what is employment law_sep2015

Employment LawMcKays Solicitors

What is Employment Law?

Unfair dismissal, discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying

We can assist you with managing underperformance or conduct issues in the workplace.

We also understand the value in educating managers about best practice for dealing with those issues, and establishing processes that minimise the risks arising from employee management.

We can advise you on appropriate steps to respond to unhelpful behaviours and how to implement and navigate around effective workplace disciplinary and performance management systems.

We can also advise and assist in the event of a claim or prosecution in the Fair Work Commission or another tribunals.

Employment Contracts and Independent Contractor Agreements

We have extensive experience assisting employers to prepare agreements suitable to their workforce that comply with relevant legislation and regulations.

It is essential for you to understand if a worker is a legitimate contractor or actually an employee. The ATO actively audits business for compliance with obligations to remit PAYG tax and superannuation. A “sham contract” finding can have devastating consequences to your business such as back payment of PAYG tax, leave and allowance entitlements and superannuation payments, as well as monetary penalties and prosecution costs.

For many businesses, their employees are truly their most important asset.

For many employees, their employment contract is their most important legal relationship.

Australia’s workplace relations legal system which governs the employment relationship is vast and complex.

Whether you are a business owner, manager, human resources professional, employee or contractor, accurate and up to date advice from an Employment Law expert can be crucial.

How the McKays Employment Law Team can help you

McKays Solicitors can meet with you to discuss and advise about your employment law issue. Their advice is tailored to your situation and includes practical strategies to deal with it.

Our employment law team has expertise in:

Unfair dismissal, discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying; Employment agreements; Contractor agreements; Enterprise agreements; Workplace policies; Entitlements; Company restructures; Workplace health and safety; Protecting confidential information and

business relationships.




McKays Solicitors can meet with you to discuss and advise about your

employment law issue.

Their advice is tailored to your situation and includes practical

strategies to deal with it.



often require employment restructure.

We can assist you to develop and implement restructure strategies for your work force to continue to engage high value workers and to minimize costs and impacts to your customers. We can provide technical advice on redundancy processes and entitlements upon termination to comply with obligations arising from modern awards and legislation.

Workplace Health and Safety

WH&S legislation has strict requirements to ensure work that is performed safely, and about what must be done in the unfortunate event of an injury. Non-compliance with these obligations can give risk to serious risks for the employer, its senior managers, and the people involved in the incident.

We can assist businesses and managers to understand WH&S laws, and with:

workplace investigations; rehabilitating workers back to the

workplace; and defending prosecutions for alleged

breach of WH&S laws.

Protecting Confidential Information and Business Relationships

Many businesses have valuable confidential information and business relationships to protect if a key employee leaves.

McKays Solictors has extensive experience advising employers and employees on the rights and obligations that exist at general law and by an employment agreement during the employment, and when the employment ends.

We also have extensive experience in preparing and advising on post-employment restrain of trade clauses and deeds of agreement, and taking enforcement action to restraint an actual or threatened breach of an obligations.

Enterprise Agreements

Our team is experienced in the preparation, negotiation, and review of enterprise agreements. We can assist you to strategize improved flexibility arrangements for hours of work, rates of pay, and performance related conditions.

Workplace Policies

We can help you to develop an Employee Handbook that guides employees about expectations in the workplace for a range of issues including conduct and behavior, drug and alcohol testing, use of social media, use of vehicles, working hours, reporting when sick and producing evidence, preventing sexual harassment and bullying, and many other issues.

We can assist to update your current policies and procedures, or develop an Employee Handbook for you. A well prepared policy that has been explained to the worker will often be a very significant factor in the event of a claim or prosecution

Entitlements

We often advise employers and employees about their rights and entitlements for hours of work, leave, and pay rates. We help you to identify which Award, Enterprise Agreement or legislation applies to your particular situation.

We have strong links to the black coal mining industry, being based near the Central Queensland coal fields and we have expertise in the Black Coal Mining Industry Award 2010 and the Black Coal Industry Long Service Leave provisions.

Where appropriate we can also assist you with drafting and implementing flexible work arrangements.

Company restructures

In a changing commercial environment, many clients come to us for advice on business restructures and redundancies. We realize that businesses must successfully adapt to change which will



“Our company has engaged McKays Solicitors for employment law advice many times for our large

workforce. Their knowledge about the employment law system, has been a great help. Their reliability, speed and

attention to detail have been impressive and I have no hesitation in recommending them.”

- Corey Clifford, Commercial Manager, PIMS Group.

“As Operations Manager for Telstra Whitsunday my responsibilities include human resources management. I have engaged Scott McSwan of McKays Solicitors on various occasions to advise on employment contracts, modern award requirements, and managing employee performance, conduct and capacity issues. Scott has a clear strategy for how our business can deal with those

issues and that has helped us to build and grow our business. For employment issues that are straightforward

or complex, I am happy to recommend McKays Solicitors.”

- Ryan Langford, Telstra Whitsunday

“Scott isn’t your typical lawyer. He is very personable, a good listener and you get the feeling as soon as you meet

him that you are in good hands; and he has a sense of humour.”

- Gerry Lambert, consultant with Directors Australia and director of various well regarded companies

From our clients


What is Employment Law? What is Employment Law?

Employment Support Packages

We invite business owners and Human Resource Professionals to contact us to discuss our Employment Support Packages.

These packages involve an orientation meeting to hear from you about your industry and workforce structure. As a Package client, you will have direct contact lines for our employment lawyers and assistants to contact us as and when urgent workplace issues arise. Seeking advice early can often avert the issue escalating into a much larger and more expensive dispute.

Getting Employment Law Advice

You may not always be certain whether you have a legal problem, or the potential for one. Contact McKays Solicitors, and our solicitors will help you to identify the issues and understand your options, and will give you practical advice and recommendations for your employment law matter.

Scott McSwanPrincipalP (07) 4963 0860E [email protected]

Bronwyn GreenSolicitorP (07) 4963 0859E [email protected]

What is Employment Law?What is Employment Law?

www.mckayslaw.comMackay | Brisbane | Gold Coast | Surat Basin

McKays NQ Pty Ltd ABN 85 604 643 709Individual liability limited by a scheme approved under professional standards legislation (personal injury work exempted)

what is employment law_sep2015

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