Sam is a Director at Edge Legal and heads up our litigation and disputes team.

Sam has particular expertise in responding to and resolving claims arising from employment and industrial disputes. Sam also regularly advises clients on complex compliance issues arising from interpretation of Enterprise Agreements and Awards.

Sam is an experienced industrial advocate and regularly appears in the Fair Work Commission, Federal Court and state tribunals. Sam’s experience includes recently successfully:

• Obtaining orders to stop unprotected industrial action threatened by a union based on risks to third parties arising from the proposed industrial action

• Defending an appeal on a dispute under an enterprise agreement relating to interpretation and application of consultation requirements

• Obtaining orders relating to a right of entry dispute with a union about holding meetings in a workplace and protecting private information

• Defending Unfair Dismissal Claims relating to safety breaches including a drug and alcohol policy breach where the Fair Work Commission carefully examined drug testing procedures and found the employee had breached the zero-tolerance policy by returning a positive reading for cannabis and upheld the dismissal

• Obtaining orders for a mine owner/operator preventing an enterprise agreement from transferring in a transfer of business situation insourcing arrangement

Sam is an experienced, trauma informed investigator and regularly carries out workplace assessments in response to workplace complaints and managing fitness for work (including employees with mental health concerns) with a view to guiding clients to take early, appropriate response action to deal with issues in the workplace instead of getting caught up in formal investigations. Sam also conducts investigations for genuine misconduct matters, including for state service departments which are highly regulated, providing compliant reports.