Australian employers are under unprecedented scrutiny on wages, record‑keeping and payroll systems, with even small errors now snowballing into high‑profile underpayment matters. This session unpacks where things most commonly go wrong and how to respond if underpayments are uncovered.

• Options for conducting a wages and payroll “health check” across awards, classifications, loadings and rostering.
• Understand what records you must be able to produce (and for how long), and simple processes to fix common gaps.
• How to approach remediation: quantifying underpayments, communicating with affected employees and boards, and sequencing repayments.
• When and how to seek external support or engage proactively with regulators to contain reputational and penalty exposure.

Flexible work is now embedded in the legal landscape, and HR is often the first point of contact when employees invoke these rights. This session clarifies where the legal boundaries sit – when employers are expected to accommodate, when alternative arrangements are reasonable, and how to communicate decisions transparently. Attendees will gain practical frameworks and language they can use to balance business needs with employee expectations while staying compliant.

• Hear critical updates on FWC decisions and State/Territory regulatory
• Distinguish reasonable requests from those you can lawfully refuse
• Understand how to turn informal flexible conversations into clear, well‑documented outcomes
• Consider the importance of aligning policies, contracts and practice before a dispute arises

Respect@Work has fundamentally shifted expectations of how organisations prevent and respond to sexual harassment and related behaviours. This session clarifies the positive duty for HR, shows what reasonable and proportionate measures look like in practice, and explores how to approach NDAs in a way that supports safety, culture and compliance.

• Refresher: Respect@Work positive duty, recent case law, and HR’s evolving responsibilities
• How to shift from a complaints‑based approach to prevention‑focused systems for sexual harassment
• Understand how to make informed decisions about when and how NDAs should (and should not) be used
• Aligning policies, training and reporting frameworks with regulator and board expectations

With regulators shifting from education to enforcement on psychosocial risk, HR professionals are increasingly in the crosshairs of new compliance mandates. This first session provides a critical update on the latest regulatory frameworks, emerging cases, and how they directly impact HR's operational responsibilities. Gain a clear understanding of the real-world flashpoints bridging WHS and HR, and how to effectively align your executive team with these new legal realities.

• Understand the new regulatory landscape and where safety inspectors are focusing their attention
• Discuss the core controls HR must embed during restructures, grievance handling, and complex mental health incidents
• How to translate recent complaints, claims, and enforcement trends into actionable strategies for the HR function

This session will unpack how HR can lawfully and compassionately manage workers who are ill or injured, from first disclosure through to potential termination for incapacity. Drawing on recent cases and practical examples, it will clarify how to balance operational needs with obligations under the Fair Work Act, discrimination laws and workers’ compensation frameworks. Attendees will leave with a clear roadmap for reducing legal risk while supporting employee wellbeing and maintaining safe, productive workplaces.

• Gain practical tools to assess whether an ill or injured employee can still perform the inherent requirements of their role
• Understand how to make and document reasonable adjustments while managing operational and safety risks
• Discuss the nuances of long-term absence and incapacity terminations in line with Fair Work, workers’ comp and discrimination laws

With discrimination, harassment and adverse action claims surging, poorly handled workplace investigations are increasingly exposing organisations to costly unfair dismissal cases and high-stakes litigation. This session provides HR leaders with a practical framework for conducting legally defensible investigations, ensuring procedural fairness and strict neutrality. Learn how to actively stamp out HR bias in high-level cases, document findings to counter the rise in AI-assisted litigants and minimise costly settlement risks.

• Learn best-practice protocols for planning, documenting, and executing legally defensible investigations
• Actionable strategies to stamp out bias and maintain strict neutrality in high-stakes cases
• How to mitigate legal exposure driven by flawed or poorly documented processes

Restructures are a constant feature of organisational life, but missteps around “genuine redundancy,” consultation, and redeployment due to AI can quickly turn business changes into expensive legal disputes. This session unpacks what lawful restructuring looks like in practice, from planning consultations to managing selection criteria and employee communications. Attendees will gain practical strategies to navigate procedural fairness and mitigate unfair dismissal risks in an increasingly complex, and tech-driven, environment.

• Identifying the legal elements of a “genuine redundancy” and how failures create unfair dismissal risk
• Assessing and document reasonable redeployment options to reduce the likelihood of legal challenges
• How to navigate emerging frontiers of AI-driven redundancies, including workforce transitions
• Ensuring procedural fairness in the selection criteria, decision-making, and communications to withstand regulatory scrutiny

With major statutory reforms now firmly in place, including ‘Secure Jobs, Better Pay’, the industrial relations focus for 2026 has shifted from understanding new legislation to navigating how these changes are actively being tested in the Fair Work Commission and the courts. Employers must approach negotiations with fresh tactics tailored to this evolving legal framework. Explore practical strategies for reaching agreements and maintaining compliance amid expanding modern awards, rising penalties, and complex early test cases.

• Negotiating enterprise agreements and managing industrial action under the updated framework
• How new modern award terms—like WFH and delegate rights—impact enterprise agreements
• Insights from recent test cases on multi-employer bargaining, intractable disputes, and labour-hire orders

Gen AI and online resources are fuelling a surge in self‑represented employees pursuing claims, drafting their own documents and dragging matters through multiple forums. This session explains how AI‑enabled self‑representation is changing employer risk, why cases are taking longer and costing more, and the practical steps HR must take to prepare for this growing challenge.

• Recognise how AI and online platforms empower self-represented employees
• Understand why self‑represented matters drag on, increase costs and consume more resources
• How to adapt HR processes, documentation and communication to better manage self‑represented claimants
• Tips to work more effectively with in‑house and external lawyers to better manage self‑represented litigants

Cap off the masterclass by bringing your most pressing employment law challenges directly to our panel of legal experts. This interactive closing session gives you the exclusive opportunity to clarify the day's insights, seek tailored advice for your organisation's specific risks, and leave fully equipped to tackle the year ahead.