Belinda Hapgood

Special Counsel
Areas of Expertise

Employment, Workplace Relations and Safety, Government, Education, Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Belinda is one of Queensland’s foundation Accredited Specialists in Workplace Relations and has practiced exclusively in the field for over twenty-five years. She has honed her client relationship skills by working in-house in an allied health care organisation with a national footprint as well as for a national regulator.

Belinda acts for major Australian companies across a range of industries including healthcare, logistics, not-for-profit and charitable bodies, regulatory bodies and employee organisations. She advises on the full lifecycle of employment relationships including recruitment, selection, performance management, incident response, disciplinary issues, redundancy and termination of employment. Belinda is highly experienced in advising on public sector employment, industrial, discrimination and workers’ compensation claims.

Her specialist expertise includes conducting workplace investigations, representing clients in contentious post-employment disputes (including protection of confidential information post-employment) and in Royal Commissions and inquests. Belinda's clients value the pragmatic lens she applies to complex legal problems and regularly commend her empathetic and commercially focussed approach.

What others say

"Recommended Lawyer, Employment (Employee Representation)"
Doyle's Guide 2020 - 2022
"Belinda, you have already exceeded my expectations …. Just talking to you the other day reaffirmed my belief in good people. You have that in spades."
Private client
"Thank you again for yesterday. You were such a good support for me. You probably have no idea how much."
Private client
"Thank you so much for all your support, hard work and empathy throughout the course of this case. It was so nice to walk [into work] this morning with a huge weight lifted and a clearer head."
Private client

Experience

Mining company

Appearing for a publicly listed mining company in the Fair Work Commission concerning the method of drug testing adopted by an employer which was the subject of challenge to managerial prerogative as an unreasonable intrusion into employee privacy.

National regulator

Advising a national regulator on complex acquisition related employment and industrial law matters including transmission of enterprise agreements, employee entitlements (cross jurisdictional boundaries) and renegotiation of existing enterprise agreements.

Transport and construction

Representing an operator in the transport and construction industries in relation to an occupational health and safety prosecution arising from a workplace fatality avoiding the personal conviction of the director of the company and achieving a reduction in the financial penalty.

Government agency

Preparing the response to the NSW Ombudsman concerning a public interest disclosure on behalf of a government agency.

Teachers' unions

Advising teachers' unions (and their members) on workers' compensation, personal injury, disciplinary and regulatory proceedings.

Litigation

Appearing for plaintiffs and defendants in Supreme Court litigation in both Queensland and NSW concerning injunctive relief for use and disclosure of confidential employment documentation and restraints of trade.