• Passionate about advancing gender equality?
• Share our commitment to driving meaningful change and empowering women?
• Want to make workplaces fair and safe for women?

This Industrial Officer/Senior Industrial Officer role is a unique opportunity to be involved in establishing the Working Women’s Centre in NSW. Join us in the fight for women’s safety and economic security.

New Position

This a unique opportunity help set up a new legal program to redress structural workplace inequalities experienced by women and non-binary people. The Working Women’s Centre (WWC) NSW has been established to provide a feminist employment and discrimination service that will champion the rights and demands of working women. Working women’s centres are a proud product of the women’s movement and have a strong history of collaboration with women unionists. The position of Industrial Officer or Senior Industrial Officer (depending on your experience) will play a key role in our fight for women’s safety and economic security.

THE ROLE

This is an opportunity to work with a dynamic team of workplace specialists and best-practice frontline access workers.

We are seeking an Industrial Officer or Senior Industrial Officer who is passionate about our mission to advance gender equality. As an industrial officer, you will drive meaningful change to allow our clients to fully participate in safe, fair, and equitable workplaces. You will provide high-quality, culturally safe, trauma-informed, and holistic services, focusing on workplace rights, underpaid entitlements, dismissals and discrimination and sexual harassment. In this role, you will provide information and advice, and represent our clients in courts and tribunals on strategic casework files. You will be involved in reform campaigns to change laws, legal practice, and processes by submissions, lobbying and stakeholder engagement, responsive advocacy, and collaborative campaigning. You will have the opportunity to develop and deliver training to community workers and the broader community.

ABOUT US

Women's Legal Services NSW (WLS NSW) advocates for an end to gender-based violence and for gender equality in Australia. As a state-wide specialist women’s legal service, we assist women and non-binary people across NSW to obtain legal advice and representation from our trauma informed, holistic legal practice to address women’s safety and economic security.

We use our experience gained from working with over one hundred thousand women and our expertise in a feminist analysis of social issues and the law to determine where we can make the most meaningful and impactful interventions that make positive change structurally and systemically. We have invested in the development of our specialist expertise to advocate for structural changes in legislation and policy through law reform and through the provision of education and training to our colleagues in the legal profession, the community services sector, and the community.

We advise and represent women in a range of practice areas including discrimination, employment, sexual harassment, family law, domestic/family and sexual violence, and compensation and victims support for victims of crime.

WORKPLACE OF CHOICE

WLS NSW promotes gender equality through creating a workplace of choice for women that is:

• Safe. We have clear and effective policies on sexism, discrimination, harassment, bullying and abuse.
• Diverse. We acknowledge, encourage and respect diversity and lived experience.
• Culturally safe. We acknowledge and respond to the need for cultural safety for First Nations staff.
• Flexible. We acknowledge and support flexible work arrangements accommodating caring responsibilities, disability or health issues and study commitments.
• Professional Debriefing. We work in a trauma informed practice that acknowledges the vicarious trauma associated with our work and provide debriefing on an as needed basis whilst also having a requirement for regular external professional debriefing supervision.
• Career Growth and Development. We facilitate career advancement by offering opportunities to expand knowledge in legal practice, leadership, and strategic organisational development, equipping professionals for success in evolving roles.

WLS NSW seeks to close the gender pay gap by providing job and economic security with an Enterprise Agreement that pays above Award and provides generous leave provisions. You have the option to salary package which can add up to $15,900 in tax-free pay annually.

Salary range 2024-2025

Solicitor Grade 5 $96,794.51 - $117,251.58 p.a plus salary packaging

Senior Solicitor Grade 6 $121,248.22-$134,690.93 p.a plus salary packaging

Being a woman is a Genuine Occupational Qualification for the purposes of WLS service provision (Section 31 Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW)).

The position is based in our office at Lidcombe. The role will require travel across Greater Sydney as well as to rural, regional, and remote NSW and nationally.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Essential for Industrial Officer:

• Eligible to hold a Working With Children Check.
• Tertiary qualifications, or relevant experience, in the areas of law, social work, case management or psychology;
• Previous experience providing legal/industrial advice and casework services, or the capacity to transfer current knowledge/skills to this area;
• Preferable experience advising and representing women in relation to women’s employment issues, in particular workplace rights, underpaid entitlements, dismissals, discrimination and sexual harassment) and an understanding of the work of WLS NSW more generally (in domestic, family violence and sexual violence),
• Demonstrated understanding of, and commitment to, social justice issues for women, particularly First Nations women, and women in deep and persistent disadvantage (social, economic and cultural disadvantage) and lack of access to legal services.
• Understanding of cross-cultural issues faced by women including domestic and family violence and sexual violence and abuse;
• Good communication skills with the ability to manage multiple stakeholders, and foster teamwork and collaboration across an organisation;
• Demonstrated ability to work in an electronic environment including the use of word processing, email and web browsing tools and the capacity to acquire a working knowledge of the WLS working knowledge of the WLS case management system (CMS).
• Ability to travel across Greater Sydney and to rural, regional and remote NSW and interstate.

Additional Criteria for Senior Industrial Officer:

• Substantial experience in providing legal/industrial advice and casework services in areas of work relevant to the work of the WWC (workplace rights, underpaid entitlements, dismissals, discrimination and sexual harassment) including running complex cases.
• Understanding of the strategic function of community education, advocacy, campaigning, and the demonstrated ability to design and implement community education and law and policy reform initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability in managing and supervising projects and volunteers / students.
• Capacity to undertake a mentoring role of less experienced members of staff.

A Position Description and Guide for Applicants is attached. Selection criteria are in the position description and must be addressed for your application to be considered.