Take a close look at the latest developments in employment law. Assess the impact of new legislation and workplace law reforms. Examine major developments from unconscious bias and managing psychosocial hazards in the workplace to redefining ‘employee’ status and promoting gender equality in wage structures. Stay at the forefront of employment law with insights into new rulings and regulatory demands. As workplace standards shift, so must your approach.

Presenters

Nadia Stojanova, Barrister, Svenson Barristers
Nadia Stojanova's practice at the Victorian Bar specialises in employment law, industrial relations and regulatory law. Nadia is a recommended junior counsel by Doyles Guide. Nadia runs a busy practice where she is regularly briefed for litigation, advice, drafting and complex workplace matters (such as high-risk investigations and media-sensitive disputes). Nadia has a special interest in regulatory schemes specific to employment law around Australia (such as the wage theft and labour hire licensing schemes) as well as cases involving the interpretation of enterprise agreements and modern awards. Nadia has managed a wide range of employment matters involving a broad suite of industrial issues such as breaches of employment contracts/modern awards/enterprise agreements/statutes, industrial negotiations, sham contracting, Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) civil remedy provision contraventions, underpayment claims, workplace bullying, discrimination, general protections, unfair dismissal, annualised salary concerns, bonus scheme disputes and employee record exemption issues under privacy legislation. Nadia is an Honorary (Senior Fellow) in Law and Lecturer at the University of Melbourne and an Accredited Advocacy Instructor with The Australian Advocacy Institute.


William Marshall, Partner, Gadens
William has significant experience advising clients on employment law, employment litigation and industrial relations issues. William works closely with HR, WHS specialists and industrial relations advisors across all industries and sectors, delivering timely and practical advice to his clients. He has a deep understanding of the need to deliver clear, practical and commercial solutions to the often-complex legal issues in these areas of the law. William has significant experience in relation to workplace litigation. This includes in relation to a range of publicly listed and large privately owned businesses. He assists businesses in relation to a raft of industrial relations, litigation and general employment and safety issues. William was nominated and recognised as a Best Lawyer in the area of Labour and Employment Law in the 2023 and 2024 editions of the Best Lawyers in Australia.


Lauren Townsend, Partner, Thomson Greer
With over 15 years' experience advising and acting for Australian and international employers in relation to the full range of Australian employment law issues across the employee lifecycle, Lauren is well regarded by her clients for being able to explain complex legal issues in a digestible manner and for her pragmatic and timely advice. Lauren's practise encompasses all aspects of employment law, industrial relations, work health and safety, discrimination law and workplace investigations. This includes employment/executive contracts, enterprise bargaining, industrial action and other industrial disputes, enterprise agreement and modern award compliance, management of ill and injured workers, management of employee misconduct and underperformance (including termination of employment), transfer of business, employee/contractor distinction, workplace bullying and employment related litigation. Lauren's legal expertise is complemented by her experience as an independent workplace investigator, having conducted external misconduct investigations for a range of private and public sector clients. For example, Lauren has conducted workplace investigations for a major public hospital in Melbourne, Universities, Victorian Government Departments, Victorian Government emergency services (police and ambulance), and the APS. Lauren regularly provides presentations and training to in house counsel and HR professionals.


Jason Goyal, Managing Principal, Resolve Employment Lawyers
Jason has over a decade of experience in all aspects of workplace relations and employment law having worked as a senior employment lawyer, workplace relations specialist, workplace investigator, and workplace mediator across a range of sectors – private, professional legal services, public, and tertiary education. He appears regularly for employers and workers in matters before the Fair Work Commission, and has extensive advocacy experience in other industrial and human rights tribunals, as well as courts at both the State and Federal levels. Recent workplace disputes in which Jason has acted for and advised employer and worker clients, include but are not limited to unfair dismissal and general protections applications, unlawful discrimination disputes, workplace bullying disputes, workplace sexual harassment disputes, and contract of employment disputes. Jason has a special interest in advising and representing both employers and workers in respect of disputes that concern the investigation and management of workplace misconduct and unsatisfactory work performance. He relishes the opportunity to guide employers on how to effectively carry out legally defensible investigation and disciplinary processes that lead to sensible workplace outcomes, and support workers to ensure that they are being treated with dignity and are subject to procedurally fair processes. Prior to establishing Resolve Employment Lawyers, Jason was most recently employed as In-House Legal Counsel for the Coles Group, where he was responsible for managing its national general employment litigation practice, and advising its workforce of over 130,000 team members on a wide array of workplace relations matters. Jason was recognised across the business for his ability to consistently convey complex employment law advice in a concise, responsive, and commercial manner to various stakeholders, ranging from frontline retail managers to specialists in the workplace relations advisory team, and also senior members of the Coles leadership team. For his work as Legal Counsel for Coles, Jason was recognised by the prestigious Doyle’s Guide as one of the ‘Leading In-House Employment & WHS Lawyers in Australia’.


Fiona Mullins, Group Counsel, HSE, People & Transition, AGL


Natasha Hannah, Principal, Employment Law and Workplace Relations, Legalite


Chris Molnar, Partner, Kennedys
Chris Molnar is a workplace relations partner at Kennedys. He has practised in the area of workplace relations for over 25 years. He has extensive experience and knowledge in industrial relations, employment law, occupational health and safety, and discrimination. Chris is accredited as a specialist in Workplace Relations by the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV). He was the recipient of the prestigious President’s Award in 2009 from the Law Institute of Victoria for his contribution to the specialisation scheme. In 2016 he was awarded the LIV Rogers Legal Writing Award for the best contribution in 2015 to the Law Institute Journal. Chris has acted for individuals, corporations and public sector agencies in a wide range of areas including: enterprise bargaining including strategy, communications with employees and negotiations with unions; drafting individual and collective industrial agreements; employment contracts, restraint clauses, protection of intellectual property, performance management and remuneration systems; termination of employment including unfair and wrongful dismissals; industrial disputes including proceedings in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, Fair Work Australia, Fair Work Commission and the Federal Court; award variations; the industrial relations and employment law implications of business restructuring, mergers and acquisitions; discrimination and sexual harassment; and occupational health and safety including advice on employer or occupier duties, corporate and managerial responsibility, incident management and prosecutions. Chris is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is a former Chairman of the Workplace Relations Specialisation Committee and Past Chairman of the Workplace Relations Section of the Law Institute of Victoria, which is responsible for co-ordinating activities of workplace relations lawyers in Victoria such as educational programs, research and recommendations for law reform. He is a member of the Specialisation Board of the Law institute of Victoria. Chris obtained his Bachelor of Laws from Monash University. He also holds a Master of Laws degree from Monash University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Melbourne. He is listed in Doyle's Guide for 2016 and 2017 as one of Melbourne's leading Employment and Industrial Relations lawyers. He is a Recommended Lawyer for 'Dispute Resolution: Litigation (Australia)' in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2021.


Amanda Junkeer, Partner, Gadens
Amanda specialises in industrial and employee relations with over 20 years’ experience. Amanda is a Partner in the Workplace Advisory and Disputes team at Gadens and based in the Melbourn office. Prior to joining Gadens, Amanda worked in private practice at a top tier national firm in the Workplace Relations and Safety team and a boutique law firm where she specialised in Workplace Relations. Her experience includes senior in-house employment counsel roles in an ASX listed top 100 company with over 25,000 employees and national healthcare essential service provider with over 3,500 employees. Acting for employers including corporations and not for profit organisations, her key practice areas range from enterprise bargaining strategy, industrial disputation, payroll compliance and remediation, complex award and enterprise agreement matters, managing disciplinary and termination processes, wage audits, and employment litigation. Amanda’s sector specialisation includes independent education, higher education, not for profit and manufacturing. Significant matters include acting in a successful litigation on behalf of a large media company in relation to breach of employee privacy in the context of enterprise bargaining, leading a Federal Court appeal of an adverse action matter involving union activity during an industrial dispute, instructing and advising on unfair dismissal matters in the Fair Work Commission including a Full Bench decision about dishonesty in the use of medical certificates. Amanda also advises and acts on behalf of clients in respect of employment contract drafting and disputation, representing clients with the workplace relations regulator and in anti-discrimination claims.


Renato Marasco, Head of Industrial Relations (VIC), The BelRose Group
Renato is a senior Employee Relations and Human Resources professional with extensive experience in multiple industries including manufacturing, hospitality, retail, distribution and telecommunications. He has over 15 years’ experience in employee relations and employment law having worked in both highly unionised and non unionised working environments. His expertise in employee relations includes strategic enterprise bargaining, managing industrial disputes, Award and enterprise agreement interpretation and compliance, investigating employee claims and whistle-blower complaints, defending adverse action, unfair dismissal, discrimination and bullying claims, appearing at the Fair Work Commission and other courts and tribunals, Workplace Health & Safety.


Jim McKenna, Barrister, Greens List
Jim practises generally in the areas of industrial, employment, discrimination and administrative law. His industrial and employment law practice involves regularly appearing and advising in disputes in the Federal courts and the Fair Work Commission. His particular experience in the Federal jurisdiction includes general protections claims, bargaining disputes, unfair dismissals, discrimination, breach of award and workplace agreement proceedings. Jim also regularly appears in contractual disputes and discrimination claims in the State jurisdictions. In his administrative law practice he appears and advises in judicial review proceedings in the State and Federal jurisdictions. Jim also appears in merits review proceedings in VCAT and the AAT. Prior to signing the Bar Roll Jim was the Associate to the Honourable Justice Marshall in the Federal Court of Australia and was a solicitor with Minter Ellison in Melbourne. Jim read with Rachel Doyle SC and Melinda Richards SC. He has a Master of Laws from Monash University.


Andrew Douglas, Managing Principal, FCW Lawyers
Andrew is the Managing Principal of a workplace law firm that practices nationally. He was previously the National Head of Workplace Law at Macpherson Kelley, a member of the executive and provided people training across the firm. Andrew acts for national professional services firms, food manufacturers, the education sector and Local Government and a range of other businesses. He chairs and speaks at Master Classes across Australia on topics ranging from safety law, performance management, managing mental health, wellbeing, industrial relations, investigations and return to work. He is the editor in chief and principal author of the national safety magazine, 'Health & Safety Consultant', a monthly publication, and was previously the editor and principal author of the 'OH&S Handbook'. Andrew regularly undertakes investigations and reviews and also engages others to undertake investigations/reviews - sometimes under privilege sometimes not. Andrew's team live and work up the eastern seaboard. FCW is a semi-virtual law firm with a focus on client experience rather than physical presence and have all worked with Andrew at Macpherson Kelley.


Dr Shane Richardson, Principal Forensic Engineer, Managing Director and Owner Delta V Experts
Shane is the Principal Forensic Engineer at Delta-V Experts. Shane has provided expert evidence in the Supreme, County, Magistrates and Coroners Courts across Australia (and in Courts in Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and New Zealand) related to collision/incident investigations for Criminal and Civil matters. Shane is a Mechanical Engineer with more than 30 years' experience and is a Chartered Professional Engineer (Engineers Australia) and is registered in: Amusement Rides and Devices In-Service Inspection; Biomedical Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; and Structural Engineering. He has published national and international technical papers on crash investigations.


Andy Lynch, Group Manager - Industrial Relations Legal, Downer EDI Limited


Lachlan Carr, General Counsel – Employment Law Specialist, Australian Higher Education Industrial Association (AHEIA)
Lachlan Carr has experience in civil and commercial dispute resolution, policy development, cyber/data breach response, privacy and data protection, directors & officers liability, financial and professional services regulation, employment practices liability, professional indemnity, defamation and Australian consumer law. Lachlan is an in-house lawyer with the Office of General Counsel at Western Sydney University.