2. Page 2 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.
What is Employment Law?
3. 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.
Page 3What is Employment Law?
4. Page 4 What is Employment Law?
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
5. “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
Page 5What is Employment Law?
6. Page 6 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 McSwan
Principal
P (07) 4963 0860
E smcswan@mckayslaw.com
Bronwyn Green
Solicitor
P (07) 4963 0859
E bgreen@mckayslaw.com
8. www.mckayslaw.com
Mackay | Brisbane | Gold Coast | Surat Basin
McKays NQ Pty Ltd ABN 85 604 643 709
Individual liability limited by a scheme approved under
professional standards legislation (personal injury work exempted)
