WORKPLACE RELATIONS

Our people at McInnes Wilson Lawyers are proven service providers in all areas of workplace relations law, with a substantial track record.

Action.  Not just words.

At McInnes Wilson Lawyers our workplace relations team not only talks the talk, for years we have been walking the walk.

Some of our clients are household names.  Others are quiet achievers.  All of them have one thing in common: they expect their workplace relations advisers to roll up their sleeves, get involved with their businesses, and deliver effective solutions.

And that’s what we do.  We listen, we get involved and we deliver results based on your needs.  You can forget about abstract theories and “one-size-fits-all” solutions.  We don’t use them because our clients don’t want them.

Workplace relations are about people. Our clients know, and we know, that people issues are as variable as people themselves.

Expertise

Our lawyers are experts in, and can assist you with:

• Keeping up with the ongoing changes in Australian workplace relations law.
• Developing and implementing an industrial relations strategy that best suits your business.
• Negotiating and developing workplace agreements, including common law agreements and Australian Workplace Agreements.
• Negotiating and developing collective agreements.
• Award and agreement interpretation.
• Negotiating and developing alternative contracts and agreements including independent contracting and consultancy arrangements.
• Protection of your intellectual property and confidential information.
• Resolution of the full spectrum of industrial and employment disputes including the conduct of formal dispute resolution proceedings.
• Workplace incident investigation, internal complaint handling and dispute mediation.
• Management of issues arising out of occupational health and safety legislation including incident containment, management and defence of prosecutions.
• Development and implementation of workplace policies, including those required by statute.
• Individual performance management and termination of employment.
• Management of people issues arising out of operational change and business restructuring.
• Management of ill and injured workers, including the conduct of formal proceedings for the review of statutory worker’s compensation claims.
• Compliance with anti-discrimination laws and management of complaints, including the conduct of formal proceedings alleging breach of discrimination laws.
• Compliance with laws for the prevention of workplace bullying and sexual harassment and privacy laws.
• Training and education for management and staff.

Experience

Examples of our proven experience include:

• Assisting a network of Australian church schools to revamp their employment agreements and policies across Australia to accommodate the WorkChoices reforms.
• Successfully representing one of Queensland’s largest private schools in a complaint made against the school to the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission by a former staff member.
• Acting for one of the world’s leading drinks manufacturers in the certification of their Queensland union collective agreement for the workforce manufacturing one of Australia’s iconic alcoholic brands.
• Conducting an investigation for a publicly listed Australian IT solutions provider into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against an employee of the company.  The investigation led to the termination of the employee’s employment for misconduct and the negotiation of terms of separation without litigation.
• Representing a private school in, and assisting them to satisfactorily resolve, a complaint made against the school to the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission by a former student alleging unlawful disability discrimination by the school in the delivery of its educational programs and services.
• Assisting and representing a global manufacturer of medical devices and health equipment to develop their agreement strategy and then to negotiate and secure certification by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission of a 3 year national collective agreement (non-union) for their more than 300 strong workforce in Australia.  Outcomes of the agreement process included the rationalisation of more than 16 awards across 4 Australian jurisdictions.  The agreement strategy involved the development and subsequent approval by the Office of the Employment Advocate of an Australian Workplace Agreement for a specific specialist working group of the employer.
• Representing the operator of a landmark hotel on Australia’s Gold Coast in a major fraud investigation culminating in the termination of the employment of the hotel’s entire management team, the stand-down of multiple employees, the counselling back in of some employees restored to their former positions and the satisfactory resolution by settlement of associated disputes with former employees.
• Representing a specialist medical practice to resolve, completely in their favour, substantial and protracted litigation with a former employee involving an unfair dismissal claim in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, proceedings to recover stolen money in the Queensland District Court, bankruptcy proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia, a contested WorkCover claim and a criminal prosecution. 
• Securing the largest costs order ever recorded in Queensland in unfair dismissal litigation; for a sum of $110,000 in favour of the employer.
• Training the managers of an Australian manufacturer about human resources risk issues and how to contain and manage them; training the same employer’s entire Australian workforce upon “good working relationships” including modules dealing with unlawful discrimination, sexual harassment and workplace bullying.

Value Added Services

Our service delivery doesn’t stop with our service delivery!  You can expect the McInnes Wilson workplace relations team to:

• Be available.  Our services are available 24 hours a day every day of the year;
• Bring a whole new meaning to the concept of “hands on”.  When we talk about getting involved, we mean it.  Our workplace relations team is available to become extensions of your own business in various capacities ranging from the conduct of employee performance counselling and effecting terminations, to investigation of workplace incidents or active participation in bargaining committees or project teams;    
• Keep you up to date about developments in the law by newsletters, seminars and through our web-site;
• Be proactive.  Rarely does the saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” have greater significance in business life than in workplace relations.  We will go out of our way to make sure that you don’t lose yours, whether in front end bargaining or agreement making or, if things go wrong, in working through disputes.