Employment Relations
Our Employment Relations services – supporting you when you need us
Bullying, unfair dismissal,
adverse action and more
Employment Contracts and Disciplinary
Award, award free
and EA contracts
Flexible work requests, leave entitlements
Investigation, analysis, reporting and guidance
Issue identification,
strategy, guidance
Interpretation, over and underpayments advice
Providing or interpreting policies and guidelines
Plans, process and entitlements
Return to work, compensation, plans
Organisational structure, change impacts
Employment Relations advice for Catholic employers
Our team of experienced and qualified Employment Relations Specialists have been advising Catholic employers for over 20 years. We understand your workplace and the desire to balance religious and moral obligations with business needs.
We can draft your complex correspondence, attend conciliation talks and manage disciplinary and other complex matters with you. CER’s suite of Employment Relations, Legal, Human Resources and recommended services means we can provide you with a truly end-to-end, streamlined service for all your workplace needs.
Your dedicated employment relations specialist will get to know you, your business and the unique challenges you face. This, combined with our service promise, ensures that you get quality, consistent advice when you need it.
COVID-19
A global pandemic such as COVID-19 brings with it many challenges for organisations – work from home arrangements, staff safety, mental health issues, vaccination policies, infrastructure costs, the list continues. We stay up to date with legislation changes and the latest developments to keep you informed. Check out our COVID-19 resources.
Why CER?
At CER we offer a full suite of Employment Relations, Training and Legal Services, which means we can work with you when issues arise, but also help you develop your teams capabilities through our ongoing services.
End-to-end service
Affordable advice with Catholic knowledge
As the recommended provider of workplace advice for Catholic organisations, we are dedicated to ensuring you receive quality advice, guided by Catholic social thought, at an affordable price.
We know that issues arising may be the pinnacle of other underlying organisational issues. We can work with you to conduct a CER Review to help identify why these issues may be occurring. We then provide an attainable action plan and support you to help resolve the underlying cause.
CER Review
Claims, Complaints and Disputes
There are many claims an employee can make against an employer, including bullying, unfair dismissal, adverse action, discrimination, unpaid entitlements and workers compensation, to name a few. Each claim presents its own challenges and potential difficulties. CER provides assistance and representation for workplace claims made against your organisation. CER’s experienced specialists and lawyers can provide advice through to representation, including appearing before courts and tribunals on your organisations behalf. We can also negotiate with employees and their representatives to ensure an agreeable outcome, avoiding the difficulties associated with prolonged litigation.
Employment Contracts and Disciplinary
Employee or independent contractor agreements need to cover significant detail to ensure that the relationship between parties is properly documented, and on terms that both parties understand and agree to. It is important that contracts of employment don’t conflict with, or contravene modern awards or Enterprise Agreements, if employees are covered by either. We offer a suite of contract templates – specifically drafted award free, award covered, and Enterprise Agreement covered employees. We can also review your contracts of employment or independent contractor agreements and provide advice on contract disputes, as well as assist with contract variations resulting from flexible work requests.
Flexibility and Entitlements
Flexible work arrangements are commonplace and offer many benefits for employers and employees. Flexibility comes in many forms including job sharing, part-time or casual arrangements, varied start and finish times, roster variations, and many more. We're here to help you manage and respond to flexible work requests and work out what flexible work arrangements work best for you and your employees. We can also help you when employees request Individual Flexibility Arrangements under their applicable Award or Enterprise Agreement. Sometimes working flexibly means employees' leave entitlements can get tricky, especially for parental leave. Often people submit flexible work requests, post parental leave and we're here to help you navigate this rewarding but complex area of work.
Investigations
Allegations made against employees, such as discrimination, bullying, or breach of policies, are serious matters. As an employer you have an obligation to ensure allegations are properly investigated. CER have skilled investigators who analyse allegations, interview complainants and witnesses and provide detailed reports on the matter. Our investigators ensure that the employee accused of the allegations are provided with procedural fairness and are fully aware of, and able to respond to, the allegations against them. We can also provide assistance and guidance to organisations undertaking internal investigations.
Mediations
Conflict between employees in the workplace can be disruptive for your organisation. They can also lead to legal disputes which can cause significant costs. If left unaddressed, conflicts can lead to unhappy and unsatisfied employees, loss of productivity and claims of bullying and harassment. Effective mediation in the workplace can identify the issues and provide sustainable strategies. At CER we have qualified mediators available to assist you in managing workplace disputes between employees.
Payroll, Rates and Allowances
Keeping up to date with annual or industry-related modern award pay rate changes can be challenging. We're here to analyse those changes for you and provide a summary of key changes that are relevant for your organisation and employees. We can give you up to date and accurate advice on pay rates and allowances across a range of Modern Awards and assist your payroll staff with interpreting complex clauses in Modern Awards and Enterprise Agreements. Our employee relations specialists can work directly with your payroll staff to ensure your employees' pay rates and allowances are accurate.
Policies and Guidelines
Let us review your workplace policies and guidelines to ensure they're up to date and reflect current laws and best practices. We're also happy to assist you with drafting new workplace policies and have a a range of policy templates available. Some workplace policies and guidelines you may want to review or draft include: Managing Complaints and Grievances, Performance and Conduct, Leave, Flexible Working Arrangements, Managing Ill and Injured Employees, Recruitment Guidelines, and Working With Children Guidelines. Get in touch with us today for help with your policies and guidelines.
Terminations and Restructure
Managing the termination of employees can be a difficult process. Whether because of performance, conduct or redundancy, employers must ensure that termination procedures are fair. You must offer the terminated employee an opportunity to respond and, for redundancies, requirements in awards and enterprise agreements must be genuinely met. CER can provide you with assistance and guidance dealing with terminations, and the steps to take to ensure termination is appropriate, lawful, and fair. CER can also provide assistance and representation if a termination is disputed.
WHS and Ill and Injured
Managing ill and injured claims can be a complex and lengthy process. We can navigate you through the process of managing employees' short and long term leave matters in accordance with the applicable industrial instrument. We're also experienced in assisting you with Independent Medical Examination processes for your ill and injured employees, reviewing medical reports, and providing recommendations regarding the most appropriate next steps, such as return to work options or medical retirement. We can ensure you adhere to your Work Health and Safety obligations and support you through Workers Compensation and Return to Work processes.
Workforce Planning and Recruitment
Workforce planning and recruitment are essential components that employers need to get right in the employment lifecycle, because if not carried out effectively, can have detrimental and costly impacts to your organisation and other employees. We can help you review your current workforce planning strategy and ensure you have effective, fair and transparent recruitment practices that align with your organisational values. Workforce planning and recruitment processes can take some time, however it's essential that employers prioritise these areas at the beginning to avoid costly headaches down the line.
Employment
Relations
Legal
Services
Human
Resources
Industrial
Relations
Need a policy, guideline or template?
Contact our employment relations specialists today
Please note: CER offers legal assistance and advice on employment/industrial relations to Catholic employers. If you're an employee, please consult your HR department or direct supervisor for guidance.
