employment law solicitors

As a business manager, director, or owner, you may need practical advice on the risks and processes to follow when dismissing an employee.

We will mitigate the risks of any potential tribunal claim, but sometimes this cannot be avoided. Our employment law solicitors will advise and represent you in defending any claims in a robust and cost-effective way.

Taking disciplinary action or dealing with complex grievances can be a difficult and delicate situation for all involved, with employers needing to be certain that they adhere to legal requirements and follow a fair procedure. Our employment solicitors will guide you through the process, draft letters, and advise you on options.

Are your contracts of employment and policies fit for your organisation? We will carry out a thorough review of your current policies, procedures, and contracts of employment to ensure you are legally compliant and protect you as a business.

The Equality Act 2010 ensures that both sexes should receive equal pay for equal work. If an employee believes they are being paid differently, while doing a comparable job, this could become an equal pay dispute or even a discrimination claim. We can advise you on complex equal pay claims and seek to limit the prospects of any tribunal claims.  

The Equality Act 2010 protects employees from being discriminated against in the workplace because of a protected characteristic. Do you have robust policies in place and carry out relevant training to protect your organisation from any claims?

Our employment law team will help you plan a reorganisation or redundancy process from the outset by providing clear and commercial advice on the various legal requirements.

This will ensure you are fully prepared before the consultation process starts and have clear guidance on how to conduct consultations.

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, known as TUPE protects employees in instances where changes to a business, such as a sale, result in a change to the employee’s employer. We support businesses during this process to ensure that the appropriate legal steps have been followed under TUPE.

Employment law issues can arise in corporate transactions. We will support you at all times during the process and advise on any structural changes and legal implications. Our focus is to ensure the transaction is seamless for all involved.

Our experienced employment solicitors will closely support you in the dismissing of senior executives, ensuring that you are fully advised on commercial considerations and options.  

Facing an employment tribunal claim is complex and often daunting. We have the experience to guide you through every step from Acas Early Conciliation, from submitting your defence (ET3) all the way through to representing you at the final hearing at the tribunal.

A restrictive covenant protects your business against detrimental actions from an employee when they have left your organisation.

Are you confident a former employee cannot poach staff and customers or join a competitor? Are the restrictions in your contracts of employment up to date, reasonable, and enforceable?

We can advise you on drafting restrictive covenants and queries regarding their enforceability. 

We can draft a tailored settlement agreement to ensure that a clean break is achieved, providing you with the peace of mind that there is no come back when the employee has left. We will also provide commercial advice on the financial offer and carry out negotiations on your behalf.

Our specialist HR professionals provide flexible and cost-effective on-site HR advice and support, from conducting investigations to chairing disciplinary hearings.

• If the claimant has brought additional claims alongside the unfair or wrongful dismissal claim (these can include matters such as discrimination, unlawful deduction from wages, and holiday pay owing).

• Making or defending any applications to the tribunal to deal with issues that arise as the case progresses.

• Being ordered to provide further information about your response to the claim by the tribunal.

• The number of witnesses you wish to rely on. The simple case estimate is based on you having two witnesses and the claimant having no more than two witnesses.

• The final hearing being listed for more than one day.

• Making or defending a costs application.

• If you wish us to undertake the advocacy on your case at the final hearing or attend the final hearing to support counsel.

The tribunal will set a timetable for the case through case management orders. It is difficult to provide you with a fixed timescale as an indication as the tribunal currently has a backlog of claims. The case may resolve or settle at any of the steps set out above. If the case proceeds from a claim form through to the final hearing the date for your hearing is dependent upon the tribunal’s availability.

This varies considerably depending on the location of the tribunal but as an estimate it is likely to be approximately 9 to 18 months from the date that the claim is received.

This is just an estimate and we will be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as your case progresses.

All employees and workers are entitled to a written contract of employment to be provided from day one of their employment. There is a certain amount of information which is required to be provided within these contracts, and we would recommend that they are well drafted in order to be legally enforceable, particularly for more senior employees.

There is no legal requirement to have a staff handbook full of policies and procedures, however, disciplinary and grievance procedures are required to be referenced within the contract of employment and so should always be in place. It is also a legal requirement to have a privacy notice setting out how you handle your employees’ personal data.

Aside from those, there are a number of policies we would recommend having as a minimum, and others that may be required depending on the nature of your business. As policies are generally non-contractual, they can be easily changed so it is useful to have them in place so that employees know their responsibilities, rights and obligations.

Any dismissal of an employee is legally required to be both procedurally and substantively fair, i.e. the employer must follow a fair process and dismiss for a fair reason. However, an employee can only bring a claim for unfair dismissal if they have achieved two years' qualifying service with that employer.

Therefore, many employers will dismiss an employee before they reach this mark as there is no risk of an unfair dismissal claim being lodged. That said, some other types of claims can be brought in these circumstances without the employee having two years’ service so advice should always be sought.

Employers rely on managers to actively monitor what is going on in their business “on the ground”. They will therefore often be called upon to become engaged in situations which may lead to or become disciplinaries or grievances (by way of example).

Training is vital for keeping your managers up to speed, and our employment law solicitors can provide just that. We have a range of modules available as part of our Adapt Training programme, where we can provide personalised employment law and HR training to your employees.