Upcoming events

CER March Breakfast Club
Mar
17

CER March Breakfast Club

The CER Breakfast Club offers a space to network, share experiences and discuss workplace challenges. Small, focused, and highly interactive, it provides direct access to practical advice.

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Managing difficult parent interactions
Mar
25

Managing difficult parent interactions

Legal, safe & effective approaches

Difficult parent interactions are becoming increasingly common in school and community environments—and while many situations can be resolved through good communication, others present real challenges for staff wellbeing, workplace safety and legal compliance.

Delivered by an experienced employment lawyer, this webinar provides school leaders with clear, legally informed guidance on how to manage complex or high-risk parent behaviour while ensuring the school meets its obligations as an employer.

This session will help you understand not just how to respond, but why certain approaches are necessary from both a legal and practical perspective.

In this webinar, you will learn:

  • Legal duties and obligations in parent interactions
    Understand your school’s responsibilities under workplace safety and employment laws, including your duty to protect staff from aggressive or threatening behaviour.

  • Identifying behaviour that poses a risk
    Recognise when behaviour crosses from difficult to unacceptable, and the legal thresholds for escalation, intervention, or issuing restrictions.

  • De-escalation and best-practice communication techniques
    Learn structured approaches for reducing tension, managing expectations, and keeping conversations safe and constructive.

  • Responding to aggressive, persistent, or high-conflict parents
    Explore legally sound strategies for handling harassment, verbal abuse, unreasonable demands, and repeated complaints.

  • Setting boundaries and implementing school policies
    How to apply communication policies, meeting protocols, and behaviour guidelines consistently and defensibly.

  • Documentation and evidence collection
    What to record, how to record it, and why proper documentation matters for legal protection and future decision-making.

  • Supporting and safeguarding staff
    Practical strategies for reducing risk, ensuring staff feel safe, and meeting your obligations as an employer.

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Managing Ill and Injured workers
Apr
29

Managing Ill and Injured workers

Fitness for duty, reasonable adjustments

Supporting ill or injured workers requires careful navigation of legal duties, medical information, operational needs and workplace safety. Missteps can expose employers to significant legal and safety risks, including discrimination claims, workers’ compensation issues and breaches of work health and safety obligations.

This comprehensive webinar—led by an experienced employment lawyer—will give leaders, HR professionals and managers the clarity and confidence needed to make defensible decisions when managing employees with illness or injury.

We will cover:

  • Fitness for duty: Understanding medical evidence
    What information you can request, how to interpret medical certificates and reports, and when to seek further assessments.

  • Reasonable adjustments: What’s required and what’s not
    Your obligations under discrimination and workplace laws, assessing what is “reasonable,” and balancing operational needs with employee rights.

  • Managing risk and safety concerns
    How to respond when an employee’s condition creates WHS risks, limits capacity, or impacts team safety or service delivery.

  • The return-to-work process
    Practical strategies for staged return-to-work plans, monitoring progress and managing non-compliance.

  • When adjustments are not possible
    Identifying when the inherent requirements of the role cannot be met - and lawful pathways for performance management or termination.

  • Documentation and communication
    Best-practice processes to ensure transparency and fairness.

Whether you're dealing with long-term illness, psychological injury, intermittent absences, or complex return-to-work challenges, this session will equip you with the tools to respond lawfully and with confidence.

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AI in employment relations
Jan
28

AI in employment relations

As AI reshapes employee management, organisations are confronting a rapidly evolving set of legal and ethical challenges. Recent cases highlight the very real risk that new AI tools (designed to improve efficiency), may unintentionally entrench bias or expose employers to significant liability.

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Employment Law Symposium
Oct
31

Employment Law Symposium

We are opening expressions of interest for our 2025 Employment Law Symposium, a one-day, free event dedicated to helping Catholic employers stay informed, compliant and future-ready in the face of rapid workplace change. Learn how to best manage and lead your workplace through the digital evolution.

Places for this event are limited and by invite ONLY.  It is a fully catered, free event especially designed for the Catholic education sector. If you wish to express your interest in attending, please click on the button below.  CER will issue tickets via email to your nominated address by mid October. The full program is coming soon. Any questions, contact Sheila.

Why attend?

Gain actionable insights from legal experts and sector leaders on how to:

  • Understand evolving risks in AI in relation to employment law

  • Handle digital misconduct in the workplace (gaslighting, ghosting, catfishing)

  • Meet child safety and reportable conduct obligations in digital spaces

  • Prepare for enterprise bargaining and learn how to stay ahead

  • Embrace flexible work while balancing the right to disconnect, privacy and compliance

What you’ll experience:
✔ Expert-led keynote by Fair Work Commissioner Philip Ryan
✔ Practical legal guidance tailored for Catholic organisations
✔ Interactive panel discussions with lawyers, principals and HR professionals
✔ Opportunities to connect with peers and sector specialists
✔ An opportunity to meet with Catholic Employment Relations Senior Lawyers 

Please note, registering your interest is not a guarantee of a seat. Seats will be confirmed via email to your nominated address mid October.

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Family & Domestic Violence leave
May
28

Family & Domestic Violence leave

Family and Domestic Violence (FDV) leave is a vital workplace entitlement that enables employees experiencing domestic violence to take time off to protect their safety, access essential services and attend legal proceedings. Ensure your organisation is prepared to support employees while meeting legal and ethical responsibilities.

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Workplace investigations
Apr
30

Workplace investigations

Workplace investigations are crucial for resolving disputes, ensuring compliance and maintaining a fair work environment. In this expert-led webinar, senior employment lawyers will guide you through the key steps of conducting efficient and legally sound investigations. Learn best practices for gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses effectively and handling complex cases with confidence. Gain practical techniques to ensure your investigations are thorough, impartial and defensible.

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Navigating positive duty
Mar
26

Navigating positive duty

Understanding and fulfilling your organisation’s positive duty is essential to maintaining a safe, fair and legally compliant workplace. In this webinar, senior employment lawyers will break down key obligations, common pitfalls and proactive strategies to ensure your workplace is fully prepared.

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Jan
29

I can't believe you put that in writing

Effective record-keeping and note-taking

Join us for this practical webinar on how to keep accurate and confidential records to manage performance and systems of conduct effectively. Learn best practices for taking clear, precise notes, gathering information responsibly and maintaining confidentiality throughout the process. Perfect for managers and school leaders looking to improve documentation and information gathering processes.

Speakers

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Closing Loopholes – the final pieces in the puzzle
Nov
27

Closing Loopholes – the final pieces in the puzzle

Join CER’s expert lawyers, for our end-of-year roundup on legislative changes impacting your workplace. We’ll cover essential updates, including new protections for workplace delegates under the Closing Loopholes amendments, the criminalisation of wage theft, updated criteria distinguishing contractors from employees, and guidelines for managing conduct during Christmas parties.

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The Right to Disconnect
Oct
23

The Right to Disconnect

From August 26, 2024, a significant change in Australian employment law will come into effect, providing many employees with the "right to disconnect." Join us for a comprehensive webinar where we'll unpack what this change means for employers, and the workplace environment.

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Fixing your temporary contract and casual employment issues
Aug
21

Fixing your temporary contract and casual employment issues

Join our upcoming Q&A forum to navigate recent legislative changes affecting employment contracts. Revisions to fixed-term and casual contracts require careful consideration. We'll delve into why these changes are necessary and provide practical insights on implementing them. Martin Dunne will address key questions, so don't miss this opportunity to clarify your queries and stay compliant with the evolving legislation. Register now for expert guidance!

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Reportable Conduct – Legal and Ethical considerations
Jul
24

Reportable Conduct – Legal and Ethical considerations

This session is focused on providing practical guidance on complaints handling and identifying reportable allegations. Understand how concerning behaviour can become reportable conduct, what constitutes a reportable allegation and how to identify reportable conduct. We will provide a brief overview on how to identify and handle allegations and reporting obligations. 

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Performance Management - how to handle misconduct
Jun
19

Performance Management - how to handle misconduct

This session will delve into strategies for supporting performance improvement, focusing on the development of Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) with clear objectives. By the end, attendees will acquire valuable skills to cultivate high performance, manage underperformance adeptly, and foster a positive work atmosphere.

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Respect@Work and Psychological Safety
Apr
24

Respect@Work and Psychological Safety

Join us for an insightful webinar delving into the amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 and their impact on employer responsibilities regarding workplace sexual harassment, sex discrimination and victimisation. We will analyse changes to the Act and offer practical guidance on effectively preventing and addressing incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace.

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Difficult conversations - mediating conflict at work
Mar
13

Difficult conversations - mediating conflict at work

Join us for an enlightening webinar focused on enhancing your managerial skills! Elevate your organisational prowess with expert training designed to equip you with essential skills. Learn how to provide constructive feedback tailored to diverse personalities, navigate challenging dialogues with empathy and take fair management actions that align with legal and ethical considerations.

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Reportable Conduct
Dec
13

Reportable Conduct

Uncover the essentials of reportable conduct in NSW, ACT and VIC. Gain insights into the reportable conduct framework, investigation thresholds and guiding principles. Learn a practical approach to investigations, including witness interviews and making findings. Attend to understand your responsibilities and reduce workplace allegation risks.

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Navigating mental health in the workplace: Employer obligations
Nov
22

Navigating mental health in the workplace: Employer obligations

Learn top tips to ensure optimal workplace mental health with our upcoming webinar. Learn crucial insights on understanding and managing mental health, fostering a mentally healthy work environment and effectively handling the return-to-work process. Discover strategies for making reasonable adjustments, addressing performance concerns with empathy and navigating legal risks.

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Flexibility at work under EAs and Awards
Aug
23

Flexibility at work under EAs and Awards

Learn how adopting best practices around Flexible Work Arrangements can bring greater workplace flexibility, attract skilled staff and improve job satisfaction and productivity while ensuring employees are better off overall. Discover the legal requirements and understand your obligations to your employees under EA’s and Awards.

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Effective performance management
Jul
26

Effective performance management

Unleash your organisation's potential with our performance management webinar! Join Katie and Sarah as they explore crucial topics such as underperformance, reasonable management actions, performance improvement strategies, warnings and termination processes. Gain valuable insights to optimise employee performance and foster a productive work environment.

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Temporary and fixed term employment contracts
Jul
12

Temporary and fixed term employment contracts

Important changes to temporary and fixed term employment contracts come into effect in December 2023 so now is the time for colleges and schools to make plans to accommodate the new restrictions. Join our panel discussion not only for a refresher of the details of these changes but also to ask questions regarding your organisation’s situation.

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