Rate My Professor Adriana Orifici

Dr. Adriana Orifici is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Business Law and Taxation at Monash Business School, where she serves as Director of the Labour, Equality and Human Rights (LEAH) Research Group. She teaches employment law to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Her research specializes in employment law and workplace equality law, employing doctrinal and empirical methods to examine the legal regulation of workplace investigations, gender discrimination at work, and flexible work arrangements. Orifici earned her Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Melbourne in 2024, with a thesis titled "Justice and the Legal Regulation of Employer Conduct during Workplace Investigations," which was awarded the Harold Luntz Graduate Thesis Research Prize in 2025. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours in History), Bachelor of Laws (Honours), and Master of Laws from the University of Melbourne. Prior to joining Monash, she was a Senior Research Fellow at Melbourne Law School on an ARC Discovery Project, "Reshaping Employment Discrimination Law: Towards Substantive Equality at Work?" From 2007 to 2013, she practiced at a leading Melbourne law firm, handling employment, anti-discrimination, work health and safety, public sector employment, and coronial inquests cases for public and private sector clients. Earlier, she worked as a Collaborator-Intern at the ITC-ILO in Turin, Italy, under an Italian Government scholarship.

Orifici has held editorial roles as Associate Editor and Case Note Editor of the Australian Journal of Labour Law. She serves as Secretary of the Australian Labour Law Association, member of the Labour Law Research Network Advisory Committee, Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group, and Industrial Relations Society of Victoria. In 2023, she shared the Dean's Commendation for Excellence in Research Engagement and Impact with Dominique Allen. Her publications appear in leading journals, including "Industrial Legislation in Australia 2024" (Australian Journal of Labour Law, 2025), "Reframing Addis: a clarification of the law of damages for psychiatric injury in dismissal in Elisha v Vision Australia Ltd" (Australian Journal of Labour Law, 2025), "Bearers of rights, not just babies: pondering pregnancy as an impairment to explore pathways to equality" (Alternative Law Journal, 2024, with B. Smith, R. Kayess, D. Allen), "The barriers to pursuing workplace equality for women" (Alternative Law Journal, 2023, with D. Allen), "COVID-19 and Australian labour regulation: an overview of impacts, policy responses and future directions" (Japan Labor Issues, 2022), "Expecting More: Rethinking the Rights and Protections Available to Pregnant Workers under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)" (Federal Law Review, 2022, with D. Allen), and "Home Truths: What did COVID-19 Reveal about Workplace Flexibility?" (Australian Journal of Labour Law, 2021, with D. Allen). Her work supports UN Sustainable Development Goals on gender equality, decent work, and reduced inequalities.