Neil Napper

Specialising in Workplace Relations & Safety for 30+ years, Neil's focus is on helping organisations achieve their goals against a backdrop of ever-changing and increasingly complex workplace laws. His experience spans government, building/construction, engineering, transport, manufacturing, health, financial services, retail, IT and communications industries. He is recognised in the 2016-2020 editions of Best Lawyers in Australia for his expertise in Labour and Employment Law and is also recommended as one of the leading lawyers in NSW by Doyle's Guide editions 2015, 2016 and 2017 for Employment & Industrial Relations.

Neil's expertise includes strategic industrial relations advice; creating workplace strategies for business; resolving industrial disputes; advocacy before industrial tribunals; drafting awards, enterprise agreements and executive contracts; employment litigation/enforcing restraints of trade; unfair dismissal, contract claims; health and safety prosecutions; anti-discrimination and workplace privacy. He was admitted to practice in 1986, joining Lander & Rogers in 2009.

Experience

Neil is recognised in The Best Lawyers in Australia for his expertise in Labour and Employment law. He is also recommended as one of the leading lawyers in NSW by Doyle's Guide for Employment & Industrial Relations.

Neil's areas of expertise include:

• strategic industrial relations advice;
• workplace strategies for business;
• resolving industrial disputes;
• advocacy before industrial tribunals;
• investigating workplace misconduct;
• drafting awards and enterprise agreements;
• drafting executive contracts;
• business protection employment litigation including enforcing restraints of trade and recovering confidential information/IP;
• unfair dismissal and contract claims;
• workplace safety - litigation, training and advice, including workplace bullying and harassment;
• anti-discrimination; and
• workplace privacy, including surveillance and drug and alcohol policies and procedures

Career highlights

Neil's experience includes:

• arranging an urgent forensic investigation into activities of a senior executive team that was setting up as a competitor and negotiating a favourable settlement for the employer
• defending large underpayment claim and providing strategy to resolve potential claims without litigation
• obtaining urgent asset-freezing orders against an employee who fraudulently misappropriated employer's funds
• conducting an urgent investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against manager
• drafting collective agreements for employers
• defending a large contract cleaner from prosecution by the Workplace Ombudsman and successfully reducing the scope of the proceedings from approximately 600 alleged breaches to 12 breaches
• overseeing an investigation on behalf of a large public private partnership into sensitive allegations of workplace fraud and reviewing a written report of the investigation and findings.