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CONFERENCE: SYDNEY & ONLINE | 14th October 2025

Mental Health & Employment Law Conference Legal obligations for psychosocial risks, mental health & employment law

About the Conference

We are delighted to announce the annual Thomson Reuters Mental Health & Employment Law Conference is taking place on 14 October 2025 in Sydney and online.  

As workplace and industrial relations laws evolve, HR leaders face growing challenges in ensuring compliance and managing risks in relations to workplace mental health of employees.

The conference will focus on the latest WHS legal obligations, psychosocial risks, workplace bullying and stress, positive duty and sexual harassment, reasonable adjustments and flexible work, workplace investigations, and drugs and alcohol use in the workplace. Sessions will cover mental health and workplace investigations, returning to work, sick leave, adverse actions and termination decisions after all alternatives have been considered.

This is a must-attend event for HR, Health, Safety, and Wellbeing professionals needing practical strategies to respond to the rise in mental health legal issues in the workplace. How can you better balance business needs, supporting employees with mental health conditions and be compliant with employment and WHS laws.

Event highlights

  • Dealing with workplace bullying in the workplace - Brigid Maher, Partner, Baker McKenzie
  • WHS: Managing psychosocial risks: A practical review - Kate Curtain, Special Counsel, Kingston Reid
  • Mental health, and employment law: How has the law responded to the rise in mental health issues at work?  FWC Perspectives - Sarah Wood, Principal, Gilchrist Connell Lawyers
  • Positive duty, and workplace sexual harassment prevention - Kristen Lopes, Principal, Colin Biggers & Paisley
  • Reasonable Adjustments & Flexible Working Arrangements - Applying Foundational Principles to Mental Health at Work - Michael Nguyen, Senior Associate, People + Culture Strategies
  • How to manage grievances and conduct an effective workplace investigation involving mental health considerations - Alina Kaye, Partner, The Workplace Employment Lawyers
  • Termination - preventing Unfair Dismissal and Adverse Action - Jessica Phillips, Senior Associate, Sparke Helmore Lawyers
  • Practical considerations in developing a drug and alcohol policy - Nathan Keats, Principal Lawyer, McNally Jones Staff Lawyer
  • Returning to work after psychological injury - balancing obligations when facilitating a return to the workplace - Sina Zevari, Partner, Emplawyer

Benefits of attending

  • Learn from industry experts: Hear from leading lawyers as they share their expertise and practical insight
  • Network with professionals: Connect with peers from various industries, exchange ideas and build relationships that can benefit your professional network
  • Enhance your compliance strategy: Discover how to effectively implement new workplace rights and obligations for psychological risk, ensuring your organisation stays compliant
  • Explore future trends: Get ahead of the curve by understanding upcoming legislative changes and how they may affect your business

Who should attend?

  • Human Resources Directors, Human Resource Manager and Advisors
  • Employee Relations Managers, People & Culture Managers, HR Business Partners
  • Employment Lawyers
  • In-house Counsel
  • Wellbeing Managers
  • Health and Safety, WHS and OHS Managers   

For event enquiries, please email eventsanz@thomsonreuters.com

Date & Location

14th October 2025
Sydney & Online


9:00 AM - 4:40 PM AEST
Registration opens at 8:30 AM


Cost

Standard Pricing: $1,050 excl. GST
Early Bird: $975 excl. GST
Online Pricing: $899 excl. GST

*Early Bird ends 5th September 2025


6 CPD points

6 hours live and online

Attending as a group? Email us at eventsanz@thomsonreuters.com to enquire about group pricing.

Don't miss out - register today to guarantee your spot at this exciting event!

Event agenda

8:30 AM 

Registration Opens

9:00 AM

Welcome from Conference Chair

9:05 AM

Dealing with workplace bullying in the workplace

 

This session will examine workplace bullying and how employment law responds to this nuanced issue, including: 

- Current cases

- Usefulness of the FWC jurisdiction

- Limitations on outcomes

- Exploring outcomes outside of the FWC jurisdiction

 

Brigid Maher, Partner, Baker McKenzie

9:45 AM

WHS: Managing psychosocial risks: A practical review 

 

- Key duties and obligations of employers and employees

- What is psychological safety?

- Code of practice: managing psychosocial hazards at work

- A practical perspective on WHS compliance 

 

Kate Curtain, Special Counsel, Kingston Reid

10:25 AM

Networking and refreshment break

10:50 AM

Mental health and employment law: How has the law responded to the rise in mental health issues at work?  FWC Perspectives 

 

With mental health being identified as a key concept in employment law, this session will examine the key updates and changes that all HR and legal practitioners will need to know. The session will also provide an in-depth review of general protection and adverse actions.

 

Sarah Wood, Principal, Gilchrist Connell Lawyers

11:30 AM

Positive duty and workplace sexual harassment prevention

 

- Outlining the key reforms to the prohibition against sexual harassment in the workplace

- Case examples of sexual harassment claims in the Fair Work Commission

- Update on the Australian Human Rights Commission’s enforcement of the positive duty

- Strategies for implementing a preventative approach in the workplace

- What’s next - additional recommendations from the Respect@Work report

  

Kristen Lopes, Principal, Colin Biggers & Paisley

12:10 PM

Lunch and networking break

1:00 PM

Reasonable Adjustments & Flexible Working Arrangements - Applying Foundational Principles to Mental Health at Work 

 

- Employers’ legal obligation to provide reasonable adjustments through flexible work arrangements, reduced workloads, and job redesign 

- Employers' ability to refuse requests based on "reasonable business grounds"

- Protection from dismissal

- Suitable duties and reasonable adjustments

- Conflicts over what constitutes a "reasonable" adjustment 

 

Michael Nguyen, Senior Associate, People + Culture Strategies 

1:40 PM

How to manage grievances and conduct an effective workplace investigation involving mental health considerations

 

This session will focus on the importance of planning, best practice, and transparency in workplace investigation processes for both HR and legal professionals - exploring why we investigate, and outlining when to investigate, how to investigate and how to navigate commonly encountered roadblocks. The session will cover:

 

- Why it matters - legal, commercial and people considerations
- Receiving a grievance - best practice tips to minimise risk from the outset
- Triaging a grievance and considering alternatives - an investigation is not always the best option
- Pre-investigation steps - identifying risks to those involved and considering working arrangements
- Investigation principles - practical steps to ensure an effective process
- Investigations best practice:
   - When to outsource
   - AHRC guidelines: person-centred and trauma-informed processes
   - Providing appropriate supports
- Key takeaways and actions - review of existing systems, policies, and procedures

 

Alina Kaye, Partner, The Workplace Employment Lawyers

2:20 PM

Termination - preventing Unfair Dismissal and Adverse Action

 

- When is it reasonable for the business to terminate and under what circumstances? 

- If termination is the only option at the end of an investigation or an evaluation of inherent requirements, what is the correct process to prevent claims of unfair dismissal or discrimination? 

- What can you do if a grievance claim arises from performance management when mental health issues are involved?

- General protections provisions preventing termination due to mental health issues

 

Jessica Phillips, Senior Associate, Sparke Helmore Lawyers

3:00 PM

Networking and refreshment break

3:20 PM

Practical considerations in developing a drug and alcohol policy and managing workplace addiction

 

Workplace addiction impacts productivity, workplace health & safety, and costs Australian companies million every year

- What are the key considerations of management of addictions in the workplace
- Balancing employee’s right to privacy and procedural fairness and employer obligations to provide a safe environment
- Practical considerations of policy implementation, and for managing a positive test
- Relevant case law and outcomes when positive drug tests get challenged in court

 

Dominic Fleeton, Partner, K&L Gates

4:00 PM

Returning to work after psychological injury - balancing obligations when facilitating a return to the workplace

 

Employers are aware that to meet their safety obligations it is crucial that their employees are fit for work. However, successfully integrating an injured worker back into the workplace after sustaining a psychological injury and doing so in a manner that is psychologically safe for everyone involved in the process can be tricky. This session focusses on practical considerations when facilitating a return to work including the need for workplace policies, fitness for work procedures, making reasonable adjustments and flexible work arrangements and navigating complex situations where there are competing obligations to employees and the business

 

Sina Zevari, Partner, Emplawyer

4:40 PM

CLOSING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR AND END OF CONFERENCE

Speakers

Alina Kaye
Partner
The Workplace Employment Lawyers

Brigid Maher
Partner
Baker McKenzie

Jessica Phillips
Senior Associate
Sparke Helmore Lawyers

Kate Curtain
Special Counsel
Kingston Reid

Kristen Lopes
Principal
Colin Biggers & Paisley

Michael Nguyen
Senior Associate
People + Culture Strategies

Nathan Keats
Principal Lawyer
McNally Jones Staff Lawyers

Sarah Wood
Principal
Gilchrist Connell Lawyers

Sina Zevari
Partner
Emplawyer