Bio

Michael Seck was admitted as a legal practitioner to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in October 1997 and called to the New South Wales Bar in May 2007.

Michael specialises in the area of industrial relations, employment and anti-discrimination law. Michael also practices in defamation, commercial/equity, human rights and public law, especially where claims relates to his core areas of practice.

With experience built over 25 years of practice, Michael has advised and appeared for major Australian employers in the public and private sector, workplace regulators, employer/industry associations, senior executives and trade unions. 

In particular, Michael takes pride in his technical proficiency in his areas of specialty, the practical and strategic approach he brings to litigating and advocating cases and his ability to build trust and rapport with his solicitors and clients to work together to achieve a timely and effective case presentation.

Recognition

Michael has been recognised for his expertise in the field of workplace relations and employment law in New South Wales and in Australia.

Doyles Guide has ranked Michael as one of the top junior barristers in his fields of practice in New South Wales and Australia. In 2023, he was ranked as a pre-eminent junior barrister in employment law in New South Wales and Australia.

In the 2023 Legal 500 edition, Michael was ranked in the top tier of juniors in the area of Labour and Employment and Commercial Disputes. Michael is described as “responsive, makes himself available where required and a very safe pair of hands”.

In the 2023 Chambers and Partners edition, Michael was ranked nationally in Band 1 as a junior counsel in the field of employment law.  He is described as a “very strong senior junior who is knowledgeable in all areas of employment-related litigation”, “a clever thinker” with “strong technical skills” that are “well-suited to the handling of large litigation matters”; "He is an insightful, knowledgeable and persuasive advocate.”

Michael has also been recognised in Best Lawyers 2023 in the area of workplace law.

Recent experience

Michael has particular recent experience in the the following areas:

- civil penalty proceedings, including for and against the workplace regulator (FWO and ABCC), arising out of alleged contraventions of workplace laws and instruments, deficient record-keeping, sham contracting, unlawful industrial action and picketing, wrongful rights of entry, unreasonable working hours, obstruction of investigators and union officials and industrial coercion and adverse action

- class action proceedings involving large underpayment claims based on award misclassification, employee/independent contractor distinction, contested award interpretation, overtime and penalty rates, employer record-keeping, the operation of ’set-off’ clauses and accessorial liability

- workplace exploitation of vulnerable migrant workers and young people including modern slavery, underpayment and record-keeping contraventions, workplace discrimination and coercion, unreasonable working hours and 'cash back' claims  

- serious contraventions under s 557A of the Fair Work Act 2009 including related issues of proof of systematic conduct and corporate knowledge through deficient corporate compliance culture

- non-standard working arrangements including labour hire, casual, independent contractors, individual flexibility arrangements, annualised wage arrangements and fixed term contracts

- general protections claims under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and whistleblowing claims under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and cognate legislation

- discrimination claims and sexual harassment claims in and outside the workplace 

- industrial action and disputes, the regulation of enterprise bargaining (including scope orders, good faith bargaining orders and the approval of enterprise agreements) and the making and termination of enterprise agreements

- modern award reviews and test cases including work value wage fixation, fixation of penalty rates and reform of outdated award terms and work practices

- enforcement of contractual, equitable and statutory obligations against senior executives in particular arising out of the theft, use and disclosure of confidential information, diversion of business opportunities and breach of post-employment obligations

- wrongful dismissal claims for breach of contract 

- employee entitlements including discretionary bonuses, share options, good leaver/bad leaver provisions, the setting off of commission and incentive payments against award entitlements and the calculation of award and statutory entitlements such as superannuation, annual leave and long service leave 

- workplace rights including freedom of association, freedom of speech and thought in academic and government workplaces and freedom of political opinion

- judicial and merits review of public sector employment and industrial tribunal decisions in industrial tribunals and superior courts

- the extraterritorial operation of Australian workplace relations legislation to overseas employees, the application of choice of law and international law principles to Australian workers working outside Australia such as seafarers, flight crew and overseas secondees  

Representative cases

Some matters in which Michael is currently and has been recently instructed include:

- Woolworths Australia in a major underpayment class action and regulatory proceedings commenced by the Fair Work Ombudsman (the largest underpayment claim in Australian history involving a large cohort of employees, lasting 7 weeks in the Federal Court of Australia)

- Sydney Trains in proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia to stop industrial action including the bans placed on the use of Opal Card Machines in 2022 and an application for the termination of protected industrial action in the Fair Work Commission because of its economic and welfare impact on the New South Wales population in 2019

- NSW Trains in a high profile industrial dispute in the Fair Work Commission and the Federal Court of Australia concerning union bans placed on the introduction of the new work practices and configuration on the new intercity Mariyung Fleet 

- Fair Work Ombudsman in various underpayment, industrial action, sham contracting and general protections claims including proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia arising out of a self-disclosure of underpayments for serious contraventions under s 557A of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) relating to the invalid use of individual flexibility arrangements and the failure to implement annualised salaries correctly under its enterprise agreement 

- Australian Building and Construction Commissioner and the Fair Work Ombudsman against various unions and their officials in numerous proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia for contraventions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act 2015 (Cth) including relating to unlawful industrial action, unlawful picketing, wrongful right of entry and industrial coercion claims

- Fair Work Ombudsman in various test cases in the Federal Court of Australia concerning sham contracting, unreasonable working hours, accessorial liability, the impact of corporate insolvency on underpayment claims, workplace discrimination and coercion, freedom of association, interference with workplace inspectors and the exploitation of vulnerable workers

- ClubsNSW in a high profile claim made by Troy Stolz, an alleged whistleblower in the Federal Court of Australia  involving claims of misclassification as an independent contractor, unpaid employee entitlements, workplace defamation, coercion and theft of confidential information 

- National Rugby League in the Fair Work Commission and the Federal Court of Australia in relation to the validity of its use of maximum term contracts for the engagement of professional match officials  

-  Commonwealth of Australia in a class action in the Federal Court of Australia claiming that the Commonwealth is an accessory to underpayment contraventions by major universities by the provision of Commonwealth scholarships to post-graduate research students

- BlueScope Steel in a large union class action claim in the Federal Court of Australia and on appeal to the Full Federal Court concerning the calculation of superannuation entitlements of employees paid an annual salary incorporating prepaid overtime

- National Australia Bank in a general protection claim by a former employee before the Federal Circuit Court and the Full Federal Court which is now the leading authority on the meaning and operation of a person being able to make a complaint or inquiry in relation to their employment under s 341(1)(c)(ii) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)

- Hillsong Church involving whistleblowing complaints made by a former senior financial manager concerning alleged contraventions of charities, taxation and corporations legislation in proceedings before the Federal Court of Australia 

- Bellamy’s Organic in relation to alleged whistleblowing complaints made by a former Chief Executive Officer in proceedings before the Federal Court of Australia

- Flick Anticimex in relation to sexual harassment complaints against a former senior executive in the Federal Court of Australia 

- St Vincent’s Hospital in relation to a disability discrimination claim in the Federal Court of Australia involving questions of the pleading of hypothetical comparators, the nature and identification of reasonable adjustments and the proof of the inherent requirements exception 

- the Commissioner of Police in various proceedings before the High Court, NSW Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and Industrial Relations Commission concerning claims of police officers removed from office or subjected to disciplinary and non-disciplinary action including jurisdictional questions  

- Network Ten in relation to the high profile claim made by Tegan George in the Federal Court of Australia alleging a sexist working culture at its Canberra political bureau involving Peter van Onselen

- the Commissioner of Police in  a disability discrimination claim in the Federal Court of Australia and on appeal in the Full Federal Court made by a police officer who claimed that he had his status as a Leading Senior Constable revoked because of disability raising the status of police officers as employees

- the Commonwealth of Australia in relation to a racial discrimination and vilification complaint in the Federal Circuit Court and on appeal to  Full Federal Court of Australia made by a former Indigenous employee arising out of use of offensive racial language in the workplace 

- Dick Stone, a large meat retailer, in proceedings in the Federal Court relating to the correct characterisation of its operations for the purposes of the Meat Industry Award, unreasonable working hour contraventions and the application of set-off of an annualised salary against award entitlements

- the Pharmacy Guild of Australia in the application before the Fair Work Commission and the Federal Court of Australia to reduce penalty rates and adjust minimum wages based on work value considerations

- Andrew Quirk and Brian Miller, former elected officials of the CFMMEU, in proceedings before the Federal Court and on appeal in the Full Federal Court involving allegations of serious internal corruption made to the Trade Union Corruption Royal Commission and reported to the media giving rise to contested questions of freedom of association, freedom of political opinion and internal union governance 

- the NSW Government agencies and Woolworths in relation to the lawfulness of their COVID-19 vaccination mandate and action take against employees for their failure to comply

- Cushman & Wakefield, IPH Limited, Heidrick & Struggles, Devine Real Estate, Guy Carpenter and other employers in the Supreme Court of NSW and the Federal Court of Australia in relation to the enforcement of contractual, equitable, statutory and post-employment obligations against former senior executive employees especially arising out of coordinated team moves, theft of confidential information and intellectual property and the diversion of business opportunities and client relationships to competitors

- Bluescope Steel in proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia to prevent industrial action at Port Kembla Steelworks which was likely to significant permanent damage to its blast furnace based on common law tortious claims

- Tomago Aluminium in an application before the Fair Work Commission to prevent industrial action which had the potential to cause significant damage to large expensive equipment and give rise to significant work health and safety concerns because of the failure to effect an orderly shutdown of the refinery

- CSL Australia [Canada Shipping Lines] in proceedings before the Fair Work Commission and the Federal Court of Australia arising out of its decision to re-flag its Australian flagged fleet and replace its Australian crew with foreign crew raising novel questions of the extra-territorial operation of Australian workplace relations legislation, the application of Australian cabotage laws, public and private international law, freedom of association and the Court’s power to order crew to disembark vessels for trespass and piracy

- Westpac Banking Corporation in a high profile unfair dismissal claim before the Fair Work Commission arising out of a secret workplace romance between a senior manager and a junior female colleague leading to allegations of conflict of interest, sexual harassment and domestic violence and is often cited as the leading case on the #metoo movement

- NSW Government Departments and agencies in industrial disputes and employment claims in various jurisdictions including for the Commissioner of Police; the Ministry of Health; the Department of Education; the Department of Communities and Justice; Transport for New South Wales; the Department of Customer Service; and the Department of Regional NSW