Elyane Palmer

Elyane has advocated for employees and unions in her home state of Western Australia and adopted state of Victoria for 20 years, predominantly working within unions and union peak bodies.

The energy on the picket line in the 1998 waterfront dispute, where she witnessed the power of collective action first-hand, inspired Elyane to pursue a career in the union movement. Elyane wants her clients to feel empowered and supported.

Elyane has appeared, both as advocate and instructing counsel, in innumerable matters in various Australian courts and tribunals, particularly in Fair Work Commission, Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission and Federal Court matters. She has worked predominantly in relation to registered organisations, enterprise bargaining, award matters, industrial action, unfair dismissal, union right of entry, and collective employment disputes.

Elyane has also worked in industrial and employment relations in government, university and not-for-profit settings, including for a labour rights organisation in Beijing, China.

Prior to joining Hall Payne Lawyers, Elyane was the Principal at the Migrant Workers Centre, where she oversaw the establishment of a new community legal service providing free employment law assistance to people born overseas.

Elyane holds a Juris Doctor, a Graduate Certificate in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Industrial Relations. She is accredited as a specialist in workplace relations law by the Law Institute of Victoria and is a member of the Institute’s advisory committee for that practice area.

She has taught industrial relations at the University of Western Australia and Notre Dame University, and devised and delivered legal CPD programs, including for UnionsWA and the ACTU, and courses in tribunal advocacy and industrial relations at the ACTU.

With the late Associate Professor Joan Eveline, Elyane co-authored a leading academic paper on gender pay equity in the aged care sector: ‘Sustaining low pay in aged care work’, (2012) Gender, Work and Organization, vol 19, n 3. Cited over one hundred times, this paper continues to be routinely cited in research in this area.

Elyane was named by her peers as a 'Leading In-House Employment & WHS Lawyer – Australia' in Doyle's Guide to the Legal Profession, 2020 to 2024, for her work as in-house counsel at the CFMEU, where she managed significant civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia and High Court of Australia.

Outside of work, Elyane enjoys spending time with her friends and family, including her two young daughters, and is an avid reader.