Employment Law

Johnston Withers has a strong tradition extending over 60 years of advising and acting for clients in relation to employment and industrial relations matters. We represent clients and present cases for them in both the State and Australian Industrial Relations Commissions and in the State and Federal Courts.

We advise clients in relation to matters such as:

unfair dismissal,
employment contracts,
disciplinary proceedings,
bullying and harassment at work, and
wages and employment entitlement claims in the Industrial Court.

Our firm also has a long experience of acting for unions in making and amending awards before the Industrial Commission and advising as to the rights of their members.

We have been successful in achieving outcomes for clients in many high profile cases, including cases argued before the High Court. We also recognise the importance of a good working relationship for employees, employers and their families and often use our mediation skills to reach a mutually satisfactory outcome.

Discrimination and Harassment

Johnston Withers advises and represents clients in discrimination and harassment cases arising under both the State and Federal legislation. Such matters include:

sexual discrimination,
disability discrimination,
racial discrimination,
age discrimination, and
other matters that are prohibited by the relevant statutes.

We will assist a client in carefully setting out the grounds for their application to either the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission or the State Equal Opportunity Commission, and represent clients at the first stage of conciliation conferences. We will also assist clients in presenting a comprehensive case at these conferences to ensure the best possible outcome. If the matter proceeds, we then prepare the evidence and submissions and argue the case before the relevant Tribunal or Court.

We have successfully acted for employees in the Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Court in sexual harassment and age discrimination cases. In one case a woman was found to have been sexually harassed by another employee and the company was also found to have been vicariously liable for those actions in not taking appropriate action to prevent it. Compensation was awarded to her by the Court. In another case a young employee with dyslexia was found to have been discriminated against and dismissed on the basis of his disability. It was found that his dyslexia had no impact on his ability to perform his work duties, and he was awarded compensation for discrimination.