Halton & Reeve provides Fair Work Enforceable Undertaking audits, payroll remediation reviews, and workplace relations advisory to not-for-profit, healthcare, education, and government employers across Australia.
Our audits are conducted to professional standards with the rigour and independence required by the Fair Work Ombudsman, boards of directors, and the workforce whose entitlements are being verified.
Every engagement is designed around the specific Modern Award, enterprise agreement, and Equal Remuneration Order obligations that apply. We do not use templated audit programs.
Our reports are written to be read by directors, executives, payroll teams, and where appropriate, employees. Findings are clear, prioritised, and actionable.
The Fair Work Ombudsman accepts Enforceable Undertakings from employers who have self-identified payroll non-compliance and committed to remediation. Most undertakings require independent audits at twelve and twenty-four month intervals to verify that remediation has been completed and that ongoing compliance is sustainable.
Halton & Reeve provides these audits across the Modern Awards system, with particular depth in:
Our methodology covers historical liability quantification, sample-based payroll testing, time-and-attendance system review, payroll-system configuration review, and worker consultation.
For employers conducting voluntary payroll reviews — whether prompted by an enterprise agreement transition, a Modern Award reclassification, or an internal compliance review — Halton & Reeve provides end-to-end remediation support. Our remediation methodology covers liability identification and quantification, employee identification and contact processes (including former employees), reconciliation against superannuation, leave loadings and interest entitlements, and documentation suitable for self-disclosure to the Fair Work Ombudsman.
We support boards, executives, and HR leaders with workplace relations frameworks, enterprise agreement negotiation, and ongoing compliance assurance. Engagements typically include workplace relations risk register design, standing-item briefings for board governance committees, worker consultative committee establishment and facilitation, and pre-EA-negotiation entitlements baselining.
Engagements are scoped on a fixed-fee basis where possible, with day-rate alternatives for advisory work. We are happy to provide an engagement letter and indicative scope on enquiry.
A small practice with deep experience.
James leads the firm's compliance audit practice. He has more than twenty-five years of workplace relations experience across not-for-profit, healthcare, and education sectors, including senior roles at a national workplace compliance consultancy and a mid-tier accounting firm.
James holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney, a Master of Industrial Relations from the University of New South Wales, and is a Fellow of the Australian HR Institute (FAHRI). He has been admitted as a workplace relations expert by the Fair Work Commission.
Margaret advises boards and executives on workplace compliance, governance, and remediation strategy. With a background in employment law and more than twenty years in private practice and in-house roles, Margaret has supported clients through Fair Work investigations, Enforceable Undertaking negotiations, and large-scale payroll remediation programs.
Margaret holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Arts (Industrial Relations) from Monash University. She was admitted to practise in Victoria in 2003 and in New South Wales in 2011.
David leads audit fieldwork for the firm. His engagements include payroll-system testing, time-and-attendance review, and award classification verification across complex shift-based workforces.
David holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) from the Queensland University of Technology, is a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA), and has prior audit experience with a Big Four firm and a national workplace compliance consultancy.
Our practice is deliberately small. Engagements are led personally by James or Margaret with David coordinating fieldwork. We do not subcontract audit work and do not use offshore resources.
Halton & Reeve Workplace Compliance Pty Ltd
Level 12, 175 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
T: (02) 8294 7611
E: [email protected]
Monday to Friday, 9:00am – 5:30pm AEST.
Visits by appointment only.
For engagement enquiries, please email [email protected] with a brief description of the work and a contact number. A member of our team will respond within one business day.
Notice to current engagement contacts: If you have been contacted by Halton & Reeve as part of an existing engagement and have a query specifically related to that work, please reply directly to the partner or associate who contacted you, rather than this enquiries address.