Kathryn Dent
Kathryn has had extensive experience as a workplace relations and safety lawyer for in excess of 25 years advising and representing employers across a range of industries including education, insurance, banking & financial services, construction, aged care and retirement living, real estate and property, hospitality, manufacturing and local government in non-litigious as well as litigious employment and safety law matters.
A lawyer who prides herself on her accessibility, responsiveness and pragmatic approach in partnering with clients has seen Kathryn regularly engaged not only to advise and represent employers but to investigate and mediate workplace disputes and to deliver corporate training across all levels of an organisation including to Boards and senior executives. Kathryn also enjoys regularly presenting at seminars and conferences and conducting Board evaluations.
In addition to employer clients, Kathryn has also been a long-term advisor to membership-based organisations and their members, as well as senior executives and holds the positions of non-executive Director on the Board of The Cerebral Palsy Alliance and convenor of the NSW ER/IR Committee of the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) and a member of the IR/ER Advisory Board for AHRI.
Kathryn is a Law Society Accredited Specialist in the area of Employment and Industrial Law. She holds a Masters of Labour Law and Relations, is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and a Certified Professional Member of the Australian Human Resources Institute (CAHRI). Kathryn has also completed the “Leading Professional Service Firms” executive education program run by Harvard Business School.
Experience
Kathryn’s experience includes advising:
- Numerous companies including global companies in the tertiary education and hospitality sectors on the renegotiation and approval of enterprise agreements across a number of sites;
- Various insurance companies in relation to Board evaluations, award and statutory interpretation, mediations and unfair dismissals;
- A global retail company close down its Australian operations including attending to advice on employment obligations, acting in litigation and preparing all necessary employment-related documentation;
- Numerous construction companies on award coverage, industrial relations and safety advice and documentation including responses to work health and safety notices, defence of work health and safety prosecutions, attendance at Coronial inquests, involvement in investigations into work health and safety breaches, and representation in employment litigation including unfair dismissals;
- Numerous organisations including in the local government sector in relation to workplace investigations; and
- NDIS service providers in relation to the classification of their workers, drafting agreements and policies.