Employment & Labour: 2025 Year in Review

As we approach the conclusion of yet another busy year, our Employment & Labour team reflects on 2025’s accomplishments, developments, and industry trends, and predicts what the coming year ahead may have in store.

“2025 has seen far less legislative change, but a very major Federal Court decision with potentially very wide ranging effects.

Our clients across all sectors have been dealing with the usual range of employment issues and now are contemplating how to manage their workforces in light of Justice Perram’s Coles/Woolworths decision.”

Tim Capelin – Practice Team leader

Industry insights 

The suite of legislative changes to employment laws in the last couple of years are still being bedded down and the impact being assessed. For instance, multi-employer bargaining looms as likely to grow, but so far only a limited number of authorisations have been given by the Fair Work Commission and a far smaller number of agreements have yet been made. Similarly, few right to disconnect disputes have been filed and no matter proceeded to judgment.

In terms of case law, the standout decision is clearly the Federal Court’s decision in Woolworths’ and Coles’ alleged underpayment of employees on annualised salaries.  The cases associated with that decision have a long way to go, but if Justice Perram’s decision is followed, it will require many employers to revise their practices related to salaried employees and their record keeping more generally.

Team movements

We welcomed Emma Avey and Essi Merivaara as Senior Associates this year, and celebrated the well-deserved promotion of Matthew Sankey to Associate. We were also pleased to have Penelope Dwyer and Sophia Bianchini officially join the team as Lawyers since their admissions in the Supreme Courts of Western Australia and New South Wales respectively in November.

We are excited to see our team continue to grow and deliver excellent service to our clients.

Significant matters

Throughout 2025, we have extensively supported all non-government sectors of the economy. From education to digital services, health to hospitality, manufacturing to biotech, transportation to retail, resources to financial services, and not-for-profit organisations, we have guided clients through evolving employment laws.

We have defended work health and safety prosecutions, assisted with enterprise bargaining, updated employment documents, trained teams, represented clients in employment litigation, and offered strategic and day-to-day advisory services, staying fully engaged with our clients’ employment concerns.

Empowering clients

We do our best to ensure our clients remain up to date with laws affecting employment.  We do this via insights, seminars, workplace training sessions, and our highly popular podcast series, ‘Employment Law for the Time Poor’.

In 2025 we held two national seminar series across our five offices. In May and June, attendees heard from our Employment & Labour team on the outcome of the Federal election, and the implications for employment relations. In October and November, our team provided an update on employment contracts and recent changes in legislation. Keep an eye out for more of our national seminar series in 2026.

Our ‘Employment Law for the Time Poor’ podcast series allows listeners to remain up to date on the latest in employment law. 2025 saw our first live podcast recording at the national Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association (ALERA) conference, looking at the details of the Fair Work Ombudsman v Woolworths and Coles ‘annualised salaries’ decision.

Our lawyers also authored a number of insights throughout 2025 on employment relations topics including flexible work arrangements, psychosocial regulations, and artificial intelligence, among others. View the insights on our website.

This year we continued to offer our Workplace Training series of workshops, providing comprehensive training solutions to ensure our clients are developing the expertise of their own people. We are pleased to continue to share this series with our clients, and you can view the 2026 program here.

Recognition

This year, our national Employment & Labour team and its members received outstanding recognition. We thank our clients and colleagues and look forward to continued success in 2026.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific

In the 2025 edition of The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Piper Alderman was recognised across 15 areas of law including Labour and Employment, and Workplace Health and Safety. Emily Haar was recognised as a ‘Next Generation Partner’ for Labour and Employment.

The Best Lawyers in Australia

In the 2026 edition of The Best Lawyers in Australia, several partners in our Employment & Labour team are recognised in the following areas:

• Erin McCarthy – Education Law, Human Rights Law, Labour and Employment Law, Occupational Health and Safety Law
• Tim Capelin– Health and Aged Care Law, Labour and Employment Law
• Chris Hartigan– Education Law, Employee Benefits Law, Labour and Employment Law
• Tim Lange– Labour and Employment Law
• Ben Motro– Human Rights Law

Doyle’s Guide

In the 2025 edition of Doyle’s Guide, a number of our team members were highlighted as Leading, Recommended, or Rising Star lawyers, including:

• Tim Capelin – Recommended Employment Lawyer (Employer Representation) New South Wales
• Shane Entriken – Recommended Employment Lawyer (Employer Representation) Western Australia
• Emily Haar – Recommended Employment Lawyer (Employer Representation) South Australia
• Erin McCarthy– Leading Employment Lawyer (Employer Representation) South Australia | Recommended Employment Lawyer (Employer Representation) Australia | Recommended Workplace Health & Safety Lawyer South Australia
• Emily Slaytor– Rising Star for Employment & WHS Law, South Australia

We were also delighted to receive some very kind feedback from clients and contacts during the research process for the legal directories, including the following testimonials:

‘Piper Alderman’s practice stands out for its exceptional team, which combines deep expertise with a client-focused approach. The team’s strength lies in its comprehensive understanding of complex WHS regulations and its ability to provide clear, actionable advice.’ 

‘The people I work with at Piper Alderman are knowledgeable and easy to deal with, always ensuring a smooth and productive collaboration.’

‘Extensive industry knowledge. Partners work really closely with associates, achieving very quick turnaround times.’

‘Piper Alderman has a strong team with a breadth of expertise.’

‘Tim Capelin is pragmatic and solution orientated. Tim possesses deep subject matter expertise and is able to translate complex legal scenarios and case law in a manner that our business leaders find easy to comprehend. He is very personable, approachable and makes himself available without significant notice. He commits and meets deadlines.’

‘Shane Entriken is very collaborative in his approach. He is a great communicator. He is extremely knowledgeable on WHS legislation and his practical experience on the prosecution side makes his knowledge that more impactful.’

‘Emily Haar is one of the most impressive people I have ever encountered. Her advice and approach is always on point and she has an innate ability to know when to take a very direct and more confrontational approach and also how to diffuse a matter that could escalate very quickly. Emily has an incredible eye for detail and always considers matters from a variety of perspectives and expertly assesses the implications of approaches.’ 

‘Ben Motro is our go-to partner regarding all employment and labour relations matters. His deep understanding and capabilities within employment and labour are outstanding. He is our trusted partner, and we would not have it any other way. He is reliable and readily available to assist with our needs. He is highly recommended.’