About Us
We provide expert advice to employers and employees
With more than 150 years of experience
Specialists in employment law and employment relations.
Whitehead Group are leading Employment Law experts and employment practitioners providing expert employment advice to both employers and employees.
Why Choose Us
Honest, Employment Law Experts
The Whitehead Group prides itself on treating its clientele honestly and ethically. We charge a flat hourly rate with no hidden extras. When a client asks whether they have a chance of winning their case, the Whitehead Group will give an honest assessment based on all information provided.
Modern Legal Care
The Whitehead Group’s objective is to professionally resolve its client’s employment issues in a swift, cost-effective manner. Its clients enjoy being kept informed and consulted in regards to all matters associated with their issues. The Whitehead Group uses modern technology to ensure its clients get a professional, swift cost-effective service.
Over 5000 Cases Successfully Resolved
The Whitehead Group associates have between them in excess of 80 years of experience handling employment disputation, during that period they have successfully handled minor disagreements to complex legal matters. The Whitehead Group prides itself on having a well-known reputation for being professional, knowledgeable, and successful.
Who Are We?
Max Whitehead
Max is one of New Zealand’s leading employment relations practitioners with more than 30 years of experience in the field of employment relations.
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He has personally advocated over thousands of personal grievance cases and workplace disputes.
Max has occupied leading roles with the Ports of Auckland, Auckland Council, and Auckland District Health Board as well as advocating for hundreds of employers during his 11 years at the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA).
Max is often is requested to give his views in the media.
Theresa Tudor
Theresa moved into Employment Dispute Resolution from HR, successfully resolving hundreds of employment issues as an advocate, mediator, and representative.
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Theresa has years of experience working with businesses proactively to implement fair and legally compliant processes and management of a wide range of staffing issues.
Theresa is a licensed workplace Private Investigator with the Ministry of Justice, available to undertake independent workplace investigations for disciplinary purposes.
Theresa’s sound understanding of employment law has enabled her to represent countless employees faced with unfair treatment, finding successful resolutions to their grievances, in often highly stressful and emotionally charged situations.
Stepping in to resolve intense disputes on both sides; Theresa’s independent, impartial, kind but firm demeanor is respected and effective.
Mike Richardson
A highly motivated and results-oriented people leader with broad human resource experience at a senior level in a range of large multi-site diverse organisations.
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Mike’s experience as an independent employment mediator covers a broad spectrum having worked with many leaders, leadership teams, company boards, and employees in both the public and private sectors spanning a diverse range of industries.
His vision is for a simple, fair, and equitable dispute resolution process that enables employees to simply sit down and talk and mutually agree on equitable solutions
Maree Saunders
As a Shareholder, Maree plays a role in the strategic direction of the company, providing an operational perspective to the Whitehead Group.
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As a highly regarded Human Resource professional, Maree when requested provides an operational HR perspective on employment disputes that the Whitehead Group might be handling.
Jessica Millar
Jessica owns and operates a Bookkeeping business where she and her assistant look after many small business bookkeeping needs.
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For the Whitehead Group Jessica receives from the professional associates and Max a log entry of all interactions made with and on behalf of the client.
The logs contain the time spent and a narrative of each interaction. Jessica then creates detailed invoices from this information.
She also manages the entire invoicing process which also includes chasing up bad debtors.
Jessica also manages the Whitehead Group GST and all other daily accounting tasks.
These processes can become complex often requiring reimbursements when a client’s employer as part of the settlement will pay for our services.
John Wood
John has a high level of expertise developed from over twenty years in employment relations working in-house, as an advocate, and more recently as a mediator.
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He provides technically sound advice regarding the interpretation of agreements and legislation; restraint of trade matters; assistance regarding recovery of wages and holiday pay; advice and representation at disciplinary meetings; assistance with negotiated exits; and representation at mediation. He is proficient in developing restructure proposals and providing representation during these processes.
John’s level of experience is reflected by the fact that he has conducted over 2200 mediations. He has also worked as the lead advocate for over 50 collective bargaining negotiations spread over a range of industries.
John is able to provide practical, solution-focussed advice and representation for employees and employers.