| Date | 26 March 2025 |
| Time | 12.00pm-4.35pm AEDT (Syd/Melb time) |
| Venue | Live Online with recording (recording access expires 26 April 2025) |
| 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 Probation, Performance Management and Terminations: Navigating Rights and Obligations in Dismissing Staff and Learnings from Recent Fair Work Cases
Performance Management and Dismissal of Staff
- Outlining key laws applying to staff performance management and dismissals
- Reviewing timeframes in performance management and dismissal. What length of time is reasonable with performance improvement plans? How long can you take before issuing a warning?
- Examining lawful reasons for dismissal:
- what is a “valid” reason for dismissal – reviewing the impact of recent case law
- understanding the nature and extent of evidence required to establish a “valid” reason for dismissal
- Reviewing the consultation obligations where there is redundancy
- Ensuring you implement defensible due process in dismissals – insight from recent case law
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
- Outlining 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 and implications for schools
Tim Longwill, Partner, McCullough Robertson Lawyers
1.10 Break
1.20 Navigating the Right to Disconnect in Practice, Including Industrial Agreements, School Holidays, Parents, Flexible Work Arrangements and Different Job Demands
- Examining the right to disconnect law, including understanding what is “reasonable” for employees to refuse
- Examining how the law has applied in schools including:
- rights of teachers and other staff during school holidays
- navigating application of industrial agreements
- impacts on role expectations and descriptions
- managing parent contact
- application in offsite activities
- application where there are flexible work arrangements
- Optimising arrangements and policies to manage the right to disconnect, including:
- updating contracts and role descriptions
- updating relevant policies
- best practice communications with staff and parents
David Scanlan, Director of People and Culture, St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls, Perth; Practicing Lawyer
2.10 Break
2.20 Incivility or “Toxic” Behaviour Leading to Staff-on-Staff Conflict: Navigating Bullying Allegations, Psychosocial Hazards, Rights, Obligations and Mediation
Defining “Toxic” Behaviour or ‘Incivility’
- Identifying “lower level” “toxic” staff behaviour – “anti-social” behaviours, “rudeness”, ongoing criticism of school leaders or other staff, undermining, rumours, gossip
Law Applying to Conflict Between Staff from “Toxic” Behaviour
- Outlining laws applying to staff-on-staff conflict from “toxic” behaviour:
- bullying and harassment
- recent law changes regarding psychosocial hazards
- respect@work laws
- Examining how “lower level” behaviours such as toxic or incivility can amount to bullying or harassment or breach psychosocial hazards laws or other obligations affecting the school
- Are toxic behaviours outside school actionable?
Investigating and Navigating Staff Claims Regarding Other Staff
- Exploring challenges in obtaining and assessing evidence of incivility or toxic behaviour
- Determining when the evidence and circumstances meet the legal threshold for you to take legal action
Mediation/Dispute Resolution
- Exploring options for informal and formal mediation of staff disputes
- Ensuring mediation processes protect the school’s legal position, including understanding how evidence from mediation processes can be utilised
Policies and Codes of Conduct in a Changed Environment
- Implementing policies and codes of conduct to optimise management of toxic staff in a changed environment
Ben Tallboys, Principal, Russell Kennedy Lawyers; Legal Counsel, Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA)
3.20 Break
3.30 Staff Ill or Injured Outside Work, Including Stress, Mental Illness and Chronic Conditions: Navigating Reasonable Adjustments, Return to Work and Terminations
Legal Framework Applying and Determining Non-Work-Related Injuries
- Outlining the legal framework applying to non-work-related illness and injury, including
- determining work versus non-work-related injury
- obligations requiring a school to assess and implement reasonable adjustments
- rights and obligations regarding return to work
Stress, Mental Health Issues, Chronic Illness
- Navigating particular challenges:
- staff stress, including from divorce or other personal circumstances
- mental illness
- other chronic illness or injury
Extent of Reasonable Adjustments Required
- Optimising your approach to assessing reasonable adjustments:
- ensuring you obtain all the relevant evidence – what questions or enquiries should you make
- assessing required or requested adjustments against the inherent requirements of the role
- balancing the impacts on other staff and on students
- Learning from case studies and exploring adjustments, including rights and obligations regarding:
- allowing time off
- alternative duties or requests for particular classes
- changes in timetable or workload
- flexible work/ work from home arrangements
- changes to the physical environment, furniture or devices where physical injury or disability is involved
Termination of Ill or Injured Staff and Documentation
- Navigating rights, obligations and pitfalls in termination of ill and injured staff
- Documenting assessments, reasonable adjustments and termination processes to protect your legal position
Jess Toop, Partner, Justicia
4.30 Closing Remarks
4.35 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.
Tim Longwill is a legal practitioner of over 20 years experience. He is a specialist industrial lawyer with significant exposure to the education sector. Tim was also recently named for the third year in a row as being among ‘Australia’s Best Lawyers’ by the Financial Review.
Prior to joining St Hilda’s, David Scanlan worked as Special Counsel at Bartlett Workplace Lawyers and Consultants, heading up its Perth office. He has broad commercial legal experience, primarily in industrial relations, general employment, occupational health and safety, privacy, matters relating to discrimination, harassment and bullying in the workplace and various other commercial areas.
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.
Jess Toop leverages her expert knowledge and experience when assisting clients to solve their workplace issues, drawing upon her extensive career as a specialist employment lawyer in private practice and as a member of in-house legal teams, both in Australia and Asia. Jess works with clients across a broad range of sectors, including assisting clients in the education and not-for-profit sectors.