Tuesday, 21 October 2025
Description
Attend and earn 1 CPD unit in Substantive Law
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Chair
Caroline Mense, Principal, Legal Enablers
Is Your Workplace Ready for Respect@Work Compliance?
The Respect@Work reforms have ushered in a new era of accountability, with the positive duty now embedded in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth). This landmark shift means employers must actively prevent workplace harassment, discrimination, and victimisation, not just respond to it. Many workplaces still fall short, especially in delivering culturally safe, trauma-informed, and inclusive practices
- Australian Human Rights Commission’s latest report: what this means for employers
- What “positive duty” really requires in practice
- Why policies alone aren’t enough and what accountable leadership looks like
- How overlapping forms of discrimination are being overlooked
- What enforcement looks like now, including potential civil penalties
Presented by Alexandra Beal, Senior Associate, Hicksons Hunt & Hunt
Presenters
Caroline Mense, Principal Lawyer, Legal EnablersCaroline Mense Principal Lawyer at Legal Enablers, advising corporates and executives on workplace and employment law. She is known for her strategic, people focused approach. She is Co-Chair of the Workplace Relations Committee at the Law Institute of Victoria and a regular Chair and Presenter at national legal conferences and publishes in the law journal on workplace law and technology. Caroline holds a Bachelor of Laws from Deakin University and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the College of Law. She is currently completing a Connected Leadership certificate at Yale University and has studied Pricing Strategy at Harvard Business School Online. She is active in mentoring, volunteering, and supporting wellbeing initiatives across the legal community.
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Alexandra Beal, Senior Associate, Hicksons Hunt & Hunt
Alexandra (Alex) is a Senior Associate within Hicksons Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety team, with in-depth experience acting for both public and private clients in Australia and New Zealand. Alex’s expertise encompasses a wide range of workplace health and safety matters, including managing psychosocial risks in the workplace and responding to work health and safety prosecutions, as well as advising on modern slavery regulations and wage theft. Her experience also covers the full spectrum of workplace relations matters, including adverse action, discrimination and unfair dismissal claims, employee minimum entitlements and award interpretation.
