Erin Kidd

General employment and HR advisory and compliance

• Assisting numerous multinational employers, many without local HR or legal teams, with all aspects of employment-related issues, including the development of Australian employment contracts and policies, and termination of employees, including senior executives.

• Advising numerous multinational employers, including a multinational renewable energy company, on matters regarding remote workforces and international secondments of employees.

• Advising a multinational technology company on the management of an employee who had been the subject of various workplace complaints, as well as having made workplace complaints and a workers compensation claim.

• Advising a large insurance company on the management of an employee with long-term absenteeism.

Litigation

• Acting for a multinational environmental services company in defending a general protections claim made by an existing employee who alleged being subjected to adverse action as a result of having made a workplace complaint and having carer’s responsibilities.

• Acting for a multinational telecommunications company in its defence of a general protections claim brought in the Federal Circuit and Family Court by a former employee who was terminated for misconduct following a lengthy workplace investigation involving personnel in five countries. The former employee alleged that their employment was terminated because they had made complaints about their employment, had taken statutory leave and had a disability.

• Acting for an allied health services company in defending a general protections claim brought by a former executive and shareholder of the company in the Fair Work Commission and then Federal Circuit and Family Court.

• Acting for an education technology company in its defence of an unfair dismissal claim in the Fair Work Commission.

Post-employment restraints

• Acting for an education technology company in respect of enforcing the post-employment restraint obligations of a former employee who had resigned to commence work with a direct competitor.

• Advising a media and advertising executive looking to establish a new agency on various restraints, including those arising under their employment agreement, a shareholders agreement and a business sale agreement.

• Acting for an energy supply company in respect of enforcing the post-employment restraints of a senior executive who had been attempting to solicit customers following the termination of his employment.

Workplace investigations

• Acting as the external investigator in respect of a complaint made by an employee of a large health company alleging that they had been sexually assaulted by a colleague during a work conference.

• Investigating a complaint of sexual harassment made by a young female employee of a construction company.

• Investigating anonymous complaints received by a construction company that senior employees had been receiving “kick-backs” from subcontractors to whom contracts were to be awarded.

• Acting as the investigator in respect of a complaint of misconduct made by a student against an educator in a registered training organisation.

• Acting as the investigator in an independent investigation for a large property company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The complaint of bullying and harassment against an employee was made through the organisation’s anonymous whistleblowing service.

Discrimination

• Acting for a multinational defence contractor in defending claims of race discrimination, racial vilification and victimisation made to the ACT Human Rights Commission.

• Advising on and acting for a NSW government department in respect of discrimination complaints made to Anti-Discrimination NSW and the Australian Human Rights Commission.

• Assisting a multinational defence company in its successful application for exemption from certain obligations under various state anti-discrimination laws on the basis of its obligations under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR).

Workplace training

• Preparing and presenting tailored workplace training covering acceptable workplace behaviour, workplace grievances and equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all employees of various organisations, including an Australian-based global travel company, an education technology company, a multinational manufacturing company and a not-for-profit cultural organisation.

Business acquisitions and restructuring

• Advising a multinational manufacturing company about the employment-related aspects of acquiring an Australian business, and then later advising on a major restructure of the Australian operations.

• Acting for a professional services firm in respect of all employment-related aspects of a merger, including preparing new employment contracts for all staff and redrafting human resources policies with reference to the existing policies of the two firms.

• Acting for a multinational tourism company in respect of a major restructure of its operations, resulting in a number of redeployments and redundancies. In the absence of local HR support, we prepared all of the necessary documentation for the consultation and redeployment or termination processes.