Managing your people risks, By Nicola Martin and Kim Hodge

Premium Partner, Squire Patton Boggs (SPB), has been advising and supporting members for 12 months. Nicola Martin, Partner in the Sydney Labour & Employment (L&E) team shares how she and her team guide members and their other clients to manage their people risks.

The L&E team at SPB prides itself on innovative and commercially oriented legal advice. We also understand the value of practical advice, given that workplace issues usually require more than legal diagnosis.

Our expertise covers all aspects of the employment lifecycle:

• Termination, redundancy and workplace restructuring

• Employment aspects of cross-border transactions

• Industrial relations and union issues

• Performance management processes and strategies

• Discrimination and equal opportunity

• Workplace investigations

• Employee data management and privacy issues

• Employment and safety litigation

• Management of ill and injured workers

• Policy advice and documentation

• Workplace health and safety

• Global mobility and migration law

• Employment Contract and independent contractor agreement drafting and review

In April this year we welcomed Kim Hodge, Partner, to our Perth office. Kim brings a unique perspective as he combines his skills and knowledge in employment law with previous practical experience as a human resources manager, industrial relations advisor, labour market economist and industrial inspector. We look forward to introducing Kim to you at upcoming webinars.

The hot topic this year for members has been the implications of the High Court decisions in February 2022.

However, the other types of support we have been offering to clients includes the introduction and development of hybrid, remote working and the ‘future of work’ policies, procedures and the associated changes to contractual documentation.

One of the most interesting developments over the last 12 months has been the employment and tax issues arising from employees working overseas, either temporarily or permanently. This has been an increasing reality for a number of our clients, as their employees were either unable to travel back to Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions or resulting from the ‘war on talent’ that sees it increasingly competitive to attract or retain personnel. Nicola Martin, Squire Patton Boggs

Remember that APSCo members have access to the SPB Advice Line, which offers 20 minutes of complementary advice on employment law issues. More details can be found at www.apscoau.org

Our team looks forward to continuing to work with members as we grapple with Labor’s intended IR reforms over the next few months.

Whilst many of the details are not yet known, what we do know is that it will be another busy year for employee and industrial relations issues.