The landscape of transgender employment laws is evolving globally, with various jurisdictions adopting laws that ensure inclusivity and non-discrimination in the workplace. This area is one of the most complex issues in employment law systems and has generated much controversy. Notwithstanding this, many global companies seek to support and promote the interests of women regardless
Erin Hawthorne
Erin enjoys using the opportunities presented by difficult employment and industrial problems to deliver outcomes for her clients.
She has worked in both private practice and in-house roles and uses her experience of being a client to deliver the best legal strategy through a lens of practicality.
An experienced litigator representing employers when litigation is unavoidable or advantageous, she has the game plan needed to protect or attack.
Will Australians connect with the right to disconnect?
The right to disconnect has been in the media a lot. But if we look behind the headlines, what impact is it actually going to have?
The new laws give employees a limited right to ignore work-related contact outside of working hours. This right is limited by what is reasonable. It does not:
- outlaw reasonable
Struggling to keep up with all the closing loopholes reforms?
The last two years has seen multiple rounds of changes to employment, industrial and safety laws at federal and state level in Australia.
These represent the most significant changes since the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) was introduced. The fact that there have been so many different changes to different laws has made it tough…
In defence of non-disclosure agreements
Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs or confidentiality agreements) have come under fire in recent years due to concerns that they silence victims, conceal unlawful behaviour and prevent companies and regulators from understanding the full scope of systemic problems. These are all valid concerns.
However, the part that often gets overlooked when discussing the use of NDAs is…
International Women’s Day 2024: Pay gaps, the law of averages and accelerating progress
International Women’s Day for 2024 has the important theme of Count Her In: Invest in Women. The UN talks about the importance of empowering women and investing in women in a range of ways. This includes accelerating women’s economic empowerment by recognising that when women entrepreneurs are successful, this can lead to more benefits.
The…
The next ten years: Seyfarth’s partners discuss the future of employment and workplace safety law in Australia
In our previous post celebrating the firm’s decade in Australia, our partners shared their insights into the most significant changes in employment and safety law that have affected leading employers. This post further explores our partners’ perspectives on the major changes and trends that they anticipate will have a major impact on Australian businesses in…
A decade in Australia: Seyfarth’s partners reflect on changes in employment and workplace safety law
Seyfarth just celebrated ten years of service to leading employers in Australia. To mark the occasion, we invited some of our partners to share insights on the evolution of employment, industrial relations and workplace safety in Australia over the past ten years.
What have been the biggest changes in employment law, industrial relations and workplace…
Board accountability and sexual harassment in the new regime
If it’s not already happening, Board room agendas will be making room for yet another compliance program.
We’ve said it before and it’s worth repeating: the bolstering of anti-sexual harassment laws will see workplaces adopt approaches akin to eliminating or minimising, so far as reasonably practicable, workplace health and safety risk. The positive duty demands…
Is the Qantas v TWU decision the death knell for outsourcing?
The High Court of Australia’s decision in the Qantas outsourcing case[1] has been widely reported. But both the scope of the decision and the key takeaway have potentially been misunderstood.
How do you (dis)prove a negative presumption about your reasons?
The real issue in this case, as in most adverse action cases, was why…
Navigating the new world of work: Is contracting on the way out?
The use of contracting arrangements is widespread; however, around the world, we are seeing trends suggesting this type of work arrangement may become more restricted, higher cost or higher risk to companies in the future. We asked several partners to share their insights on what’s changing for companies that use contractors and what the key…