Hunter Employee Relations Services

Guiding Managers Through Complex Employee Relations Issues

The rules in the Fair Work system are complex and managers often lack the know-how and confidence to address workplace problems.

Counselling, Discipline & Terminations - Behavioural, Attitude or Work Performance

Ongoing negative attitude

Confrontational employees

Bullying or sexual harassment

Difficult or toxic behaviours disrupting the workplace

Employees working well below their capacity or training

You do have to tolerate these attitudes and behaviours.

Hunter Employee Relations can minimise your business risk in this complex legal area by:

Assisting you in the preparation of comprehensive warning letters.
Management of the termination steps to minimise the risk of claims.
Representing your business in Fair Work Commission or Tribunal proceedings.

Terminations With Additional Legal Complexities

Policy, Procedures and Standards - There is no automatic right to terminate when a policy is breached. There are a variety of factors to evaluate before termination.

Alcohol and other drugs – can I terminate if I don’t have a policy?

Sick leave and absenteeism – whenever my employee accrues some personal leave he takes another Monday off! What can I do?

Safety breaches – is this safety breach serious enough to terminate?

Bullying – does a bully deserve procedural fairness? Yes

Sexual harassment – what level of sexual harassment justifies summary termination?

Forced or constructive dismissal – an easy trap for employers to fall into.

Fixed term contract terminations – can I terminate a fixed term employee mid-term?

Small business unfair dismissal code – it doesn’t protect you from General Protections claims.

Casual employees – are there any risks terminating a regular long-term casual?

Redundancy – if employers don’t tick all the boxes they may become unfair dismissals.

Criminal convictions – just found out my employee has a criminal conviction. What can I do?

Probation terminations – General Protections claims apply from day 1 of employment.

Resignations – we had an argument, my employee stormed out swearing. Has he resigned?

Breach of employment contract – can I terminate if the employee breaches their contract?

After hours conduct – when is after hours conduct the employer’s responsibility?

Summary termination – what forms of misconduct justify summary dismissal?

Lawful instructions – when does disobeying a lawful instruction allow me to terminate?

Social media posting – I don’t have a policy on this. When can I act?

Medical – my employee has been off sick for months. What can I do?

Mental health – I have an employee with depression. What are my options?

Workplace Investigations

Hunter Employee Relations undertakes professional workplace investigations in relation to

Misconduct & Policy Breaches

Bullying & Sexual Harassment

Attitude & Performance Issues

Safety Breaches

Workplace Culture Concerns

Such investigations are carried out in a professional manner to assist employers to make the right decisions.

Fair Work & AHRC Representation

Fair Work Commission Unfair Dismissal and General Protections claims start with an online conference.

Hunter Employee Relations will closely review the circumstances leading up to and including the termination to develop the best strategy in these proceedings and l

Sexual Harassment Claims - Australian Human Rights Commission

This is another area where we’ve seen an increase in no-win, no-fee solicitors making exorbitant claims against employers for even minor issues. See link

Hunter Employee Relations will assess the details of the claim against prior cases to determine your likely legal exposure. This will determine how we respond to the solicitor’s extortion game in this forum.

Employers are often shocked to receive this type of claim believing their workplace is low risk. Sexual harassment is often hidden from general view and victims are too embarrassed to report early problem behaviours until it becomes significant. Employers are legally required to take proactive steps to minimise the workplace risk.

Other Employee Relations Services

Interpretation & Compliance

The Fair Work system is legally complex. The following, and a lot more, apply to your business and your employees:

Modern Awards
The National Employment Standards
The Fair Work Act

Despite their best efforts employers often get it wrong.

Hunter Employee Relations assists clients:

To pay their employees correctly.
By undertaking an hour of work and wages compliance review.
To develop cost-effective hours of work arrangements to suit business needs.

Enterprise Agreements

Negotiating or renewing and enterprise agreement is a delicate balancing act between improving workplace effectiveness and complying with a range of Fair Work rules and regulations. Miss one important step and the Agreement may be instantly rejected.

Hunter Employee Relations can assist your business with enterprise agreements through:

Agreement drafting compliance in accordance with Fair Work requirements.
Proactive management of the negotiation process or leading negotiations on your behalf.
Managing the employee vote, Fair Work document preparation and lodgement.
The variation or removal of current or expired agreements.

Employment Contracts Templates & Code of Conduct

Hunter Employee Relations has developed comprehensive Employment Contracts templates for all types of employees. These are easy to tailor for your business needs or we can assist if required.

Additionally with a Code of Conduct that covers a large variety of potential scenarios it would be the perfect combination for outlining employee behavioural expectations and protecting the business.

Other Employee Relations Services

General employee relations issues – absenteeism, rosters, change management etc
Flexibility at Work
Bullying, Discrimination & Harassment – proactive policies and employee briefings
Policies and Procedures
Managing Fair Work Ombudsman & Union approaches

Information Updates

Employee Relations News Updates - Check out and sign up for our regular news updates here
Monthly Consolidated Employee Relations Update – clients are kept informed of the current status of Government IR initiatives, Fair Work Commission projects and important ACTU campaigns.

How we work with our clients

We take a user friendly approach

Employee relations is getting quite complex and onerous on employers. We take the “tell me exactly what I need to know” approach to guiding senior management on employee relations issues – making the process as user-friendly as possible.

We do not do hard sell

I don’t like it being done to me and we don’t do it to our clients. We’ll let you know what’s available and make recommendations and then it’s up to you.

We say ‘no’ to long term contracts and expensive monthly retainers.

I believe they are grossly unfair for business, a gold mine for consultants and tie up employers regardless of the quality of service.

Let’s try some old-fashioned quality service. Hunter Employee Relations has established relationships with long term clients - some from 2008 when we first started. They call up when they need assistance and are not tied to us through any retainer or contract.

We do not have a hot line with staffed by graduates or less experienced staff. We believe in establishing a long-term professional relationship.

As a potential new client, if you wish to catch up over a coffee to discuss how we could work together, please let me know.

We do not have monthly retainers or lock in contracts.

Want to know more about Hunter Employee Relations?

Kind Regards
Michael Schmidt
Hunter Employee Relations
M 0438 129 728
michael@hunteremployeerelations.com.au
www.hunteremployeerelations.com.au

Testimonial extract from Lampson Australia – a Hunter ER client since 2008.
‘…He has always shown a strong personal interest in protecting our business interests in a very professional and practical manner. He is easy to work with and has become an essential part of our business.’ Lampson (Australia) Pty Ltd