Work Commission stop-bullying applications
- Defence of stop sexual harassment applications
- Positive duty compliance under the Sex Discrimination Act
- Historical complaint reviews and remediation plans
- Coordinated WorkSafe and regulator engagement
Discrimination
Workplace discrimination law in Australia runs across federal and Victorian regimes, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Disability Discrimination Act, the Age Discrimination Act, the Racial Discrimination Act and the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic). These protected often overlap, so most decisions about hiring, promoting, managing performance or terminating an employee can be tested under more than one.
We regularly identify exposure in current policies and processes for our business clients, train managers on the decisions that get businesses into trouble, respond to complaints within the 21-day window, and defend claims at VCAT, the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Federal Court.
What we do
- Discrimination policy and complaint-handling reviews
- Manager and decision-maker training programs
- Positive duty compliance under the Sex Discrimination Act
- Complaint response, investigation and conciliation
- Australian Human Rights Commission defence
- VCAT and Federal Court discrimination defence
- Fair Work Commission discrimination proceedings
- Personal liability defence for directors and managers
Enterprise Bargaining & Industrial Relations
An enterprise agreement locks in up to four years of labour costs, rostering flexibility and operational risk, so the deal you strike at the negotiating table shapes your profitability long after it is signed. Good-faith bargaining duties apply from the moment bargaining starts, and recent changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 mean that you can no longer stall until the other side gives up.
We have experience in running enterprise agreement negotiations end-to-end for employers in resources, manufacturing, construction, retail, hospitality and education across Victoria. That work covers protected action ballots, right-of-entry disputes, demarcation issues, and the litigation that follows in the Fair Work Commission or Federal Court when a collective dispute will not resolve.
What we do
- Enterprise bargaining strategy and negotiation
- Protected action ballot orders and responses
- Response to unprotected or unlawful industrial action
- Right-of-entry disputes and compliance advice
- Demarcation disputes and union coverage advice
- Award reviews and variation applications
- Good-faith bargaining obligations advice
- Workplace change and consultation compliance
- Fair Work Commission and Federal Court litigation
- Training on Fair Work Act amendments
Work Health & Safety (WH&S)
Work health and safety obligations in Victoria sit on the company under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) and personally on officers, with workplace manslaughter exposure for the most serious failures. WorkSafe Victoria can attend a site within hours of a serious incident.
What’s said in the first 24 hours often shapes the prosecution that follows months later. We act for organisations and individual officers across, pre-incident risk reviews, real-time incident response, WorkSafe investigations, prosecution defence, and the workplace investigations that often run alongside. We also advise on the psychosocial hazard duty.
What we do
- Pre-incident policies and risk management reviews
- Incident response and notifiable incident compliance
- Serious incident management including fatalities and major injuries
- WorkSafe Victoria investigation engagement
- Defence of WHS prosecutions including workplace manslaughter
- Psychosocial hazard duty compliance programs
- Bullying, harassment and whistleblower investigations
- Workplace culture reviews and remediation
- Officer-level personal liability defence
Workplace Investigations
A poorly run workplace investigation can become part of the problem it was meant to resolve. Procedural fairness failures, leaked findings, scope creep and unmanaged conflicts of interest are the four most common ways an internal investigation produces a result the business can’t rely on.
We act as independent investigators for Victorian employers across misconduct, bullying, sexual harassment, fraud, governance breaches and whistleblower disclosures, with most investigations running within 4–6 weeks. Every investigation is reported in a way that holds up if the matter later reaches the Fair Work Commission, VCAT or the Federal Court.
What we do
- Independent investigations for misconduct, bullying, harassment
- Sexual harassment and Sex Discrimination Act investigations
- Fraud and financial impropriety investigations
- Governance breach and conflict-of-interest reviews
- Whistleblower disclosure investigations under the Corporations Act
- Complainant, respondent and witness interviewing
- Procedurally fair findings reports and recommendations
- Investigation support and advice to in-house HR
- Post-investigation disciplinary and remediation advice
Employment Agreements
We draft and review employment agreements, independent contractor agreements and senior executive contracts for Victorian employers, and we build template suites for in-house HR teams hiring at scale. Every agreement is built to sit cleanly against the Fair Work Act 2009 and the relevant modern award.
What we do
- Employment contracts – full-time, part-time, casual, fixed-term
- Senior executive employment agreements
- Independent contractor and consultancy agreements
- Compliance and suitability reviews of existing agreements
- Restraint of trade, confidentiality and IP assignment clauses
- Equity, bonus and incentive arrangement provisions
- Termination, notice and exit provisions
- Template employment contract suites for in-house HR
- Variations and updates to existing agreements
Unfair Dismissal Claims
Most unfair dismissal claims are decided on what happened before the dismissal. A process that lacks a clear performance trail, denies the employee a chance to respond, or treats redundancy as cover will struggle in defence at the Fair Work Commission regardless of the underlying reason.
We advise Victorian employers on the pre-dismissal process and defend unfair dismissal applications brought under the Fair Work Act 2009, including 21-day filing-window issues. Matters are run from conciliation through to an arbitrated hearing if needed.
What we do
- Pre-dismissal process and risk advice
- Performance management and disciplinary process design
- Redundancy and restructure process advice
- Defence of unfair dismissal applications
- Fair Work Commission conciliation representation
- Fair Work Commission arbitration and hearing representation
- Settlement negotiation and deeds of release
- Jurisdictional objection advice and drafting
Adverse Action and General Protections
General protections claim under Part 3-1 of the Fair Work Act 2009 are often difficult for employers to defend due to reverse onus. Once an employee shows the adverse action and identifies the workplace right or protected attribute, the employer must prove the decision wasn’t taken for that reason.
We defend general protections claims in the Fair Work Commission and Federal Court, and advise on the performance, redundancy and disciplinary decisions that most often trigger them.
What we do
- Defence of general protections claims
- Performance management and discipline risk advice
- Redundancy and restructure decision review
- Fair Work Commission conciliation representation
- Federal Court general protections defence
- Reverse onus evidence preparation and witness briefing
- Settlement negotiation and deeds of release
- Adverse action policy and decision-tree advice
Awards Disputes
Australia’s modern award system runs to 121 awards and is complicated for employers to navigate. A single misclassified employee, an unpaid weekend penalty, or a missed allowance can compound across years before anyone notices and result in an underpayment claim being made against you.
The Fair Work Ombudsman now publishes underpayment outcomes, and wage theft is a criminal offence under Victorian and federal law. We help employers run preventative award compliance audits, interpret coverage and classification questions, respond to Fair Work Ombudsman investigations, and defend underpayment claims brought by employees, unions or the regulator.
What we do
- Pre-dismissal Modern award interpretation and classification adviceand risk advice
- Award compliance audits and remediation programs
- Underpayment investigation and remediation projects
- Fair Work Ombudsman investigation defence
- Fair Work Commission coverage and classification proceedings
- Wage theft criminal exposure advice
- Defence of class and representative underpayment claims
- Back-pay calculation reviews and remediation plans
Employee Share Schemes
An employee share scheme that lines up staff incentives with business performance is a powerful retention and succession tool.
We design and implement ESS arrangements for start-ups, medium and large businesses, draft the plan rules and offer documents, secure shareholder approvals, and coordinate with accountants and tax advisers.
What we do
- ESS scheme design and structuring advice
- Plan rules drafting for shares and options
- Redundancy and Offer documentation for employee shareholders and option holdersprocess advice
- Defence ofShareholder approvals, resolutions and meeting minutesunfair dismissal applications
- Corporations Act and ASIC disclosure compliance
- Integration with existing shareholders agreements
- Coordination with accountants and tax advisers
- Leaver provisions, vesting and buyback mechanics
Restraint of Trade
A restraint of trade clause is only ever worth what a court will enforce, with courts only enforcing what is reasonably necessary to protect a legitimate business interest. This includes things such as confidential information, customer connections, or trade secrets and will only last for as long as a business needs the protection, with over-drafted restraints failing.
We often draft restraint clauses commensurate to the role and advise businesses on whether to enforce a restraint when a senior employee leaves, and if necessary, run urgent injunction applications when confidential information or key customer relationships are at immediate risk. We also defend restraint enforcement proceedings.
What we do
- Drafting cascading and enforceable restraint clauses
- Strategic advice on whether to enforce a restraint
- Urgent Supreme Court injunction applications
- Orders for return of confidential information
- Restraint enforcement proceedings in the Supreme Court
- Defence of restraint claims (where the business is the defendant)
- Confidentiality and IP-recovery work alongside enforcement
- Senior employee departure planning and risk advice
HOW WE CAN HELP INDIVIDUALS
If you’ve just been dismissed, are about to be, or you’re dealing with bullying, discrimination, an unfair process, or a contract you don’t fully understand, our employment team can assist you. Most claims have a 21-day filing window at the Fair Work Commission, so the clock starts the day the dismissal takes effect. We regularly assist for employees and senior executives across unfair dismissal, adverse action, discrimination, contract review, restraint defence and exit negotiations in Victoria and we tell you whether your claim is worth bringing before you begin pursuing it.
Bullying and Harassment
Repeated, unreasonable workplace conduct that puts your health at risk is considered unlawful bullying. Employees usually have four ways forward, and the right one depends on how serious the behaviour is and whether you still need to keep your job.
Those four paths are: an internal complaint to your employer, a regulator complaint to WorkSafe Victoria or the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, an application to the Fair Work Commission for a stop-bullying or stop-sexual-harassment order (typically heard within 14 days of filing), or a civil claim. We assist you with the process from beginning to end.
What we do
- Advice on the right pathway for your situation
- Stop-bullying applications to the Fair Work Commission
- Stop-sexual-harassment applications to the Fair Work Commission
- Sexual harassment claims under the Sex Discrimination Act
- Workplace complaint and internal-process advice
- Adverse action claims after raising a complaint
- Australian Human Rights Commission complaints
- Confidentiality and protection of your position
Discrimination
If you’re being treated unfairly at work because of who you are i.e. your sex, race, religion, age, disability, family responsibilities, sexual orientation or gender identity that may be unlawful workplace discrimination, and as an employee you don’t have to just put up with it. The direct kind is often obvious; the indirect kind hides in a neutral-looking policy that quietly disadvantages people like you.
We help you test whether what’s happened is unlawful, then run the matter through to outcome.
What we do
- Assessment of whether the law has been broken
- Workplace discrimination claim lodgement and conduct
- Sexual harassment claims under the Sex Discrimination Act
- Australian Human Rights Commission complaints
- VCAT discrimination proceedings under the Equal Opportunity Act
- Federal Court discrimination proceedings
- Disability discrimination and reasonable adjustment claims
- Pregnancy and parental leave discrimination claims
- Age discrimination and forced retirement claims
Employment Agreements
Getting an employment contract reviewed before signing is much cheaper than dealing with the consequences later. A document that locks you into a 24-month non-compete, prevents you from setting up your own enterprise after you leave, and or sets one-sided notice terms can quietly cost you years of money and career flexibility.
We often advise on employment agreements, contractor agreements and senior-executive offers for employees against the Fair Work Act 2009 and the National Employment Standards, flagging what’s onerous, what’s market-standard, what’s open to negotiation, and what’s worth walking away from.
What we do
- Pre-signing employment agreement review
- Senior executive contract review and negotiation
- Independent contractor agreement review
- Restraint of trade clause review and risk advice
- Confidentiality and IP assignment clause review
- Bonus, commission and equity arrangement review
- Termination and notice provision review
- Variations for a new role, pay rise or change of duties
- Negotiation strategy and counter-offer drafting
Unfair Dismissal Claims
Victorian employees who believe their dismissal was unfair, harsh, unjust or unreasonable only have 21 calendar days from the date the termination took effect to file an unfair dismissal application with the Fair Work Commission. Most matters resolve at the conciliation conference that follows filing, usually within 6–8 weeks.
We assist our clients by stress-testing the claim and looking at the reason for the dismissal, the process the employer ran, your length of service, and the high-income threshold and tell you what the matter is realistically worth before you spend money pursuing it.
What we do
- Assessment of whether your dismissal is likely to be unfair
- Lodging applications within the 21-day window
- Fair Work Commission conciliation conferences
- Settlement negotiation and deeds of release
- Fair Work Commission unfair dismissal hearings
- Advice on alternative claims (general protections, contract)
- Strategic advice on what the claim is realistically worth
- Jurisdictional objection responses (high-income threshold, casual)
Bullying Adverse Action and General ProtectionsHarassment
Part 3-1 of the Fair Work Act 2009 makes it illegal for an employer to penalise you because you used a workplace right, or because you belong to a protected attribute group such as race, sex, age, family responsibilities or union membership. If you were dismissed, demoted, denied a promotion or otherwise disadvantaged for one of those reasons, a general protections case may be available.
What we do
- Assessment of whether general protections is the right path
- General protections (dismissal) applications to Fair Work Commission
- General protections (no dismissal) claims in Federal Court
- Adverse action claims for demotion or denied promotion
- Workplace right and protected activity claims
- Discrimination-based general protections claims
- Conciliation and settlement negotiation
- Federal Court general protections proceedings
Awards Disputes
Think you have been underpaid? Common culprits include the wrong award classification, missing penalty rates, unpaid weekend or shift loadings, unpaid allowances and missing superannuation. Employers get these things wrong all the time, sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars over several years, because the award system is so complex.
Claims can reach back six years, and intentional wage theft is now a criminal offence under the Fair Work Act. We help employees recover wages and entitlements through the Fair Work Ombudsman, and through the Federal Circuit and Family Court if the matter needs to escalate.
What we do
- Identifying the correct modern award and classification
- Calculating wage, penalty rate and allowance underpayments
- Calculating unpaid superannuation entitlements and interest
- Wage recovery through the Fair Work Ombudsman
- Fair Work Commission award coverage applications
- Federal Circuit and Family Court underpayment proceedings
- Six-year back-pay claim advice
- Recovery of unpaid leave and termination entitlements
Restraint of Trade
Restraint of trade clauses in Australian employment contracts are often drafted as if they will always be enforceable, but in many cases they are not enforceable in full. A court will enforce a restraint only so far as it is reasonably necessary to protect a legitimate business interest of the former employer, and no further.
For many employees, that means a 24-month nationwide non-compete is unlikely to hold up, while a six-month customer non-solicit aimed at a defined client list often will.
Employees and senior executives often come to us for an honest enforceability read, injunction defence, and a pre-signing review of restraint terms in new offers.
What we do
- Advice on whether a restraint is likely to be enforceable
- Defence of restraint enforcement proceedings
- Urgent Supreme Court injunction defence and response
- Negotiation with a former employer to vary or release
- Review of restraint terms in new employment contracts
- Cascading restraint analysis (duration and geography layers)
- Strategic advice on planning a move from a restrained role
- Confidential information return and protection advice
Frequently Asked Questions
Disclaimer : The information contained in these FAQS is of a general nature only and does not constitute legal advice. It has been prepared by KPA Lawyers without considering your specific objectives, circumstances or needs, and should not be relied on as a substitute for tailored legal advice.
Why KPA Lawyers for Employment and Industrial Relations
The firm that puts your outcome first
We combine senior expertise with genuine care, your matter will be handled by an experienced lawyer every step of the way.
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A senior lawyer is involved at every stage, working alongside our wider team to ensure your matter is handled the right way.
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Advice that weighs the legal position against the commercial one, so you get advice you can actually act on.
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Visit our Sandringham or Mornington offices or meet with us in the Melbourne CBD, whichever location is most convenient for you.
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The Employment and Industrial Relations TEAM
You get direct access to senior legal minds who actively steer your strategy, giving you the clarity and financial certainty you need to move forward with confidence.
Erin Varker
PARTNER
Erin heads KPA Lawyers' Commercial division and has been with the firm since her admission to practice. She...
Bridget Gertzel
LAWYER
Bridget Gertzel is a litigation lawyer practicing in various legal areas including employment law, building disputes, and estate...
Nancy D’Arcy
ASSOCIATE
Nancy is a commercial lawyer who works closely with clients to help them complete transactions efficiently and with...