News

2 Feb 2026

Michael Byrnes appeared on Nights with John Stan­ley on 2GB and 4BC fea­tured a time­ly dis­cus­sion unpack­ing the legal com­plex­i­ties of sick leave enti­tle­ments in Australia.

Michael Byrnes appeared on Nights with John Stan­ley on 2GB and 4BC on 30 Jan­u­ary 2026 to dis­cuss the legal issues relat­ed to sick leave (from 1:49:50 to 1:56:10)To lis­ten to the full inter­view click here…

2 Feb 2026

How Australia’s right to dis­con­nect laws improved work-life bal­ance and engagement

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“How Australia’s right to dis­con­nect laws improved work-life bal­ance and engage­ment”, pub­lished in the Aus­tralian on 2 Feb­ru­ary 2026To read the full arti­cle click here…

30 Jan 2026

Ter­mi­na­tion lessons from Amazon’s email blun­der, lay­off of 16,000 jobs

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Ter­mi­na­tion lessons from Amazon’s email blun­der, lay­off of 16k roles”, pub­lished in HR Leader on 30 Jan­u­ary 2026To read the full arti­cle click here…

27 Jan 2026

The Aus­tralian reports that Cor­po­rate Aus­tralia is com­plic­it in Aus­tralia Day swaps enshrined in Enter­prise Bar­gain­ing Agreements

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Cor­po­rate Aus­tralia com­plic­it in Aus­tralia Day swaps enshrined in EBAs”, pub­lished in the Aus­tralian on 23 Jan­u­ary 2026To read the full arti­cle click here…

27 Jan 2026

The Dai­ly Mail reports the Wes­ley Mis­sion has reignit­ed the Aus­tralia Day pub­lic hol­i­day debate with an offer of an alter­nate date

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“One of the coun­try’s largest not-for-prof­its sparks debate with new push to change the date of Aus­tralia Day”, pub­lished in the Dai­ly Mail on 12 Decem­ber 2025To read the full arti­cle click here…

23 Dec 2025

2025 Season’s Greet­ings from Swaab

As the hol­i­day sea­son arrives, we take a moment to reflect on the chal­lenges we’ve over­come and the suc­cess­es we’ve cel­e­brat­ed togeth­er this past year. It’s a time to appre­ci­ate the jour­ney and look for­ward to the oppor­tu­ni­ties the new year will bring. From all of us at Swaab, we wish you…

15 Dec 2025

Thank You for Join­ing Us!

“A big thank you to all our clients and friends of Swaab who attend­ed our 2025 End-of-Year func­tion. Your pres­ence made the cel­e­bra­tion tru­ly spe­cial, and we appre­ci­ate your con­tin­ued sup­port and part­ner­ship. Here’s to a suc­cess­ful year ahead, wish­ing you all a joy­ful hol­i­day sea­son and a fan­tas­tic start to 2026 and beyond.”Mary…

15 Dec 2025

Hol­i­day Office Clo­sure — 2025

The Swaab office will be unat­tend­ed over the hol­i­day and new year peri­od from mid­day Wednes­day 24 Decem­ber 2025 re-open­ing at 8.00 am Wednes­day 7 Jan­u­ary 2026If you have an emer­gency and need to speak with one of our lawyers, please call +61 2 9233 5544.We wish you a hap­py hol­i­days and a pros­per­ous new year…

12 Dec 2025

Impor­tant update: Prepar­ing for Anti-Mon­ey (AML) Leg­is­la­tion Reforms Effec­tive 1 July 2026

Upcom­ing Changes to Anti-Mon­ey Laun­der­ing RequirementsAs part of these require­ments, we may need to col­lect iden­ti­ty doc­u­ments or addi­tion­al finan­cial infor­ma­tion dur­ing our engage­ment process. If you are act­ing on behalf of a com­pa­ny, trust, or oth­er struc­ture, we may also request doc­u­men­ta­tion con­firm­ing own­er­ship and con­trol. This ensures we under­stand…

12 Dec 2025

Sub­sti­tu­tion of the Aus­tralia Day pub­lic hol­i­day by employ­ees, is it permissible?

Michael Byrnes appeared on Ben Ford­ham Live on 2GB on 12 Decem­ber 2025 to dis­cuss sub­sti­tu­tion of the Aus­tralia Day pub­lic hol­i­day by employ­ees (from 27:30 to 30:00)To lis­ten to the inter­view click here…