Jordan Hardinge
Jordan is an employment lawyer specialising in industrial relations and employment litigation.
While Jordan’s practice encompasses all aspects of the employment relationship, his main focus areas are assisting clients navigate enterprise bargaining issues and managing employment related disputation.
Jordan’s work in this regard includes developing bargaining strategies for clients, defending claims for protected action ballot orders, responding to notices of industrial action, acting in enterprise agreement arbitration disputes, running good faith bargaining proceedings, and assisting clients in contested enterprise agreement approval applications. Jordan has assisted numerous clients across the full enterprise agreement life cycle from first commencing bargaining to getting agreements approved by the Fair Work Commission.
Jordan is also an experienced employment litigator and has expertise in assisting clients manage complicated terminations of employment, including providing strategic advice pre-termination of employment, and defending claims post-termination. This work includes defending clients in unfair dismissal proceedings in the Fair Work Commission, general protections claims in the Federal Court of Australia, discrimination claims in various courts and tribunals, and acting in employment related contractual disputes.
Jordan has assisted Australian and international corporations across a broad range of sectors, including mining, government, aviation, manufacturing, resources, retail, transport and shipping.
Jordan was a finalist in the Lawyers Weekly 30 under 30 Awards in 2025.
Background
Jordan holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Laws (Juris Doctor) from Monash University. He is admitted as a solicitor of the High Court of Australia, the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria. He is a member of the Industrial Relations Society of Victoria.
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- Acting for an employer in a current intractable bargaining workplace determination proceeding seeking a workplace determination be made on the basis that all terms had been agreed with the relevant union
- Acting in several current high-profile discrimination claims that have attracted significant media attention and public interest
- Defending multiple recent general protections claims commenced in the Federal Court of Australia, including running these matters successfully through to trial
- Acting in a recent interlocutory application in the Federal Court of Australia where the Applicant union was seeking reinstatement of a delegate whose employment was terminated for underperformance
- Successfully acting in several recent contested enterprise agreement approval applications in the Fair Work Commission with each enterprise agreement ultimately being approved
- Defending a client against a claim for interim good faith bargaining orders seeking to restrain them from terminating the employment of two union delegates for misconduct
- Successfully defending a client in an application by a union for a protected action ballot order and having this application dismissed by the Fair Work Commission
- Acting in multiple enterprise agreement private arbitration disputes relating to rostering and third-party labour matters, including appearing in conference for these disputes.
