8:30
admin
17 March 2027
Masterclass Agenda
Real cases, practical decisions and the employment law issues HR needs to act on in 2027.
Melbourne · Wednesday 17 March 2027
8:45
admin
Welcome Address from Aventedge
8:50
chair
Chair's Opening: What HR Needs to Act On in 2027
Understand the key employment law developments for 2027 and identify the policies, contracts and processes HR should prioritise now.
9:05
fireside chat
Fair Work Commission Fireside Chat: What the Commission is Seeing and What You Need to Know
Hear directly from the Commission on emerging trends, AI guidance, resolution processes and what may be changing next.
- How the AI guidance note is working since October
- What are the trends you are seeing in resolutions
- How is the new process working, and are there any further changes on the horizon?
10:05
interactive
Interactive Session: You're the Commission
Work through a complex unfair dismissal case and test your judgement on whether the process and outcome would withstand Commission scrutiny.
- Tables work through a real, anonymised unfair dismissal file: facts, investigation notes, show cause letter and termination letter
- Each table votes on fair or unfair, and on remedy
- Reveal of the actual decision and the points where the employer's process won or lost it. One file per city, with no obvious answer
11:05
break
Morning Tea
11:25
panel
Panel: Absence, Ill health, Injury and Psychosocial Claims
Explore how to manage complex absence, medical evidence, reasonable adjustments and psychosocial claims while meeting workplace and executive obligations.
- Temporary absence and stress certificates that stall a process
- Neurodivergence, reasonable adjustments and what medical evidence you can require: what to ask a treating doctor, and when to use an independent medical assessment
- Trends in psychosocial claims, and how to brief executives on their officer duties
- Victoria's WorkCover mental injury eligibility changes and managing the insurer
12:15
interactive
Interactive Session: Adverse Action and Discrimination - Claims Where the Employer Has to Prove Its Reasons
Learn how to document and prove genuine decision-making reasons while managing general protections, discrimination and workplace rights claims.
- The reverse onus: why the decision-maker's own evidence wins or loses the case, and how to record the real reason at the time
- Workplace rights in practice: complaints, inquiries and temporary absence, and when an email is not a protected complaint
- Claims without a dismissal: s372 disputes over transfers, demotions and performance plans
- Discrimination alongside the Fair Work Act: disability, age and sex-based claims, running parallel state and federal claims, and the positive duty
1:05
break
Networking Lunch
1:45
presentation
Presentation: Pay, Awards and Contracts Clinic
Work through practical approaches to award coverage, annualised salary reconciliation and the changing risks around restraints of trade.
- Award coverage for senior and hybrid roles
- Annualised salary reconciliations after the Coles and Woolworths decision
- Restraints of trade now the non-compete ban exposure draft is out
2:30
presentation
Presentation: Flexible Work Requests That Survive the Commission
Learn how to assess flexible work requests, respond within the required timeframe and navigate WFH and return-to-office decisions.
- Reasonable business grounds that survive the Commission, and the 21-day response risk
- WFH requests made during a performance process
- Return-to-office directions: when a mandate is lawful and reasonable, and how a long-standing WFH arrangement changes the answer
3:15
break
Afternoon Tea
3:30
panel
Panel Discussion: Out-of-Hours Conduct and Employer Reputation
Understand when out-of-hours behaviour can become an employment matter and how to manage social media, reputational risk and the critical first 48 hours.
- When out-of-hours conduct becomes the employer's business, and why reputational harm has to be shown, not assumed
- Political and social commentary online: what Lattouf v ABC says about acting under outside pressure
- The first 48 hours: stand-down, holding statements, and what communications can say without prejudging the investigation
- Code of conduct and social media clauses that reach off-duty conduct
4:15
chair
Chairperson's Closing Remark: Practical Takeaways You Can Implement at Work
Leave with a practical list of the key actions, policies and decisions HR should take forward immediately including a Template pack (supplied by event organiser) addressing key issues discussed in today’s conference