Employment, Safety & Workers Compensation
The laws regulating employment, safety and workers compensation, for all tiers of Government, are notoriously complex. This is particularly the case for Local and State Government in South Australia, who have an entirely different industrial relations system (compared to the Commonwealth and private sector).
It is a niche area of expertise, but one which Government employers must be across. This is not only to ensure legal compliance and best practice, but also to provide a safe and productive working environment for an employer’s most important asset – its people.
Our team has extensive experience acting for and advising all tiers of Government. We are relatively unique in South Australia, having been repeatedly recognised in both Best Lawyers Australia and Doyle’s Guide to the Legal Profession, whilst having significant expertise in public sector employment. Wallmans is also relatively unique in that our entire team has genuine expertise across all three critical areas of law: employment, safety and workers compensation. This enables us to provide a holistic and comprehensive service for all of our employer clients.
Our practice has both a litigious and advisory focus and has developed a reputation for practical, cost-effective and unpretentious advice, that best serves the unique interests of Government bodies and their stakeholders.
We provide clients with advice and representation in relation to all aspects of the employment relationship, including the review and negotiation of enterprise agreements, reviewing contracts of employment and policies, performance management, code of conduct considerations, privacy, freedom of information, workplace grievances and enterprise agreement disputes, terminating employment, disputed workers compensation claims, injury and absence management, redundancies and restructures, confidentiality and intellectual property, workplace surveillance, discrimination, bullying, and conducting complex workplace investigations.
We also provide our Government clients with advice and representation in relation to all employment disputes in all relevant jurisdictions.
Employment, Safety and Workers Compensation Services
- Advice and representation for all workplace disputes
- Preparing and advising on workplace contracts, policies, procedures and industrial instruments
- Managing long-term injuries and absenteeism
- Managing employee performance
- Advising on process where serious misconduct arises, particularly if sensitive or criminal
- Defending unfair dismissal, general protections, discrimination and underpayment claims
- Defending breach of contract claims
- Defending industrial action and related claims
- Advising on workers compensation
- Conducting tailored and practical workplace training
- Conducting complex workplace investigations
- Workplace health and safety advice and representation
- Privacy and Freedom of Information
- Enforcing and drafting post-employment covenants including confidentiality and non-compete
- Employee versus contractors advice and representation
- Equal opportunity, bullying and sexual harassment
- Misconduct and other workplace grievances
- Restructures and redundancies