Misconduct Investigations
Safety breaches, dishonesty, theft, substance use, policy breaches and conduct that may warrant summary dismissal.
Most employment disputes are lost on process, not on merit
Employers rarely come unstuck because they made the wrong decision. They come unstuck because of how they got there: a warning that was never documented, a meeting where the employee wasn't told what they were responding to, a termination decided before the conversation happened, a consultation obligation nobody checked.
The underlying judgement is usually sound. The process around it is what fails.
We provide practical employee and industrial relations support to WA employers: helping you make the decision you need to make, and making sure the path to it is clean.
You might be dealing with
- An underperforming employee where previous attempts to address it haven't worked
- A serious misconduct matter where termination is on the table
- A pattern of absenteeism, or a long-term absence you're unsure how to manage
- An employee who has raised a complaint immediately after being performance-managed
- A dispute lodged under your enterprise agreement's dispute resolution procedure
- Union involvement, delegate escalation or a right-of-entry request
- An unfair dismissal or general protections claim that's already been filed
- Award interpretation or classification questions you can't resolve internally
- A workforce where small issues keep escalating because leaders avoid the hard conversation
What's included
- Case strategy We assess the situation, the evidence, the applicable instrument, award, enterprise agreement or contract, and your realistic options, including the ones you may not want to hear. You get a straight view of risk before you commit to a course of action.
- Process design and documentation Meeting plans, allegation letters, show-cause correspondence, performance improvement plans, warnings and termination letters. Drafted to be clear, fair and defensible.
- Meeting support We prepare your leaders for difficult meetings, and attend where useful, either supporting your manager or running the meeting directly. Difficult conversations go better when someone in the room has had a hundred of them.
- Union and delegate engagement Practical support managing the relationship: responding to delegate escalations, handling right-of-entry, managing disputes under agreement procedures, and negotiating outcomes where that serves you better than a fight.
- Dispute and claim response Support responding to disputes and claims, preparing your position and evidence, and representing your interests in conciliation.
- Capability building Where the same issue keeps recurring, we work with your leaders so it stops. Most ER problems are a supervisor-capability problem wearing a different hat.
How we work
- 01 Initial discussion What's happened, what you've done, what you want to achieve.
- 02 Position assessment We review the evidence and the applicable instrument, and give you a clear read on your options and exposure.
- 03 Plan An agreed approach with steps, documents and timing.
- 04 Execute We prepare the documentation and support or lead the meetings.
- 05 Close out Final documentation, and advice on anything the matter revealed about your systems.
A short conversation before you act is considerably cheaper than one after. Book a call
Experience behind this service
Kelly has held accountability for employee and industrial relations at site, regional and global level across resources, energy, construction and aviation, including roster change, shutdown and project industrial management, right of entry, union engagement, and the assessment of subcontractor industrial relations risk on construction projects with active union involvement.
The advice reflects having sat on the employer side of these matters for two decades, at the level where the decisions actually get made.
Why the process matters
- The questions are consistent. If a termination is challenged, the questions are predictable. Was there a valid reason? Was the employee notified of it? Were they given a genuine opportunity to respond? Were they allowed a support person? Was the decision proportionate?
- Documentation decides it. An employer who can answer those clearly, with documentation, is in a strong position regardless of how sympathetic the employee is. An employer who can't will often find themselves settling a matter they should have won.
- The commercial arithmetic. Getting the process right costs some time and some care up front. Getting it wrong costs management attention, legal fees, a possible settlement, and the message it sends to everyone else about how much your process is really worth.
Working in mining, resources and construction
Industrial relations in these sectors has features that generalist advice tends to miss.
Enterprise agreements over awards. Most site-based operations run under an EA with its own consultation, dispute and disciplinary provisions. The agreement, not the award, is usually where the answer sits, and following the award instead is a common and expensive error.
Roster realities. Investigating, performance-managing or terminating someone on a two-and-one roster raises timing problems that don't exist in a Monday-to-Friday workplace. Meetings, support persons and response periods all need to work around swings.
Contractor complexity. When your site includes principal contractor employees, subcontractors and labour hire, working out who is responsible for what, and who can lawfully direct whom, is rarely straightforward.
Active union presence. Delegates, right-of-entry, and disputes escalating quickly are normal operating conditions rather than exceptions. A relationship managed well is a genuine asset; one managed badly is a permanent cost.
Common questions
We think we need to terminate someone. What should we do first?
Stop and check three things: whether the reason is valid and evidenced, whether the employee has been told about the problem and given a real chance to respond, and what your award or enterprise agreement requires. Most rushed terminations fail on one of these.
An employee raised a complaint right after we started performance-managing them. What now?
This needs care. The complaint has to be dealt with properly on its own merits, and the performance process usually shouldn't simply stop, but how the two run alongside each other matters a great deal if the matter is later characterised as adverse action. Get advice before deciding either way.
Do you provide legal advice?
No. We're HR and industrial relations practitioners, not lawyers, and we're clear about the line. We handle the practical process, the documentation, the meetings and the strategy, and we tell you plainly when a matter needs a lawyer. We work alongside employment lawyers regularly and can recommend one.
Can you attend meetings with us?
Yes. We can prepare and support your manager, or run the meeting ourselves where that's more appropriate, for example when the matter involves a senior person, or the manager is too close to it.
How do you charge?
Depends on the work. Discrete pieces, a document review, a meeting, a case strategy session, are quoted as a fixed fee. Ongoing support is available on a retainer or day-rate basis. We agree the basis before starting.
We don't have an HR function at all. Is that a problem?
It's common, and it's a large part of why we exist. Plenty of WA employers with 50 to 300 people run without dedicated HR and simply need senior support when something serious comes up.
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