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Law Subject Guide

Find online and print resources for law

Overview

Employment law research guide 

 

Explore a curated selection of resources to support your research on Australian employment law topics. 

 

 

 

Image by Sue Styles from Pixabay 

Getting started

Getting started


Check legal dictionaries to help with your understanding of unfamiliar terminology and jargon used in employment law.

Legal encyclopedias

Use legal encyclopedias for brief overviews of employment law concepts, and references to key case law and/or legislative provisions. See the legal encyclopedias section for help with using these products.

  • Title 26 - Labour Law
  • Title 165 - Employment
  • Title 230 - Industrial Law

Secondary sources

Secondary sources

Books

Use Library Search to keyword search for books on employment law topics or start with the subjects Labor Laws and Legislation - Australia or Industrial Relations - Australia.

Key titles are shown below.

Commentary services and key journals

Commentary services and key journals

Secondary sources

Looseleaf commentary services

Commentary services (also known as looseleaf or reporters) provide analysis of fields of law, including commentary on key legislative provisions and cases. The below law database products contain commentary on employment law issues. See the commentary section for help with using commentary products.

Other resources

Also see Part 16 - Employment in the below Lawyers Practice Manual Queensland.

Journal articles

Scholarly law journal articles are authored by legal experts and are grounded in research and theory. They provide in-depth analysis on specialised topics for an academic or professional audience. Use the resources mentioned earlier in this guide to search for journal articles on employment law topics. Key journals for this area are shown below.

Explore by topic


Explore by topic

Explore by topic

Explore employment law information in Lexis+ Australia:

  1. Select Explore on the Lexis+ Australia homepage
  2. Click on Topics
  3. Choose Employment Law 
  4. Select a sub-topic, eg Termination of Employment.Alternatively, search for relevant sub-topics using the search box beneath the list of topic areas
  5. Click through to view all documents for that topic. This includes cases, legislation, secondary materials etc. Use the left-hand filters to refine the list.

Lexis Practical Guidance modules provide guidance notes, commentary practice tips, legislation, legal precedents, cases, tools, forms and checklists etc.

The below guide demonstrates how to navigate and find information in Practical Guidance generally.

Primary sources


Primary sources

Identify key legislative provisions and leading cases using the secondary sources mentioned above.
 

Case law

For help with locating and researching cases see Australian case law earlier in this guide, particularly Cases on a legal issue/topic for strategies to find Australian case law on a specific subject area.

Use the below Westlaw Australia Key Number System headings to browse case law on employment law topics. 

  • 28 Employment law
  • 43 Industrial law
  • 83 Workers' compensation

The below specialist law report series publishes Australian employment law cases:

Unreported employment law cases are available via Westlaw Australia and Lexis+ Australia, as well as the following sources:

  • Select Jade Browser in the top menu
  • On the left side, select Browse collections > By topic 
  • Click on Employment, Labour and Industrial
  • Use the left-hand filters to refine the list, eg enter topic keywords to search within results.

Legislation

For general help with locating and researching legislation see Australian legislation earlier in this guide. LawNow Legislation in Lexis+ Australia lists Acts by subject, including employment law, however it also includes some repealed legislation.


In LawNow Legislation below, see the headings Employment, Industrial Law, Workers' Compensation and Workplace Health and Safety.


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