Maurice Blackburn’s fight with employees over pay ramps up

Unionised lawyers and staff at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers will engage in industrial action, setting the stage for a major escalation in what has been a continued back and forth over pay disputes.

Last Friday (28 February), the Australian Services Union (ASU) notified national plaintiff law firm Maurice Blackburn that lawyers and other staff members would be engaging in protected industrial action related to negotiations over a new enterprise agreement tomorrow (6 March) – via a one-day ban on time recording.

The enterprise agreement involves pay increases and an increase in paid reproductive leave. In a statement provided to HR Leader, an ASU spokesperson confirmed that the union’s wage claim is a 5 per cent increase each year, over a three-year period.

A Maurice Blackburn spokesperson said, regarding the wage claims, that: “The firm’s latest offer is a 5.5 per cent pay rise in the first year for those earning under $100,000, which would cover 60 per cent of Maurice Blackburn’s staff, including administrators, receptionists, call centre workers and legal assistants. Staff earning above $100,000 would receive a pay rise of 3.75 per cent in the first year.”

“All staff would receive a 3.5 per cent pay rise in the second year of the agreement, and a 3.25 per cent pay rise in the third year.”

Regarding the industrial action, unionised lawyers working for Maurice Blackburn claimed that the decision to engage in a time-recording ban – rather than a complete stoppage – was to ensure that clients’ needs were still being met.

Shortly after this notification, the law firm confirmed it would refuse to accept any work from lawyers engaging in the ban on that day – with lawyers being directed not to access any work systems as they will not be paid.

In a clarifying statement, a Maurice Blackburn Lawyers spokesperson established that employees would not be “locked out” – stating it is “operating under the Fair Work Act”.

The Fair Work Act defines a ban on time recording as a “partial work ban” – meaning an employer is well within their rights to “issue a non-payment notice” or elect to stand down staff who are committed to the action.

The spokesperson continued: “Maurice Blackburn Lawyers is one of only two major law firms that supports staff to join unions so that they have strong representation during enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations.”

“Maurice Blackburn Lawyers has a long and proud history of backing workers and the broader union movement.”

The union did submit that the firm’s action does not technically constitute a “lockout” as they remain willing to accept their labour at any time.

“Additionally, the firm continues to accept the work of other staff, including legal assistants, who are not participating in the time-recording ban but are engaging in a separate strike action of up to three hours on the same day,” said the union.

According to Sean Melbourne, director of Source Legal and Workplace, the action from the employees is attempting to “thread the needle” between taking action against the firm and assuring the needs of clients are met.

“The Fair Work Act allows employees to do things like this when they’re negotiating an enterprise agreement. The idea is to annoy the employer enough – or place enough pressure on them – to get them to agree to the terms you’re after. In this case, the employees are seeking wage rises and 10 days of paid reproductive leave,” said Melbourne.

“The needle that employees often try to thread in these situations is choosing action that causes pain to the employer but doesn’t result in the employees stopping work altogether. If they stop work, the employer can’t pay them. I’d imagine the employees will also want to ensure that clients get taken care of, which a ban on time recording would allow for.”

The news follows the vote earlier this year at rival plaintiff law firm Slater & Gordon in favour of a union enterprise agreement, via which more than 600 staff at the national firm will be able to access significantly increased employee benefits, including pay rises between 11-22 per cent.

More to come.