The ongoing covid-19 pandemic in Australia has brought about increasingly complex challenges for employers to navigate over the past 12 months. From questions around the legality of mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations to changes prompted by class action lawsuits, Australia’s legal landscape continues to be highly demanding for legal practitioners.
Employment law firms have been busier than ever and, as caseloads have increased for many firms, so has headcount. The winners of this year’s 5-Star Employment Law Firms and Lawyers awards demonstrate the speed, skill and sophistication with which legal practitioners are operating to meet their clients’ needs.
Although employers in 2020 were mostly reactive as they navigated the first wave of the pandemic, standdowns and the introduction of JobKeeper, the focus shifted to prevention in 2021.
By far, the most talked-about issue facing large employers has been the prospect of mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations and whether implementing such a policy would be a lawful and reasonable direction.
At the start of 2021, before the Delta variant was first detected in Australia, the case for implementing a mandatory vaccine policy seemed limited to only high-risk industries. However, the dramatic escalation of Sydney’s outbreak in June turned that outlook on its head, and as the highly contagious nature of the Delta strain became apparent, employers began looking to vaccination as a key tool to operate safely.
Charles...
Jared Kushner’s attorney says his legal team has formally put Vanity Fair and its parent company, Condé Nast, on notice over allegations about President Donald Trump’s son-in-law that the lawyer ch...