About Vanessa
Vanessa is the NSW State Government Sector Leader, with significant experience advising government and private clients on all aspects of the employment relationship. Vanessa acts for clients on workplace restructures, performance management, disciplinary issues, flexible working arrangements, confidentiality and restrictive covenants, independent contracting arrangements, management of ill and injured employees and termination of employment issues.
A skilled litigator, Vanessa represents employers in a broad range of employment related litigation, including unfair dismissal, adverse action, anti-bullying orders, discrimination, sexual harassment, breach of contract, and misleading and deceptive conduct claims, as well as claims for urgent equitable relief.
Experience
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NSW Police Force
Acting in a range of workplace and administrative law matters including unfair dismissals, anti-discrimination claims, disciplinary advice, applications for prerogative relief in the Supreme Court, applications for government information, applications for judicial review, firearms reviews and privacy litigation.
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Large state public sector organisation
Acted in a reinstatement claim made by an injured former employee. The claim was successfully defended both at first instance and on appeal. The matter received media attention and was a “test case” for similar claims.
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Healthcare provider
Acted in urgently obtaining orders from the Supreme Court of NSW for protecting confidential information which a former employee was threatening to misuse. We successfully assisted the organisation in avoiding a large scale privacy breach which would have had a negative impact on our client’s reputation.
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Workplace investigations
Conducting sensitive workplace investigations to assist clients to have a concrete foundation for decision making. Vanessa assists clients in planning investigations, formulating allegations and has also been involved in briefing external investigators. Vanessa has been involved in several recent large scale and confidential investigations including in the health, education and community housing sectors.
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Industrial disputes
Vanessa works for both pubic and private sector clients in communicating and negotiating with industrial organisations across a range of issues, including where it escalates to a dispute in the State or Federal tribunals. Recently Vanessa appeared for a large Sydney council in three urgent industrial disputes concerning the outsourcing of waste services. The Council was successful. The Industrial Relations Commission made recommendations that were consistent with Council’s stated position.
Legal Insights
Best practice in preventing sexual harassment in the workplace
A recent survey by the Australian Human Rights Commission found that 85% of Australian women have been sexually...
It’s the contract, the whole contract and nothing but the contract: High Court affirms principal importance of contracts in determining nature of worker relationships
In two long-awaited decisions about the proper characterisation of workers, the High Court has found that whether an...
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