Partner

Samantha Maddern

Sector

Services

Workplace Relations, Employment & Safety ,

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

Resources

Listen to Samantha on ABC RN ‘Life Matters’ discussing recent calls for changes to the Fair Work Act allowing employees to have a ‘Right to Disconnect’ here