Major law firm accused of ‘hypocrisy’ over reproductive leave

The dispute between Maurice Blackburn Lawyers and its employees has ramped up, with “deeply disappointed” unionised workers calling out “hypocrisy” from the national practice, based on its previous reproductive leave stances.

Australian Services Union (ASU) members working at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers are today (6 March) engaging in industrial action against the law firm over pay disputes and for 10 days of reproductive leave.

The action – engaged by legal and non-legal union members – includes lawyers refusing to record their billable hours. 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.

Despite this attempt to “thread the needle” between employer disruption and client appeasement, the law firm quickly 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.”

ASU national secretary Emeline Gaske noted that despite Maurice Blackburn’s “legal threats and aggressive tactics”, union members would not be deterred from partaking in the action.

“ASU members will not be intimidated by legal tactics. Our members will be pressing ahead with the ban on time recording because workers at Maurice Blackburn deserve a better deal,” Gaske said.

“We believe this will be the first time lawyers in Australia have taken industrial action in the form of a ban on recording their billable hours. Members are making a strong point – while the firm charges clients hundreds of dollars per hour for legal work, it refuses to fairly compensate the staff who generate that revenue.

“For this reason, our members will not be recording billable time during the action. If the firm refuses work from lawyers who aren’t recording their time, it reveals that profit matters more to them than genuinely supporting their clients.”

One of the big issues within the enterprise agreement is regarding paid reproductive leave. As it stands, according to the ASU, Maurice Blackburn has refused to extend reproductive leave beyond four days despite the firm publicly supporting union initiatives that push for 10 days of reproductive leave.

In a statement from 2022, which is still available on the firm’s website, Maurice Blackburn joined “Australia’s biggest unions to campaign for menstrual and menopause leave for women.”

Maurice Blackburn lawyer Jessica Heron, who is quoted in the 2022 statement, labelled the existing leave provisions pertaining to reproductive leave under the Fair Work Act – at the time – as insufficient because “they did not allow women to take personal leave for menstrual-related pain”.

“The most effective way of combating this unfairness is to create a uniform legislative standard allowing for additional leave days under the Fair Work Act. Women should be given at least 12 extra days leave a year, or one day per month,” said Heron back in 2022.

The union and its members have labelled this as hypocrisy.

“Maurice Blackburn has publicly campaigned for employers to provide 10 days of reproductive leave, yet it refuses to move beyond four days for its own workers.

“This hypocrisy has deeply disappointed our members,” Gaske said.

“The ASU calls on Maurice Blackburn to immediately return to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith for fair wages, improved conditions, and a deal that properly rewards the firm’s hardworking legal staff.”

Maurice Blackburn had no further comment on the matter.