Tess Hardy

Associate Professor Tess Hardy is at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, where she serves as Director of the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law. She is an expert in work regulation and enforcement. Hardy holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Law from Melbourne Law School, with a thesis that empirically examined collaborative regulatory initiatives between the federal labour inspectorate and non-state actors, including unions, employer associations, and lead firms. She also earned a Master of Laws, Bachelor of Laws (Honours), and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne. Prior to entering academia, she worked as a lawyer and senior associate at national law firms and large companies in Melbourne, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, primarily in the area of work law. In 2017, she held a visiting appointment at Magdalen College, Oxford University as part of the Allen Myers Melbourne-Oxford Academic Exchange. She teaches Employment Law in the Melbourne JD program and has led complex, interdisciplinary research projects as the recipient of multiple competitive grants. Additionally, she has consulted for the International Labour Organisation.

Hardy's research specializations encompass employment law, labour law, bargaining, compliance, and enforcement. She is Editor of the Australian Journal of Labour Law and sits on the National Committee of the Australian Labour Law Association and the Steering Committee of the Labour Law Research Network. Her key publications include 'Partners in Enforcement? The New Balance Between Government and Trade Union Enforcement of Employment Standards in Australia' (Australian Journal of Labour Law, 2009), 'Mandate, Discretion, and Professionalisation in an Employment Standards Enforcement Agency: An Antipodean Experience' (Law & Policy, 2012), 'Chain Reaction: A Strategic Approach to Addressing Employment Noncompliance in Complex Supply Chains' (Journal of Industrial Relations, 2015), 'Big Brands, Responsibilities? An Examination of Franchisor Accountability for Employment Contraventions in the United States, Canada, and Australia' (Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal, 2019), and 'Digging into Deterrence: An Examination of Deterrence-Based Theories and Evidence in Employment Standards Enforcement' (International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 2021). Her scholarship addresses critical issues such as wage theft criminalisation, collective bargaining in fissured workplaces, and regulatory accountability in global supply chains.

Professional Email: tess.hardy@unimelb.edu.au