CONFERENCE: F2F & ONLINE | 15th October 2024

Industrial & Workplace Relations Conference Practical business solutions for HR managers - Closing Loopholes reform and employment law changes.

Overview
Agenda
Speakers

About the Conference

We are delighted to announce that the Thomson Reuters’ IR & Workplace Relations Conference is taking place on 15 Oct 2024 at Hilton Sydney and Online. The conference will explore and address the key issues in IR and employment law.

Employers face a multitude of legal challenges as employment laws and policies rapidly evolve, HR professionals need to stay abreast of the latest legal developments and navigate these challenges. A raft of measures are affecting casuals, contractors, gig workers, labour hire, right to flexible work, conducting effective employee investigations, as well as the implications of industrial relations reforms, and the introduction of criminal penalties for ‘wage theft’.

This is a must-attend event for anyone dealing with the grey areas and challenges in employment legislation and regulation.

Event highlights

Conference Chair - Nick Ruskin, Partner, K&L Gates
Implications of Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing the Loopholes) Bill 2023 & Right to Disconnect Tony Woods, Partner, Lander & Rogers
Preventing employee underpayments: wage theft or payroll mistake and new penalties Secure Pay Jobs Act Brigid Maher, Partner, Baker McKenzie
Positive duty and workplace sexual harassment prevention Fay Calderone, Partner, Hall & Wilcox
Recent changes to working from home and encouraging employees to return to the workplace Anna Kovalsky, Executive Counsel, Workdynamic Australia
How to conduct an effective workplace investigation Luis Izzo, Managing Director - Sydney Workplace, Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors
The Complexities of Collective Bargaining. Modern Awards and Enterprise Agreements Harriet Eager, Partner, MinterEllison
Managing industrial action: protected and unprotected activity most significant and complex industrial disputes Talia Firth, Partner, Ashurst
Terminations and performance management - preventing unfair dismissal case, Adverse Action and General Protections Claims Seamus Burke, Partner Workplace, Sparke Helmore Lawyers
Redundancy Recap Masterclass Amber Sharp, Partner, McCullough Robertson

Who should attend?

Human Resources Directors, Human Resource Manager and Advisors
Employee Relations Managers, People & Culture Managers, HR Business Partners
Employment Lawyers
In-house Counsel
Employer Associations & Unions

For event enquiries, please email eventsanz@thomsonreuters.com

Date & Location

15th October 2024
Hilton Sydney & Online

Time

9:00 AM - 4:40 PM AEST
Registration opens at 8:30 AM

Cost

Standard Pricing: $995 excl. GST
Early Bird: $895.00 excl. GST
Online Pricing: $800 excl. GST

6 CPD points

6 hours live and online

Attending as a group? Email us at eventsanz@thomsonreuters.com to enquire about group pricing.

Don't miss out - register today to guarantee your spot at this exciting event!

Event agenda

8:30 AM	Registration Opens
9:00 AM	Welcome from Conference Chair Nick Ruskin, Partner, K&L Gates
9:05 AM	Implications of Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing the Loopholes) Bill 2023 & Right to Disconnect Bill - Casual employee pathways implications and practical tips - Advantages and disadvantages of engaging a contractor for labour-hire. - Labour hire agreements and avoiding the pitfalls of “sham” contracting. - Gig economy and transport worker employment changes from FWC - Right to Disconnect Bill to the National Employment Standards - Determining ‘reasonable’ and ‘unreasonable’ additional hours Tony Woods, Partner, Lander & Rogers
9:45 AM	Preventing employee underpayments: wage theft or payroll mistake and new penalties Secure Pay Jobs Act There is a spate of recent high-proﬁle wage underpayments cases have shown that no industry is immune from lost wages. Whether instances of underpayment are deliberate, misinterpretation of Australia’s complex awards or payroll function error, organisations need to protect themselves from wage underpayment risk: - New penalties Secure Pay Jobs Act - Practical considerations in employee underpayments - Criminalisation of wage theft in Queensland and Victoria - Implications for accessorial liability for wage theft for managers Brigid Maher, Partner, Baker McKenzie
10:25 AM	Networking and refreshment break
10:50 AM	Positive duty and workplace sexual harassment prevention - Outlining the key reforms to the prohibition against sexual harassment in the workplace - Case examples of sexual harassment claims in the Fair Work Commission - Update on the Australian Human Rights Commission’s enforcement of the positive duty - Strategies for implementing a preventative approach in the workplace - What’s next - additional recommendations from the Respect@Work report Fay Calderone, Partner, Hall & Wilcox
11:30 AM	Recent changes to working from home and encouraging employees to return to the workplace - Anticipating changes to the workplace culture: has flexible work become a non-negotiable right? - Recent FWC decisions Anna Kovalsky, Executive Counsel, Workdynamic Australia
12:10 PM	Lunch and networking break
1:00 PM	How to conduct an effective workplace investigation - Reviewing complaints, investigations and disciplinary action processes - Undertaking compliance reviews of existing systems, policies and procedures Luis Izzo, Managing Director - Sydney Workplace, Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors
1:40 PM	The Complexities of Collective Bargaining. Modern Awards and Enterprise Agreements - Drafting single-enterprise, multi-enterprise, and Greenfields agreements - Preparing essential statutory documents - Negotiating with trade unions - Arbitration in the Fair Work Commission - Update on Modern Awards Harriet Eager, Partner, MinterEllison
2:20 PM	Managing industrial action: protected and unprotected industrial action and managing complex industrial disputes - Options for managing protected and unprotected industrial action - Impact of recent legislative changes on managing industrial disputes - Termination of industrial action, intractable bargaining and workplace determinations - Overview of recent cases involving complex industrial disputes Talia Firth, Partner, Ashurst
3:00 PM	Networking and refreshment break
3:20 PM	Terminations and performance management - preventing unfair dismissal case, Adverse Action and General Protections Claims - Performance management, disciplinary procedures - Attending to serious misconduct - Termination and preventing unfair dismissal cases. - Lessons from recent court decisions Seamus Burke, Partner Workplace, Sparke Helmore Lawyers
4:00 PM	Redundancy Recap Masterclass This session will review common trips and traps, provide an overview recent significant decisions including the Full Federal Court decision of Helensburgh Coal Pty Ltd v Bartley [2024] FCAFC 45, and deliver practical advice on implementation. Amber Sharp, Partner, McCullough Robertson
4:40 PM	CLOSING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR AND END OF CONFERENCE