Irwell Law, helping to protect your business

If you receive a claim or are threatened with a claim (letter of demand) against you and your business from an employee or former employee, you should contact the Irwell Law team as soon as possible for advice on how to proceed and respond.

• A claim is lodged by an employee against their (usually former) employer in a court or tribunal.
• The claim is served on the employer.
• The employer has a strict time frame to respond to the claim.
• In most court/tribunals there is a conciliation or mediation (an informal form of dispute resolution), to try and settle the claim.
• If a settlement is reached a written agreement is usually entered into by the parties to end the case and deal with issues such as keeping any settlement confidential.
• If mediation/conciliation fails, the case will be listed for a hearing and orders/directions are made by the court for preparing and filing evidence in the case.
• After all the evidence is filed a hearing will occur.
• The people who have made statements/provided evidence will have to attend the court/tribunal and give evidence under oath.
• The judge listens to the evidence and makes a decision.
• There is a court determined outcome.
• The parties comply with the court’s decision or lodge an appeal.

• Once a client sends the court documents to the Peninsula advice team, they pass them on to Irwell Law, or Peninsula Mutual’s other panel law firms for WHS claims, to open a case file.
• Irwell law contacts the client within 24 hours and assigns a lawyer to act on the employer’s behalf.
• Irwell Law (for Peninsula Mutual members) lodges a claim with the Mutual and a decision is made on whether coverage for legal costs and possibly settlement will be extended by the Mutual.
• Irwell Law then updates the client on the outcome.
• If coverage is granted, then Irwell law will act on the case for the client. Generally, with no out of pocket costs for the member.
• If coverage is not provided Irwell law will offer the client discounted legal services to assist them in defending the claim.
• If engaged, Irwell law then represents the client until the end of the legal case and helps the client work through defending or otherwise dealing with the claim against their business to achieve the best and most cost-effective outcome for the client.

Most Peninsula clients are members of Peninsula Mutual. This is a member owned discretionary mutual. Membership of the Mutual and access to the financial product Peninsula Protect is available exclusively to Peninsula clients. Peninsula Protect provides protection for legal liability and defence costs arising from employment relations and Health and Safety claims. As a Peninsula client you can choose to become a Peninsula Mutual member. The terms and conditions attaching to membership of, and coverage for claims made against and employer by, Peninsula Mutual are governed by the PDS lodged with ASIC.

Cases lodged against employers in the Fair Work Commission are generally finalised within 6-8 weeks if a case settles and up to 6 months from the case being lodged if it goes to a hearing.

Cases lodged in the Federal Circuit Court and Family Court of Australia will generally take at least 3-6 months to resolve by settlement (at a court mediation) or up to 2 years if they go to a hearing.

Cases before the various state and federal discrimination tribunals can take significantly longer, often taking up to 12 months after being lodged to even be bought to an employer’s attention.