Leanne Nickels

Acting for the respondents in a claim in the Federal Circuit Court alleging a breach of the sham contracting provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) including allegations that the directors were personally liable.

Successfully acting for Contracting Solutions (a licensee of the ODCO style of contracting) in the Federal Court of Australia (at first instance) in respect of a claim brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman that it was involved in alleged breaches of the sham contracting provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). This was the first successful defence of a claim under s357.

Acting as Counsel in NW v Bechtel (Western Australia) Pty Ltd [2014] WASC 375 in successfully resisting an application for pre action discovery seeking the name of a person who made allegations against the applicant which resulted in an investigation by the site principal contractor.

Advising a large employer in the fast food industry on its negotiation with the union and implementation of a multi-employer enterprise agreement covering franchisor and franchisees across all states and territories.

Advising a large multinational company in the energy sector on the closure of its Australian operations including redundancies and redeployments.

Assisting a client in the aviation sector in responding to a dispute notified by a group of employees about the interpretation of the applicable industrial instrument.

Obtaining orders dismissing a claim in the Federal Court of Australia before the matter proceeded to a full hearing: Oze-Igiehon v Uber Technology Inc & Ors [2017] FCA 1024.

 Acting for the employer on appeal to the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission in the matter of Bristow Helicopters Australia Pty Ltd v Australian Federation of Air Pilots [2017] FWCFB 487 involving a dispute over the applicability of stand down provisions.

Advising a large international contract mining company in relation to an investigation by regulatory authorities into a safety incident at the Dervish mine site.

Advising a large international construction company on its industrial relations strategy concerning the construction of the Wheatstone LNG project.

Advising a gold mining company on its industrial relations strategy for the development of the Tropicanna Gold mine.

Advising Troy Resources in relation to the strategy work and on dealing with the unions on the Karouni Gold Project in Guyana.

Advising Gold Road Resources on HR and employment law issues including contract, legislative and award compliance.