Paul Burns is a partner in Freehills' Employee Relations practice. He commenced his Articles with Freehills in 1990, has been a member of the firm's Employee Relations group since May 1991, and became a partner in 1998.

Paul's practice focuses primarily on enterprise bargaining, dispute resolution, employment alignment strategies, operational restructures, and the development of tailored and compliant employment policies and practices.    

As a result of the firm's and Paul's relationship with Telstra, he spent a period of approximately 15 months on secondment to the company as the Employee and Industrial Relations Counsel prior to becoming a partner. In this role, Paul reported to the General Counsel and provided strategic advice to the ER Group on a vast range of ER/IR issues including enterprise bargaining, the rollout of AWAs in a unionised environment, significant outsourcing projects, dispute management, award simplification/modernisation, employee discipline, EEO and occupational health and safety.

Major projects and clients

Paul is experienced with the procedures in all courts and industrial tribunals and has been involved in many high profile industrial cases covering a diverse range of critical operational issues, such as the scope of the transmission/transfer of business, right of entry and freedom of association provisions of the federal regime, the role of individual contracts in our industrial system, the legitimacy of employer responses to lawful and unlawful industrial action and the content of awards and enterprise agreements.

Paul’s particular experience through his long term association with one of the world’s leading mining operations has ideally placed him to advise clients on the vast range of employment regulation options available under the various pieces of industrial legislation including the effective implementation of both collective agreements and individual employment arrangements (including staff contracts).

Paul has also worked extensively with employers across a broad range of industries including the mining, emergency services, construction, chemical and fertilizer, telecommunications, vehicle manufacturing, paper manufacturing and packaging, food and beverage manufacturing, oil, finance, meat, hospitality, power generation, childcare and call centre industries. As well as providing advice to these clients on a range of general employment related matters, Paul has also undertaken specific projects concerning dispute management and enterprise agreement negotiations.

Paul completed a combined Arts/Law degree at Monash University in 1989 and is a member of the Australian Human Resources Institute.

Paul has also been the training coordinator for Freehills’ employee relations practice in Melbourne. He remains active in developing and presenting practical training modules on a range of topical employee relations issues including options for industrial regulation, performance management, employee discipline and sexual harassment.