Legal Counsel - Workplace Relations

Discover Opal….

We manufacture goods that you see, touch, and use every day and our customer base includes some of the biggest names in FMCG, Retail and Fresh Produce.  

We stand for innovation, smart solutions, and sustainability!

Discover the Opportunity....

This role provides timely, accurate and commercial legal advice as a trusted partner to Paper Australia Pty Ltd and its related corporate bodies (Opal Group) across all business divisions and supports the business in a broad range of workplace relations and employment law issues.

This includes:

• Provide timely and effective written and verbal legal advice and services to all areas of the Opal business in relation to workplace relations matters, including individual and union disputes, employment contracts and policies, industrial instruments, investigations, performance management, absence management and inherent requirements.
• Provide legal and strategic recommendations regarding implications of significant workplace changes, eg restructuring, outsourcing, insourcing, acquisitions, divestments, site moves or closures.
• Co-ordinate the provision of external legal advice to the business as required.
• Understand relevant workplace relations statutory and common law requirements, keep well-informed of any new legal developments and assist in implementing new requirements into the business.
• Collaborate with the business and the People, Safety and Culture team to improve and implement Opal’s workplace relations and people strategies and provide legal services in a manner consistent with and supportive of those strategies.
• Manage workplace relations disputes including advocacy in litigation before the Fair Work Commission and Courts, and briefing external counsel if required.
• Provide support on legal aspects of safety and injury management issues as required, and particularly issues with a workplace relations element (eg alcohol and other drugs policy and testing program).
• Opportunity to work with the broader Legal team on commercial matters, including transactional, projects and disputes.

Discover Yourself….

We can offer a varied career journey with experiential learning gained from cross-functional and lateral moves. We embrace diversity in all its forms, and we look for curious individuals who thrive in an environment of change.

Specifically for this role, we expect you will have;

• Qualified Australian Legal Practitioner, holding an unsupervised practising certificate in an Australian State or Territory
• Mid-level lawyer with 3 - 6+ years of relevant post-admission experience
• Currently undertaking a role as an in-house counsel, or in a workplace relations team within a private law practice
• Established legal knowledge and a well-developed understanding of workplace relations law, including employment law and industrial relations law
• Established understanding of Fair Work Commission jurisdiction and processes
• Willingness to work with and learn from others
• Ability to balance priorities in order to meet varying deadlines

Discover more… by visiting our website at www.opalanz.com

Our Opal Values

Thinking packaging. Discover Opal.