Samantha has 30 years of experience across a variety of roles in human resources, employee relations and employment law. This experience allows her to provide practical, solutions-focussed advice. She is renowned for helping her clients successfully navigate the complexities and challenges that frequently arise in the modern Australian workplace and to effectively manage workplace risk – both the expected and the unexpected.
Samantha has particular expertise in the oil & gas, mining, tertiary education and construction sectors.
Her clients value her commercial no-nonsense approach, deep legal understanding and insight, and the ease of doing business with her.
Expertise
Samantha’s expertise includes:
Advisory
- Managing the employment relationship from recruitment to termination and everything in between, including disciplining staff for poor performance, misconduct, absence and dealing with mental health issues
- Workplace restructuring / redundancies
- Employee entitlements (statutory, contractual and under modern awards and enterprise agreements)
- JobKeeper-related queries, workplace investigations and whistleblowing complaints
- Employment issues arising from insolvency, mergers and acquisitions
Contentious
- Unfair dismissal, general protections/adverse action claims
- Breach of contract claims
- Sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying claims
- Enterprise bargaining disputes including majority support determinations, good faith bargaining obligations and responding to industrial action
- Underpayment claims and prosecutions
Recent Projects
- Acting for a global oil and gas major on a claim in the Federal Court involving multiple allegations of adverse action, sex discrimination and misleading pre-employment representations
- Advising a global water, waste and energy company on the employment and industrial relations issues arising from being awarded a major new contract requiring it to take on several hundred new employees
- Advising a Western Australian University on its rights and obligations in relation to proposals to respond to the financial impact of COVID-19
- Advising a WA-based mining company on how to manage complaints of bullying against the CFO
- Investigating allegations of underpayment of cleaning staff employed by a subcontractor and providing advice to a global cleaning services company on the risks arising and best response strategy
- Representing a compressed air and power generation provider in the Federal Circuit Court to defend a general protections claim in which the Applicant sought in excess of $500,000
- Advising an education provider on its rights and obligations arising from proposed restructures that would lead to several forced redundancies
- Successfully defending an unfair dismissal application by a Senior Executive of a Commonwealth-funded unincorporated joint venture by establishing the Executive had resigned and was not constructively dismissed
Professional Memberships/Accreditation & Activities
- Recognised Lawyer, Employee Benefits Law and Labour & Employment Law, The Best Lawyers Australia
- Recommended Lawyer, Employment Law, Doyles Guide
- Recommended Lawyer, Labour and Employment, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific
- Member, Women in Oil & Gas
- Member, Industrial Relations Society of WA
- Certificate IV Workplace Training
- Banking & Financial Institutions ,
- Energy, Mining & Resources ,
- Projects & Construction ,
- Insurance ,
Sector
- Workplace Relations, Employment & Safety ,
Services
Thinking
