Adriana Orifici

PhD Candidate

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Adriana Orifici is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law. Adriana researches in the fields of employment law and equality law. Her doctoral thesis examines the interface between workplace investigations and public regulation and uses doctrinal and empirical research methods. Adriana is also a Lecturer in the Department of Business Law and Taxation at Monash Business School, where she teaches Employment Law and HRM Law.

From 2013 to 2016, Adriana was engaged by the Melbourne Law School as a Research Fellow on an ARC Discovery Project entitled 'Reshaping Employment Discrimination Law: Towards Substantive Equality at Work?', which considered the effect of the general protections provisions under the Fair Work Act 2009, and the interaction of the overall system of employment discrimination laws in providing legal redress for discriminatory harms at work in Australia.

From 2007 to 2013, Adriana worked as a lawyer and senior associate at Maddocks in Melbourne. Her practice was in the area of employment law, anti-discrimination law, work health and safety, privacy law and coronial inquests. She has extensive experience in acting for clients in the public and private sector in all employment-related matters.

Adriana holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Master of Laws from Melbourne Law School. She was previously the Associate Editor of the Australian Journal of Labour Law and has worked as a Collaborator-Intern with the International Training College of the International Labour Organisation in Turin, Italy under the auspices of a scholarship from the Italian Government.

Thesis Title

Workplace Investigations: Interactions with Regulation and Pathways for Reform

Thesis Summary

Workplace investigations are an essential management tool for employers, including to address allegations of employee misconduct and discharge statutory obligations. In addition, conducting workplace investigations has, over the last decade, become a burgeoning industry. Little is known, however, about the actual practices of workplace investigations and the interface of investigations with public regulation. This project will be the first detailed analysis of the law and policy dealing with workplace investigations in Australia. It will include empirical research on the process and outcomes of workplace investigations, which will explore the experiences of employers, employees, investigators and advisors. As well as examining the history of regulation of workplace investigations, and the current regulatory framework covering this growing field, this project will canvass what might be done in the future to improve the protections for employees, and others, who are involved in workplace investigations.

Supervisors

  • Australian Labour Law
  • Equality Law
  • Empirical Research Methods