People

Ronan O'Donnell

Ronan O'Donnell
Senior Associate
Ronan O'Donnell

Ronan is a Senior Associate in Lander & Rogers' Workplace Relations & Safety team in Melbourne.

Ronan has a wealth of legal experience in the public sector, having previously worked as a lawyer in the Commonwealth Government and as a Senior Solicitor at the Victorian Government Solicitor's Office.

Experience

Ronan provides clear, practical and commercially savvy advice to private and public sector clients on a broad range of employment, industrial relations, anti-discrimination and occupational health and safety matters.

Ronan understands the unique statutory and policy environment relevant to State and Commonwealth Government clients, having completed a number of secondments to legal and human resources teams in the Victorian and Commonwealth Governments.

Ronan has appeared on behalf of private and public sector clients in the Fair Work Commission, State and Commonwealth Courts, and State and Commonwealth anti-discrimination jurisdictions.

Ronan also has vast experience advising private and public sector clients on the following matters:

  • employee disciplinary action and termination of employment
  • managing ill and injured employees
  • sensitive workplace investigations
  • workplace restructures
  • interpretation of enterprise agreements and modern awards, particularly in the law enforcement, health, transport and not-for-profit sectors
  • development of bespoke training for clients on appropriate workplace behaviour and sexual harassment
  • development and implementation of workplace policies and procedures

Career highlights

Ronan's career highlights include:

  • representing the Victorian Minister for Industrial Relations at the Full Court of the Federal Court regarding terminating protected industrial action that threatened the welfare of the population or caused significant damage to the economy;
  • representing the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety at the Fair Work Commission (both at first instance and before a Full Bench) regarding the scope of the consultation and dispute resolution provisions of the Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2016;
  • advising an ASX 200 listed company regarding compliance with its obligations under multiple enterprise agreements and modern awards for its workforce who are paid on an annualised salary basis
  • advising a Victorian public entity regarding the dismissal of a number of executives involved in a multi-million dollar transformation project, and defending these decisions in the Fair Work Commission and the Federal Circuit Court
  • advising a Victorian public service body regarding the restructure of a major policy division, including negotiating redundancy payments for affected employees
  • advising the Commonwealth Department of Social Services regarding bargaining for the Department of Social Services Enterprise Agreement 2015 to 2018