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Employment Lawyers for Employers in Melbourne
We act for employers. Defending unfair dismissal and general protections claims, managing terminations and redundancies, running workplace investigations, and keeping contracts, classifications and pay right before anyone complains. If you have received a Fair Work claim, the clock is already running.
One side of the room
We act for the business, not the worker bringing the claim. That matters practically: it means we are not conflicted, and it means the advice is written for someone who has a payroll to run, a team to keep, and a decision to make this week.
Our clients are Melbourne employers, from small businesses through to established companies with substantial workforces. The work runs from the routine and preventative, contracts, policies, classifications and pay compliance, to the contested, defending claims in the Fair Work Commission and the courts.
Most of what we do is governed by the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). It is a system that has changed substantially since 2024, and several of those changes shift risk onto employers in ways that are easy to miss until a claim arrives.
Responding to a claim, and the 21 day clock.
The claims where the onus is reversed.
Doing it so it holds.
Run properly, or not at all.
Employment agreements, casuals, contractors.
Classifications, records, underpayment exposure.
In employment law, the burden lands on you
In most disputes the person making the allegation has to prove it. Employment law is different, and employers are often surprised by how different.
If an employee brings a general protections claim, section 361 of the Fair Work Act presumes that you acted for the reason they allege, unless you prove otherwise. You do not get to sit back and require them to make out their case. You have to establish, positively, why you actually made the decision.
If an employee claims they were underpaid, section 557C says that where you failed to keep the records required by section 535 or to issue pay slips under section 536, you carry the burden of disproving the allegation. A record-keeping lapse converts into an evidentiary one.
And if an employee claims unfair dismissal, section 387 requires the Commission to weigh eight matters. Only the first is whether there was a valid reason. The rest are about how you went about it: whether the person was notified of the reason, whether they had an opportunity to respond, whether you unreasonably refused a support person, and whether they had been warned about performance.
A good reason, handled badly, still loses. The Commission is looking at your process as closely as your grounds.
Put those together and one conclusion follows. The evidence that decides these cases is created long before a dispute exists, by managers doing ordinary supervision: the file note, the warning letter, the position description, the payroll record. By the time a claim lands, the defence either exists or it does not. Which is why the most valuable time to speak to us is before the decision, not after the claim.
The reason is presumed against you
Section 361 puts the onus on the employer in a general protections claim. The decision-maker's contemporaneous reasoning is the evidence, so it needs to exist in writing before the dispute.
Records are a defence, not admin
Under section 557C, missing records or pay slips shift the burden of disproving an underpayment allegation onto you. The obligation and the protection are the same document.
Process is most of the test
Of the eight matters in section 387, only paragraph (a) is the reason for dismissal. Notification, a chance to respond, a support person and prior warnings are the rest.
Before the decision, not after the claim
Establish the position and the exposure
What the contract and any award or agreement actually say, whether the person is protected from unfair dismissal, what the record shows, and what the realistic range of outcomes is. Employers are frequently either more exposed or far less exposed than they assume.
Build the record while it can still be built
Where a decision has not yet been made, that means running the process properly: notifying the reason, giving a genuine opportunity to respond, allowing a support person, and documenting each step as it happens rather than afterwards.
Defend it, or resolve it
Most Fair Work matters resolve at conciliation, and they resolve better when the file is in order. Where a matter has to be arbitrated or litigated, the same team runs it.
Three moments that decide it
Employment disputes are rarely decided at the hearing. They are decided at three earlier points, and only one of them feels urgent at the time.
The meeting before the dismissal
Whether the person was told the reason and given a real chance to respond is a statutory criterion, not a courtesy. Getting this wrong is the most common reason an otherwise defensible dismissal fails.
Commercial litigationThe investigation
An investigation that is rushed, run by someone too close to the issue, or never put to the employee tends to produce a finding that cannot be relied on. A properly run one usually ends the matter.
Director dutiesThe paperwork you already have
Contracts, position descriptions, policies, classifications and pay records. Section 550 means directors and managers personally involved in a contravention can be liable too, so this is not only a company exposure.
Business lawIf a claim has arrived, the clock is running
An employee has 21 days to lodge. Your window to respond is shorter than it feels. A short conversation early will tell you what you are facing and what to preserve.
Book a consultationTwenty one days, twice
Fair Work timeframes are short and they are enforced. An employee dismissed by you has 21 days after the dismissal takes effect to apply to the Fair Work Commission for an unfair dismissal remedy (section 394(2)), and 21 days to apply for the Commission to deal with a general protections dismissal dispute (section 366(1)). The Commission can extend either, but only where it is satisfied there are exceptional circumstances, and the matters it must weigh are listed in the Act. For sexual harassment applications the period is much longer, up to 24 months (section 527G).
From an employer's side the practical point is the shape of it: you may hear nothing at all for three weeks, then receive an application and a conciliation date almost at once. What you can produce in that first fortnight is essentially what you documented at the time.
And why it matters to you
Several reforms have shifted employer risk, and most workplace pages have not caught up. Casuals: section 15A now defines a casual employee by the absence of a firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work, assessed on the real substance and practical reality of the relationship rather than the label in the contract. Contractors: section 15AA applies the same approach to whether someone is an employee at all, requiring the totality of the relationship to be considered. Long-standing contractor arrangements are worth re-testing against it.
Fixed-term contracts: section 333E limits contracts with an identifiable end date, including where the period exceeds two years or the contract is renewed beyond the permitted limits, and it is a civil remedy provision. Right to disconnect: section 333M lets an employee refuse to monitor or respond to out-of-hours contact unless the refusal is unreasonable. Underpayment: section 327A makes failing to pay required amounts in full when due a criminal offence, with proceedings able to be commenced only by the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Australian Federal Police (section 327C), and a small business that complies with the Voluntary Small Business Wage Compliance Code cannot be referred for prosecution (section 327B).
Trusted on the matters that mattered most
From the moment I contacted Pentana Stanton Lawyers, I was under significant stress and needed clarity about my case. Their prompt and professional response stood out immediately, especially compared to other firms I had reached out to.
Highly professional, compassionate staff with a high level of knowledge and competence. Reliable, reassuring and there when you need them. Highly recommend.
After speaking to many law firms, I felt that getting legal help was not for me. But my view completely changed after speaking with Special Counsel Peter Wood. He was knowledgeable, generous, kind, and genuinely caring.
Questions employers ask first
Last reviewed August 2026. Statutory references are current to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) Compilation No. 73, in force 7 July 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Before the decision, not after the claim.
Whether you are facing a Fair Work application, planning a restructure, or want your contracts and pay practices reviewed before anyone complains, the useful conversation is the early one.
See also: Business Law, Commercial Litigation, Director Duties, Professional Negligence.