Elissa advises Commonwealth, State and Territory government clients on public sector employment, enterprise bargaining, industrial disputes, work health and safety and workforce reform. She is recognised as a preeminent employment lawyer in Canberra.

Biography

Elissa acts for Commonwealth government agencies and entities, universities and private sector organisations on employment, workplace relations and safety matters. Her focus is public sector employment and workplace relations.

Elissa advises on enterprise bargaining (including drafting, strategy, industrial action and approval challenges), employment litigation (general protections, unfair dismissal, discrimination and bullying), workforce planning and reform, misconduct and underperformance management, work health and safety, compliance and underpayment remediation, and workplace investigations. She appears in the Fair Work Commission and courts across Australia.

Elissa has 20 years of experience and has acted for multiple Commonwealth agencies across multiple rounds of enterprise bargaining, assisted in the establishment of new Commonwealth bodies, and managed complex employment proceedings involving significant media attention, reputational risk or senior personnel. She has guided major Commonwealth agencies through the full lifecycle of underpayment issues, from discovery through remediation and regulator engagement.

Credentials

Academic qualifications:

Elissa's experience

Enterprise bargaining and industrial action

Acts for multiple Commonwealth agencies and entities in enterprise bargaining, including drafting agreements, advising on strategy, managing threatened and actual industrial action and defending challenges to enterprise agreement approvals.

Employment litigation

Acts for Commonwealth agencies, universities and private sector organisations in complex general protections, unfair dismissal, discrimination and bullying matters, including proceedings involving significant media attention, reputational risk or senior personnel.

Compliance and underpayment remediation

Advises major Commonwealth agencies on the correct interpretation of enterprise agreements and guides employers through the full lifecycle of underpayment issues, from discovery through remediation and regulator engagement.

Work health and safety

Advises Commonwealth agencies on WHS obligations for domestic and overseas operations, assists clients responding to safety incidents and regulator action, and trains boards, senior executives and employees on WHS duties.

Misconduct and integrity investigations

Advises boards, senior executives and agency heads on managing misconduct and integrity issues, conducting workplace investigations and reviews, and providing workforce training at all levels.

Awards, recognition and ranking