Kara Reynolds
Kara has 15 years’ experience in employment, industrial relations and safety.
Regarded for her sharp mind and commerciality of advice, Kara works broadly across the EIRS field.
She regularly advises clients in most sectors in relation to WHS incidents, responding to government regulators, CoR and HVNL, contractor management, IR bargaining, management of ill and injured workers, management of bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination and inappropriate conduct in the workplace, EIRS considerations in large scale M&A transactions, and strategic employment and IR matters.
Kara regularly undertakes workplace conduct investigations, and runs EIRS matters that proceed to litigation.
Kara’s industry knowledge, particularly in mining and resources, has been shaped by her employment at two Queensland coal mines prior to joining legal private practice.
Kara holds a Bachelor of Law (with Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in industrial relation and human resource management. Kara is regularly named in Doyle’s Guide as a Rising Star in “Employment & WHS Law” and Best Lawyers in “Employee Benefits Law”, “Labour and Employment Law” and “Occupational Health and Safety Law”.
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- representation of a mining client in relation to a safety incident where our technical legal argument was ultimately successful in the High Court and charges against our client dismissed
- investigation into, and representation of, a client whose employee was seriously injured in an incident whilst working from heights. As a result of the early strategy employed, our client was not charged in relation to the incident, while other companies and individuals at the site were charged and convicted
- representation of a client in respect of some 20 general protections applications brought against it and achieving a favourable settlement on all
- conducting and advising on numerous workplace investigations, including recently investigating sensitive allegations of sexual harassment against the client’s managing director; investigating allegations of serious and systemic bullying at another client’s remote worksite; investigating multifaceted whistleblower reports, etc
- advising on complex EIRS matters as part of our client’s acquisition of one of Australia’s largest transportation and logistics companies.
