Anthony Wood
Tony is the senior partner in the firm’s Melbourne Employment, IR and Safety team.
Tony is passionate about workplace reform and culture, and has more than three decades of experience advising clients in employment related matters. His practice spans strategic advice and advocacy for employers in relation to collective and individual disputes, equal employment opportunity, bullying, termination of employment, enterprise bargaining, transmission of business/privatisation, termination benefits/Corporations Act compliance, complex workplace investigations and whistle-blower issues.
He advises on employment contracts and the array of employment aspects associated with mergers and acquisitions and is a regular presenter on employment and industrial matters throughout Australia.
Tony has a particular focus on clients from the banking, health, electrical power generation and retail sectors. His clients include the Australian Ballet, Bupa, Cleanaway, Coles Supermarkets, Ford Australia, George Weston Foods, Melbourne Airport, and various government agencies including the State Library of Victoria.
Tony is the founding editor of the firm's annual legal guide on Employment and Workplace Relations in Australia. He also leads the Employment group’s national training programs and is a regular contributor to the firm’s pro bono program, including the Pinnacle Foundation and Equality Australia. Tony is also a non-executive director of Berry Street Yooralla, one of Australia’s largest community and disability services providers.
He is an acknowledged leader and advocate for workplace diversity and consults with clients on a variety of diversity and discrimination issues, including compliance with the Australian Human Rights Commission’s oversight of workplace sexual harassment. In 2013, Tony was awarded the Australian Workplace Equality Index Executive Leadership Award for his work in LGBTI workplace inclusion. In 2017, Tony was included in the Australian Financial Review’s inaugural list of the top 50 LGBTI business leaders in Australia.
Tony has also been recognised by Best Lawyers as one of Australia’s premier employment lawyers since 2008, and is noted as a leading practitioner in prestigious guides such as Chambers, Doyle’s and The Legal 500 Asia Pacific.
Experience & capabilities
Selected matters
- advising all three of Australia’s vehicle manufacturers on employment and industrial relations strategies, including the Australian closure arrangements for Ford Australia, Toyota and General Motors Holden.
- acting for many of Australia’s leading power generators and distributors in relation to employment and enterprise bargaining matters, spanning Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania. His clients include Energy Australia, Hydro Tasmania and Santos.
- representing employers and liaising with the Fair Work Ombudsman in complex underpayment investigations.
- conducting major litigation in the Federal Court of Australia.
- advising on all employment aspects of numerous major Australian M&A transactions, including advice on Australia’s transfer of business laws.
- conducting numerous investigations into workplace culture and complex whistleblower complaints.
Background
Tony holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne. He has worked in the firm’s Sydney and Melbourne offices, and is a member of the Industrial Relations Society of Victoria, the Australian Human Resources Institute and the Australasian Association of Workplace Investigators.
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