Workplace relations lawyers are gearing up for a busy few months ahead, after what has already been a very hectic year for many.
People & Culture Strategies managing principal Joydeep Hor said that with the “silly season” and the new OHS harmonisation laws it was likely to be a busy period ahead for both companies and lawyers. “Come January 1 you (clients) at the very least need to have educated senior leaders of the very great personal risks and consequences for them if the company breaches its requirements and obligations under the new laws,” he said. “In the early months of next year we will be expecting a huge amount of enforcement activity around those new laws.”
Hor said that increasingly companies and senior staff were becoming too reliant on memos and policies as a way of protecting themselves against workplace disputes, yet in many cases companies will still be liable unless they can show that they have taken steps to prevent the activity or action from happening. “It is no longer enough for an employer to rely on a policy to get it out of trouble,” he said.
Middletons partner Alice DeBoos has also seen a significant increase in the amount of work coming through the door, but mainly as a result of The Fair Work Act. “There is more industrial relations work around now than there has been for years and years,” said DeBoos.
According to DeBoos the introduction of The Fair Work Act has made wage bargaining and collective bargaining highly regulated, therefore increasing the need for legal advice in such cases. “The reforms in the law have certainly increased the work we see coming through our door without a doubt; but I don’t think it has increased the activity full stop,” she added.
Both Hor and DeBoos are seeing an increasing amount of work in the field related to bullying, social media and the testing of new laws. “The single biggest thing is the bullying issue,” said Hor. “That and performance management.”
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