Inhouse Employment Lawyer (Malaysia)

What you'll do

Provides general legal counsel on employment and benefits related matters in various regions including but not limited to EMEA, UK, North America, Asia, Australia and Latam, as well as providing specific advice on contentious and non-contentious HR related queries and actions. Reviews employment, consultancy, contractors and other related contracts and documents.

The Employment and HR Lawyer will report to the Vice President and will advise stakeholders across the business on a wide range of employment and labour legal matters.

The successful candidate will provide legal advice on all aspects across Azeus employment and labour legal needs.

The individual will draw on their extensive legal experience to support the company in its approach to handling complex employment/labour legal matters, litigation, and to mitigate risk.

The day-to-day

• The primary responsibility of this role is to provide high quality, commercial and risk-appropriate legal advice and support to HR teams in the Group. This lawyer will have day to day interaction with the HR teams in different jurisdictions.
• Provide legal support covering all areas of employment/labour law, as well as sales commission structures and agreements. Regions covered include but not limited to EMEA, UK, North America, Asia, Australia and Latam.
• Provide advice and strategy recommendations on a wide range of employment topics including but not limited to hiring, appointment of consultants, promotions, statutory benefits, sales commission structure and payment, performance management, disciplinary matters, grievances, terminations, reorganizations, contingent worker management, sick leave, working time regulations, overtime payments, and other areas relating to employment law.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on relevant collective bargaining agreements and related representative body matters.
• Draft and review a wide range of employment related documents (employment contracts, agreements, consultancy / independent contractor / contingent worker agreements, termination notices, compensation letters, sales commission agreements, etc.).
• Design relevant policies and manage the implementation.
• Advise on pertinent regulations and emerging employment law trends, including in the areas of employment and labour compliance and related regulations.
• Providing regular training to HR on employment law matters, frequently asked questions and HR legal documents.
• Manage / oversee complex grievances, disciplinaries, and workplace disputes, ensuring fair and legally compliant outcomes.
• Conduct internal audits on HR and employment compliance including but not limited to existence of complete and up-to-date employment records and fulfilment of employer obligations.
• Support Azeus data protection team as needed regarding compliance with data protection laws in relation to employee, consultants and contractor data under applicable laws across the region.
• Advise and support on corporate transactions involving employee matters and applicable regulations including TUPE and analogous laws.
• Provide advice and oversee as appropriate employment termination, employment litigation and related disputes.
• Engaging and managing outside counsel in a cost-efficient manner. Liaise with external legal advisors where necessary, preparing instructions and managing external legal support.
• Other responsibilities as assigned by the company.

What you'll need

• Be a qualified lawyer, with minimum 5 years relevant experience gained at leading law firms and/or in-house.
• Proven experience working in similar roles for different jurisdictions, such as EMEA, UK, North America, Asia, Australia and Latam.
• Proven experience working within geographically dispersed HR teams and business units.
• Significant experience in employment/labour work.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills to effectively interact with stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Collaborative team player with flexibility to align with colleagues in different time zones.
• Highly responsive to internal clients and business stakeholders.
• Proven negotiation skills.
• Impeccable attention to detail and strong written work product.
• Pragmatic, commercial approach to advising internal clients.
• Ability to work proactively, independently, and reliably in a fast-paced environment and handle multiple assignments simultaneously.
• Ability to think practically when considering risks and be solution-oriented with advice.
• Willingness to handle matters outside primary area of expertise.
• Strong analytical capabilities and judgment.
• Good common sense.