Hilary Searing
Clayton Utz
Partner
Brisbane
Overview
Hilary Searing specialises in work health and safety, industrial relations and employment law and advises corporate and government clients in the construction, engineering, oil and gas, mining, electrical, health, transport and agribusiness industries. She has particular industrial and safety expertise in large infrastructure projects.
Hilary is skilled in assisting clients with finding pragmatic and commercial solutions within legal parameters. She is approachable, strategic and commercially focused.
Hilary is frequently called on to assist clients in dealing with safety incidents as they arise, including advising on appropriate incident response and regulatory compliance, as well as appropriate contractor management to minimise risk, and assists clients in defending workplace health and safety prosecutions.
She has a sound understanding of litigious processes and is well versed in managing large high-profile litigation matters with numerous defendants.
Notable Work
- Hilary is skilled in regulatory compliance and incident response and assists clients in dealing with safety incidents as they arise, including defending safety prosecutions. WHS governance is becoming an increasingly important area of focus. Hilary assists clients with how to make sure their safety governance systems are suited to the business and allow their officers to meet their due diligence obligations. She also trains officers in how to discharge their obligations. With the changing face of workplaces, the ability to manage contractors efficiently, effectively, safely and cost effectively has become a business critical skill. Hilary also provides clients with practical advice, training and support on contractor management, including strategies for cost reduction and risk management and tools to ensure effective contractor engagement and management. Highlights include:
- Department of Transport and Main Roads – Toowoomba Bypass: Hilary was part of the team that provided ongoing work health and safety and industrial relations advice in relation to the management of the State's response to the performance of the contractor on the Toowoomba Bypass, including developing and reviewing management plans, advising on regulatory compliance, responding to statutory notices, contractual claims and risk management, as well as industrial relations concerns on the Project.
- APLNG project: Advised on various aspects of the APLNG project, including upstream and downstream operations; compliance and governance, safety and employment matters, including advising on the complex interaction between applicable safety legislation in the LNG sector and its implication for major construction projects.
- ConocoPhillips: Provided advice to a number of ConocoPhillips business units in relation to industrial strategy, employment matters and WHS obligations, including advising on the Curtis Island Major Hazard Facility.
- Origin: Advised on a number of health and safety matters on oil and gas projects for Origin Energy, including reviewing safety management plans for various operating plant, and advising on appropriate incident response and regulator engagement.
- Powerlink: Advised Powerlink on a number of safety matters, including responding to electrical safety incidents and dealing with the Electrical Safety Regulator. Hilary has also been requested by Powerlink to act for individual employees in relation to safety incident response and support Regulator interviews.
- Hilary provides strategic advice to a number of corporate and government entities in relation to industrial and employment law matters, including right of entry disputes, industrial action, enterprise agreement negotiations and dispute resolution, award interpretations, termination and restructuring procedures and transfer of business.
- Minister of Economic Development Queensland (EDQ): Assisted EDQ to manage relationships among the State, regulators, the developer, contractors, subcontractors, unions, and co-workers for the development of the Commonwealth Games Village. With multiple parties on adjacent sites, complex industrial and safety issues, and a large contingent of workers expected to attend to construction, Hilary assisted with a decisive and well-considered industrial strategy for delivering the project on time, on budget and with minimal risk.
- Queensland State Government: Assisting in relation to the privatisation of the Port of Brisbane. Hilary also assisted with employment related matters in the due diligence process during the privatisation of QR National.
- Queensland Health and Hospital and Health Services: Hilary has advised Queensland Health and a number of HHS in a variety of employment and industrial relations matters including unfair dismissals, discrimination and investigations.
- Queensland Children's Hospital (QCH): Hilary assisted Abigroup Contractors Pty Ltd to resolve a 9 week unlawful work stoppage at the QCH, return the workers to work and resolve the matter. Hilary co-ordinated the day to day running of the matter, which included applications to the Federal Circuit Court for injunctions to prevent unlawful industrial action as well as contempt charges for breach of those orders.
- Optus: Assisted Optus in relation to a variety of employment and industrial relations matters including unfair dismissals, discrimination and adverse action claims.
- Fair Work Building & Construction – Grocon Common Ground Dispute: Assisted the (then) FWBC prosecute the CFMEU and five union officials in the Federal Court that resulted in one of the highest ever penalties of $400,000 being awarded against the CFMEU under the relevant legislation. Statements from this case were quoted in Parliament by the Coalition in support of their proposal to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
- Advised on a complex case involving sexual harassment and assault allegations which have involved consideration of the cross-over of out of hours conduct, personal social media accounts and work and has been integral in advising on all aspects of the investigation, suspension of the employee, show cause and disciplinary process to date.
- We assisted a large construction company with a claim for bullying and harassment. The applicant had accused the organisation and their supervisor of bullying and taking adverse action against them for refusing to allow them to undertake sensitive client work during their commute and lodged both a general protections claim in the Fair Work Commission and a complaint with the Safety Regulator. We investigated the incident, and successfully defended the client in the Fair Work Commission. We also undertook a review of the client's psychosocial hazards, including the controls for remote working, and drafted a psychosocial risk assessment and risk register to assist in demonstrating to the Safety Regulator that our client had complied with its obligations to identify and manage the risks of bullying it its workplace, so far as reasonably practicable, and ensure a safe place of work.
Insights
New obligations introduced for Queensland employers to manage the risk of workplace sexual harassment
10 Oct 2024 | Article
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Media Release: Clayton Utz advising Nippon Steel Corporation on its acquisition of a stake in the Blackwater Mine
29 Aug 2024 | Media Release
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Employers’ obligations expanded by changes to Queensland's workers' compensation laws: what this means for your workplace
29 Aug 2024 | Article
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Closing Loopholes No 2: What you need to know about the next raft of changes commencing 26 August
26 Aug 2024 | Article
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Fair Work Commission to review fixed term clauses in university modern awards
22 Jul 2024 | Article
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Media release: Clayton Utz advises PAR Technology on its acquisition of TASK Group
14 Mar 2024 | Media Release
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Closing Loopholes No. 2: what you need to know on the right to disconnect, casual employment and more
21 Feb 2024 | Article
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Closing Loopholes Bill split in two: Wage theft and labour hire amendments passed the Senate today
7 Dec 2023 | Article
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New rules for fixed-term contracts from 6 December 2023: are you ready?
30 Nov 2023 | Article
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IR reforms 3.0: get ready for changes to casual and gig employment, labour hire, wage theft and union rights
5 Sep 2023 | Article
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When nature calls: recent High Court decision clarifies the scope of vicarious liability
4 Aug 2023 | Article
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Contract remains king and the superannuation guarantee is still unsettled, so check your independent contractor contracts
29 May 2023 | Article
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Poor report card on modern slavery compliance acknowledged with $8m to implement Anti-Slavery Commissioner
12 May 2023 | Article
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Employment outside NSW won’t automatically count for long service leave in NSW, so review how you track it now
15 Dec 2022 | Article
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Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill to be introduced to Federal Parliament next week, but how far it goes is still unknown
19 Oct 2022 | Article
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Navigating Australia’s record-breaking labour market – a Governance perspective
24 Aug 2022 | Article
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Safe Work Australia finalises Code of Practice for psychosocial hazards
4 Aug 2022 | Article
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Revised Building Code released, and reduction in powers of the ABCC
26 Jul 2022 | Article
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Federal election 2022: The new Labor Government's industrial relations agenda at a glance
23 May 2022 | Article
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Industrial manslaughter update: Person controlling a business or undertaking (PCBU) sentenced to 5 years' jail
31 Mar 2022 | Article
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The terms of the contract are decisive of the employee/contractor issue – with some provisos, says High Court
11 Feb 2022 | Article
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Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies still possible, if done correctly
6 Dec 2021 | Article
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My employee refuses to be vaccinated against COVID-19: What do I do?
29 Nov 2021 | Article
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Mythbusting legal misinformation about COVID-19 vaccine mandates: what employers can do
16 Nov 2021 | Article
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New mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for Victorian authorised workers
8 Oct 2021 | Article
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Webinar: Keeping up to date with the latest in workplace law: Have you been paying attention?
19 Aug 2021 | Article
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High Court overturns Rossato decision giving clarity around casual employee classification
5 Aug 2021 | Article
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Latest Government guidance reaffirms voluntary COVID-19 vaccination policy
23 Feb 2021 | Article
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Media Release: Clayton Utz announces 1 January 2021 partner appointments
11 Dec 2020 | Media Release
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The Federal Government's omnibus IR reforms legislation: what is in, what is out, and what you need to do now
10 Dec 2020 | Article
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Queensland mining & resources changes come into effect from 1 July 2020
29 Jun 2020 | Article
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Industrial Manslaughter laws (and other changes) in the Queensland mining & resources sector
11 Jun 2020 | Article
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National COVID-19 Safe Workplace Principles and Industry-specific Guidelines
18 May 2020 | Article
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New tenfold penalties for "serious contraventions" ‒ where does this leave franchisors and holding companies?
14 Sep 2017 | Article
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The "rogue union": the rise of unregistered organisations and their impact on employers
6 Jul 2017 | Article
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The cuckoo in the nest: how to protect against employee information theft
2 Mar 2017 | Article
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Can in-house counsel be held liable for their employer’s sins? Accessorial liability under the Fair Work Act
1 Mar 2017 | Article
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