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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…

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…

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…

Paper­Cut case puts hybrid-work pol­i­cy back in the spotlight

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Paper­Cut case puts hybrid-work pol­i­cy back in the spot­light”, pub­lished in HR Leader on 2 Feb­ru­ary 2026To read the full arti­cle click here…

Is it ever legal for an employ­er to reduce an employee’s salary?

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Is it ever legal to reduce an employee’s salary?”, pub­lished in RHRI on 3 Feb­ru­ary 2026.To read the full arti­cle click here…

Valen­tine’s Day in the Work­place (2026 Edition)

Valentine’s Day may appear harm­less, but in work­places it can cre­ate legal and cul­tur­al risks. Even well‑meant roman­tic ges­tures can be unwel­come and poten­tial­ly con­sti­tute sex­u­al harass­ment or con­tribute to a hos­tile envi­ron­ment under the Sex Dis­crim­i­na­tion Act. With employ­ers now car­ry­ing pos­i­tive duties to pre­vent such con­duct, the tra­di­tions of…

Pun­dits split over NSW work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion reform

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Pun­dits split over NSW work­ers’ com­pen­sa­tion reform”, pub­lished in HR Leader on 6 Feb­ru­ary 2026.To read the full arti­cle click here…

The Paper­cut Deci­sion and the Cur­rent Posi­tion on WFH

The FWC’s John­son v Paper­Cut Soft­ware deci­sion has renewed debate about the lim­its of work­ing from home rights. While some have com­pared it to Chan­dler v West­pac, the cas­es high­light that WFH out­comes depend on indi­vid­ual cir­cum­stances, con­tract terms and employ­er poli­cies. The rul­ing under­scores that no sin­gle case estab­lish­es a uni­ver­sal right…

Michael Byrnes joined James Willis on 2GB’s Mon­ey News to dis­cuss the union push for one mil­lion Aus­tralians to gain WFH rights through pro­posed award changes

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with James Willis on 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR on 11 Feb­ru­ary 2026 to dis­cuss the pro­pos­al to vary awards to include WFH rightsTo lis­ten to the full inter­view click here…

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Poten­tial impli­ca­tions of the pro­posed WFH Clerks Award clause”, pub­lished in HR Leader

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Poten­tial impli­ca­tions of the pro­posed WFH Clerks Award clause”, pub­lished in HR Leader on 12 Feb­ru­ary 2026To read the full arti­cle click here…

Michael Byrnes appeared on the Lawyers Week­ly Show pod­cast with Jerome Doraisamy to dis­cuss poten­tial work­place law issues relat­ed to Valen­tine’s Day

Michael Byrnes appeared on the Lawyers Week­ly Show pod­cast with Jerome Doraisamy to dis­cuss poten­tial work­place law issues relat­ed to Valen­tine’s DayTo lis­ten to the full pod­cast click here…

Swaab cel­e­brates 45 years of legal ser­vice excellence

This year, Swaab proud­ly marks 45 years since our found­ing by the late Fredrick (Fred) Swaab an entre­pre­neur, men­tor, and leader remem­bered for his inno­va­tion and gen­eros­i­ty of spir­it. Fred estab­lished Swaab in 1981, led the firm for decades, and set a stan­dard of care for peo­ple and clients that con­tin­ues to…

Hap­py Lunar New Year 2026 – Wel­com­ing the Year of the Fire Horse

The Fire Horse (Bing Wu) is known for its bold ener­gy, charis­ma, speed, and trans­for­ma­tive spir­it, sym­bol­is­ing a peri­od of break­throughs, rapid progress, and renewed ambi­tion. Astrologers describe the Fire Horse as rep­re­sent­ing inde­pen­dence, for­ward momen­tum, and fiery deter­mi­na­tion, qual­i­ties that can accel­er­ate suc­cess when guid­ed with clar­i­ty and intention. How­ev­er, its inten­si­ty…

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“The legal impli­ca­tions of the Dig­i­tal Work Sys­tems Bill”, pub­lished in HR Leader

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“The legal impli­ca­tions of the Dig­i­tal Work Sys­tems Bill”, pub­lished in HR LeaderTo read the full arti­cle click here…

More than harm­less fun: How Valentine’s Day can blur the line between cel­e­bra­tion and harassment

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“More than harm­less fun: How Valentine’s Day can blur the line between cel­e­bra­tion and harass­ment”, pub­lished in HR Leader on 20 Feb­ru­ary 2026.To read the full arti­cle click here…