Justine Del Monte & Associates

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Justine Del Monte & Associates Employment Law Specialists We are dedicated to providing high-quality, dynamic, and accessible legal support 💼.

About Us: Justine Del Monte & Associates ⚖️Established in 2007, Justine Del Monte & Associates 🌍 specializing in Employment Law and Industrial Relations. Our team of experienced attorneys and consultants offers a comprehensive range of legal services, designed to assist employers, employees, HR professionals, trade unions and legal practitioners in navigating the complexities of modern employment law 📑. By focusing solely on employment-related matters, we ensure that our clients receive the best legal expertise and practical advice available ✅. Whether it’s proactively mitigating risks or resolving disputes, we are here to help you protect your rights and maintain smooth workplace relations 🤝. At Justine Del Monte & Associates, we’re committed to helping our clients stay ahead in an ever-evolving legal landscape 🏛️. Feel free to reach out for more information or to schedule a consultation with our team 📞.

This isn't another webinar.Coffee & Conversations is intentionally a little different.It’s an opportunity for our JDM&A ...
19/10/2026

This isn't another webinar.

Coffee & Conversations is intentionally a little different.
It’s an opportunity for our JDM&A clients to get together with Justine, Andrea and Candace and talk about the employment and HR issues they're actually encountering.
No formal presentation.
No hour of slides.
Instead, we'll take some of the grey areas we're seeing in practice, unpack them together and open the conversation to the room.
Ask questions. Share experiences. Hear how other HR professionals are approaching similar situations.
☕ Coffee & Conversations: The Grey Areas
📅 27 October 2026
🕘 09:00
💻 Online
RSVP: a6295753-1116-4f79-8380-31cb4e71c8af@c1b4bf7e-5d3f-454a-b890-9994eb75c647?source=copyLinkLegacyShareLinkDialog" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/a6295753-1116-4f79-8380-31cb4e71c8af@c1b4bf7e-5d3f-454a-b890-9994eb75c647?source=copyLinkLegacyShareLinkDialog

Coffee & Conversations is complimentary and primarily for our existing JDM&A clients. Clients are welcome to invite an HR colleague or friend who they think would benefit from joining the conversation.

19/10/2026

More employees have side businesses or freelance work today, and that does not automatically create a legal problem.

The real question is whether the outside work conflicts with the employee’s obligations to their employer.

Are they competing with the business? Approaching its clients? Using confidential information? Doing outside work during company time? Or is their performance suffering because of it?

That is where a side hustle can become a conflict-of-interest issue.

Employers should have clear disclosure and conflict-of-interest rules rather than relying on assumptions.

And employees should understand that outside work does not remove their duties of good faith and confidentiality.

It is not the second income that matters most. It is the conflict it may create.

A manager tells an employee: “You can work from home on Fridays.”Six months later, the business wants everyone back in t...
15/10/2026

A manager tells an employee: “You can work from home on Fridays.”

Six months later, the business wants everyone back in the office.

Can it simply change the arrangement?

The answer may depend on how the flexibility was introduced. Was it temporary? Discretionary? Written into the contract? Subject to a policy? Or has it been consistently treated as an ongoing employment arrangement?

Hybrid and flexible working have created many situations where an informal accommodation gradually becomes an employee expectation.

Employers should define the terms of flexible arrangements from the start, including whether they are permanent, reviewable or capable of being withdrawn.

Ambiguity is easier to manage when everyone is getting along.

It becomes expensive when circumstances change.

An employee commits misconduct.But then explains that their behaviour was connected to a health condition.Where does mis...
15/10/2026

An employee commits misconduct.
But then explains that their behaviour was connected to a health condition.
Where does misconduct end and incapacity begin?
And how should an employer respond when the two appear to overlap?
These situations can be particularly difficult because employers need to understand what they're actually dealing with before deciding how to proceed.
It’s a grey area we're seeing increasingly in practice - and one that Justine, Andrea and

Candace will be discussing during our upcoming Coffee & Conversations.
📅 27 October 2026
🕘 09:00
💻 Online
RSVP: a6295753-1116-4f79-8380-31cb4e71c8af@c1b4bf7e-5d3f-454a-b890-9994eb75c647?source=copyLinkLegacyShareLinkDialog" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/a6295753-1116-4f79-8380-31cb4e71c8af@c1b4bf7e-5d3f-454a-b890-9994eb75c647?source=copyLinkLegacyShareLinkDialog

14/10/2026

Employees often assume that what happens after hours has nothing to do with their employer.

Usually, private conduct is private. But not always.

If an employee harasses a colleague in a staff WhatsApp group, behaves seriously inappropriately at a work event, discloses confidential information online or does something that has a real connection to the workplace, the employer may need to act.

The important question is not simply whether it happened outside office hours.

The question is whether there is a sufficient connection between the conduct and the employment relationship.

Employers should be careful not to police employees’ private lives. But “after hours” is not always a complete defence either.

Context is everything.

More employees are building businesses, freelancing or taking on additional work outside their primary employment.That i...
12/10/2026

More employees are building businesses, freelancing or taking on additional work outside their primary employment.

That is not automatically a problem.

The grey area begins when the additional work competes with the employer, uses confidential information or company resources, affects performance, creates divided loyalties or involves the employer’s clients, suppliers or business opportunities.

A blanket assumption that employees may never earn income elsewhere can be too simplistic. But ignoring genuine conflicts of interest can expose the business to significant risk.

Employers should be clear about what must be disclosed and what types of outside interests require approval.

Employees, in turn, should understand their duties of good faith and confidentiality.
The question is not merely whether an employee has a side hustle.

The question is whether that side hustle interferes with obligations owed to the employer.

A background check reveals something you weren't expecting.A criminal record.A poor credit history.Something that makes ...
12/10/2026

A background check reveals something you weren't expecting.
A criminal record.
A poor credit history.
Something that makes you question whether you should proceed with the candidate.
Can you decline the application because of it?
Screening candidates can raise difficult questions about relevance, fairness and what information an employer can legitimately take into account.
Another workplace grey area where context matters.

We’ll be discussing this and more at:
Coffee & Conversations: The Grey Areas
📅 27 October 2026 | 🕘 09:00 | 💻 Online
RSVP: a6295753-1116-4f79-8380-31cb4e71c8af@c1b4bf7e-5d3f-454a-b890-9994eb75c647?source=copyLinkLegacyShareLinkDialog" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/a6295753-1116-4f79-8380-31cb4e71c8af@c1b4bf7e-5d3f-454a-b890-9994eb75c647?source=copyLinkLegacyShareLinkDialog

What employees do in their private time is generally their own business.But the line between private conduct and workpla...
08/10/2026

What employees do in their private time is generally their own business.

But the line between private conduct and workplace conduct is not always clear.

A social media post, an altercation at a work-related event, harassment in a staff WhatsApp group or conduct that seriously affects the employer’s reputation or working relationships may create an employment issue even when it happens outside normal working hours.

The key question is usually not simply: “Did this happen after work?”

It is whether there is a sufficient connection between the conduct and the workplace.

Employers should avoid assuming that every unpopular or embarrassing act by an
employee is misconduct warranting disciplinary action . Equally, employees should not assume that “I was off duty” automatically removes all employment consequences.

Context, impact and the connection to the employment relationship matter.

The workplace does not always end at the office door.

What happens outside the workplace stays outside the workplace.Or does it?An employee does something in their personal c...
08/10/2026

What happens outside the workplace stays outside the workplace.
Or does it?
An employee does something in their personal capacity that the employer considers completely unacceptable.
But it happened outside working hours.
Can the employer take disciplinary action?
There isn't always a simple yes or no.
The connection between the conduct, the employee and the workplace matters - which is what makes this such an interesting grey area.

It’s one of the issues we’ll unpack during Coffee & Conversations: The Grey Areas.
📅 27 October 2026
🕘 09:00
💻 Online
RSVP: a6295753-1116-4f79-8380-31cb4e71c8af@c1b4bf7e-5d3f-454a-b890-9994eb75c647?source=copyLinkLegacyShareLinkDialog" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/a6295753-1116-4f79-8380-31cb4e71c8af@c1b4bf7e-5d3f-454a-b890-9994eb75c647?source=copyLinkLegacyShareLinkDialog

“We agreed on WhatsApp.”That sentence appears in more workplace disputes than employers may expect.Managers increasingly...
06/10/2026

“We agreed on WhatsApp.”

That sentence appears in more workplace disputes than employers may expect.
Managers increasingly communicate about working hours, leave, remote work, salary discussions, responsibilities and flexible arrangements through WhatsApp or other informal channels.

The fact that a conversation took place informally does not automatically make it irrelevant.
A message may become important evidence of what was discussed, promised, approved or understood between the parties.

This does not mean that every casual message becomes a binding amendment to an employment contract. Context still matters. So do authority, intention, wording and the surrounding circumstances.

But employers should make sure managers understand that informal communication can have formal consequences.

If an arrangement matters, confirm it properly. If a manager does not have authority to make a commitment, employees should know that too.

The platform may be informal. The consequences may not be.

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Tuesday 08:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 08:00 - 17:00
Thursday 08:00 - 17:00
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