Probation, Terminations, Staff Personal Matters Affecting Performance & Conduct & AI
| Date | 5 March 2026 |
| Time | 12.00pm-3.45pm AEDT (Syd/Melb time) each session |
| Venue | Live Online with recording (recording access expires 5 April 2026) |
| Pricing | $440 Price includes gst. |
| Sector | Non-State Schools |
| CPD | Addresses 7.2 of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers |
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Program
12.00 LawSense Welcome
12.05 Chairperson’s Remarks
Alison Binet, Deputy Head People & Culture, Barker College
Belinda Reid, Head of Human Resources, Trinity Grammar School, Sydney
12.10 Dealing with Staff Experiencing Personal Life Circumstances Affecting Performance and Conduct
Rights and Obligations
- Examining the extent of your obligations where staff experience personal issues affecting performance or conduct such as divorce or other circumstances
- Dealing with medical evidence from GPs or other professionals
- Responding to claims that work demands are aggravating stress or an illness from personal circumstances
- Reasonable adjustments:
- what are you required to implement and for how long? When can you remove leadership, or reduce hours/pay
- how should you manage repeated absence requests?
Impacts on Other Staff, Staff Complaints, Privacy
- Examining your obligations and options where the performance or behaviour issues affect other staff
- Navigating privacy issues – what are you able to tell other staff about the staff member?
Terminating the Staff Member
- At what point can you legally dismiss staff experiencing personal issues/crisis affecting performance or conduct
Case Studies and Scenarios
- Learning from case studies and scenarios
Ben Tallboys, Principal, Russell Kennedy; Legal Counsel, Association of Heads of Independent Schools Australia
1.10 Break
1.20 Terminations Update: Navigating Probation, Claims and Learnings from Recent Fair Work Cases
Probation
- Exploring the application of probation to different arrangements/contracts with staff
- Examining the application of probation where staff have already been in a role for some time, but change to a different role
- Dismissing staff during the probation period – navigating rights, obligations and risks, including where the successful candidate omitted relevant information
Dealing with Claims Against You
- Navigating claims that can be made against you in response to performance management or dismissals:
- discrimination, bullying, adverse action, unfair dismissal
- allegations regarding psychosocial hazards/work environment
Learnings from Recent Cases
- Outlining recent Fair Work decisions regarding discipline and terminations, implications and learnings for schools
Erin McCarthy and Emily Haar, Partner, Piper Alderman
2.30 Break
2.40 AI and School Employment Management: Evaluating AI Options Against Legal Risks and Compliance and Exploring Best Practice
Reviewing Some Current AI Application Offerings
- Exploring AI applications currently used and evolving in HR contexts, including in recruitment, staff monitoring and management
- Reviewing the current AI applications:
- how do they operate to provide benefits and efficiencies in HR
- examining how/where do the applications store and use data, what data protections they have in place:
- Understanding how the applications are evolving and how this could affect HR management in the short and medium term
Ensuring Legal Compliance in Using AI – Navigating Rights, Obligations and Risks
- Examining current legal and risk issues in using AI:
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- privacy and data use risks, breaches of surveillance laws
- breaching discrimination laws
- accuracy/reliability and legal exposure
- intellectual property, including ownership of AI outputs
- contractual terms of AI software/service providers
- Navigating legal and compliance issues with AI in practice including in:
- workforce planning/analytics
- recruitment, including screening resumes, automated candidate searches, applicant communication
- staff monitoring
- staff management, including performance management
- onboarding and payroll management
Reviewing Some Available AI Applications for Compliance and Legal Risk
- Running the privacy and legal compliance “ruler” over some AI applications currently available in HR contexts – can you use them in a legally compliant way, what changes or “work-arounds” should you implement or request?
Examining Questions to Check / Ask AI Suppliers and Implementing Effective AI Policies
- Examining key requirements or questions to ask of AI supplier to optimise legal compliance and risk management
- Exploring optimal AI policies for HR in schools
Leah Mooney, Technology, Cyber and Privacy Consulting Leader, Pacific, Willis Australia
3.40 Chairperson’s Remarks
3.45 Event Close
Presenters / panelists include:
Alison Binet is the Deputy Head People & Culture at Barker College, an Anglican Independent School in Sydney. Barker College’s main campus is in Hornsby, with three indigenous campuses in NSW and NT. Alison has a strong background in the Education Sector, having been with Barker College since 2018 and previously with Catholic Schools, Diocese of Broken Bay for 14 years.
Belinda Reid is the Head of Human Resources at Trinity Grammar School, Sydney. Belinda is passionate about staff wellbeing, performance management, reducing psychosocial injury and improving wellbeing through adapting workplace policies and practices to meet the emerging needs of staff.
Ben Tallboys provides sector-specific, practical legal solutions to schools across Australia. Ben is a passionate and effective advocate for principals dealing with complex matters relating to parents, staff and students, as well as their own employment.
Erin McCarthy has over fifteen years’ experience in providing advice to employers and employer associations on all aspects of occupational health and safety, employment and industrial relations law as well as delivering essential information seminars and training workshops on key employment issues. As a part of a national team, Erin advises clients in all states and territories in Australia.
For more than 20 years, Leah Mooney has provided legal, regulatory, risk and governance services to corporate and government entities. She is best known for helping organisations to understand data privacy, cyber security and technology risk and compliance, with a particular focus on responding to complex data breaches, security of critical infrastructure, countering foreign interference, and high-risk AI technologies.
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