Here's why HR leaders can't afford to miss this event
HRD's Employment Law Masterclass Australia is returning this 19 August as a one-day online event bringing together some of the country's leading workplace lawyers.
It comes at a critical time for HR leaders, with Australia's employment law landscape undergoing significant change across wages, flexible work, and workplace safety.
Still on the fence about attending? Here are 10 reasons why you should.
- Get across wage compliance before it becomes a crisis: MinterEllison partner Kate Pennicott will unpack where underpayments most commonly occur, across awards, classifications, loadings, and rostering, and how to approach remediation before regulators come knocking.
- Understand your obligations on flexible work: With expanded employee rights now embedded in law, what counted as a reasonable refusal may no longer hold up. Dentons partners Helene Lee and Angela Cartwright will give HR teams practical frameworks for handling flexible work requests without legal exposure.
- Move Respect@Work from policy to practice: McCabes principal Melini Pillay will cover the positive duty on sexual harassment, the shift from complaints-based to prevention-focused systems, and how to approach NDAs in a way that supports safety and compliance.
- Prepare for psychosocial safety enforcement: Regulators have shifted from education to enforcement. ABLA senior associate Alana Rafter will walk through the new regulatory landscape, where safety inspectors are focusing, and what HR must embed during restructures and complex mental health incidents.
- Learn how to manage ill and injured workers lawfully: Addisons partner Brigid Clark will provide a clear roadmap for managing workers from first disclosure through to potential incapacity termination, including balancing obligations under the Fair Work Act, discrimination laws, and workers' compensation frameworks.
- Run investigations that stand up to scrutiny: With discrimination and adverse action claims surging, Lander & Rogers partner Adam Battagello will cover best-practice protocols for legally defensible investigations, including how to manage the growing threat of AI-assisted self-represented litigants.
- Sharpen your bargaining strategy: Ashurst partner Peter McNulty will cover how the Secure Jobs, Better Pay reforms are being tested in the Fair Work Commission in 2026, including insights from early test cases on multi-employer bargaining and intractable disputes.
- Up to 5.25 CPD units in a single day: Attendees can claim professional development credit while staying across the most significant compliance shifts of the year.
- It's entirely online: No travel, no accommodation costs. HR leaders across Australia can attend from wherever they are and still access the full program.
- You'll walk away with a resource pack: Each attendee receives a post-session toolkit designed to help them implement best practises and strengthen HR processes immediately after the event.
The Employment Law Masterclass Australia takes place on 19 August. Standard individual and team passes are available. Secure your spot by registering here.
