Employment Law Services

Most employment relationships will be underpinned with an employment contract. An employment contract will ordinarily set out the key terms of your employment and any restrictions following the termination of your employment. If you have been provided with a new employment contract or looking to leave your current employment and want advice on the terms of your contract our team of specialised employment lawyers can provide pragmatic and practical advice and identify any clauses of which you should be specifically aware. 

Working with Employers
A starting point for all employers is to ensure that they have up to date contracts for their workforce as well as having all the necessary policies and procedures in place.

We can ensure all of your contracts and policies reflect the latest developments in statute and case law. In particular, we can ensure that all documentation provides your business with adequate protection, particularly when an employee laves your employment.

The right to make a data subject access request (DSAR) is a key element of the protections contained in the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UKGDPR).

Although a right of an individual to access data held about them has long been a part of data protection legislation, the development of digital technology has led to a massive expansion in the amount and nature of the data being processed, particularly in the employment context.

We have seen a particular increase in the number of DSARs being brought by employees. These requests are frequently made in the context of an ongoing or potential dispute or tribunal or court claim.

It is also important that employers have key documentation in place before getting to the stage of receiving and handling a data subject access request, as this sets the foundation for the legal basis on which they are processing employee data and the steps to take when an employee seeks to enforce their data rights.

In the UK, individuals are protected against a variety of different types of discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. The different types of discrimination are:

• Direct Discrimination
• Indirect Discrimination
• Harassment
• victimisation
• Discrimination Arising from Disability
• Associative Discrimination
• Perceptive Discrimination

The protected characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender Reassignment
• Marriage and Civil Partnership
• Pregnancy and Maternity
• Race
• Religion or Belief
• Sex
• Sexual Orientation

All job applicants, employees, workers and contractors are protected against discrimination at work. If you feel you are being treated poorly at work our team of specialist employment lawyers can guide you through this complex area and advise you on your rights and options. 

We have a number of specialist Employment Lawyers within our Employment Team that will be able to assist and advise on the process that you should follow if the employer finds itself needing to discipline one of its employees. 

Disciplinaries are formal procedures which are instigated by employers due to the alleged misconduct of an employee. It is important for an employer to follow a thorough and fair disciplinary process to reduce the risks of any potential claims against it.

Our team of specialist Employment Lawyers can advise on how to follow the correct disciplinary procedure, support senior management or HR in meetings and assist with drafting the required documentation to reduce the risk of a claim for unfair dismissal and to help alleviate the stress that may be caused by the situation.

Whether it is advice on raising a grievance, being involved in a disciplinary or capability process, long term sickness absence, performance improvement plan, adjustment to the workplace or working practices, warnings or even the termination of your employment, we can advise and support you throughout.

Our team of employment lawyers have significant experience in advising on workplace disputes and can provide you with practical and pragmatic advice to help and support you with resolving any dispute that you have with your employer.

• Disciplinary & Grievances 
• Employment Rights 
• Employment Tribunals & Unfair Dismissals
• Performance Management 
• Religous Beliefs
• Sickness Absence 

Employment status plays a crucial role in defining an individual’s rights and entitlements in the workplace. Determining employment status can, however, be challenging. If you are seeking clarity or assistance in relation to your employment status, our experienced team can assist you. With our expertise in employment law, we are well-equipped to assist in identifying your employment and resolving disputes that may arise in this area.

If you feel that your employer has acted unlawfully and infringed your rights you could have potential claims at an employment tribunal. Our team of specialised employment lawyers are greatly experienced in acting for individuals in the employment tribunal and can assist you with your potential claims.  

Our lawyers can provide you with expert assistance on your claim, discuss the merits of any such claim and the best way to pursue your matter so that you can achieve a preferable outcome.

Providing training and development opportunities to your employees are fundamental to the growth of your employees and will enable the Company to build a happy and positive workforce. Our team of specialist employment lawyers can provide bespoke training for you. 

Our employment solicitors have extensive experience in providing training to senior leaders, managers and employees in all types of businesses including leisure and hospitality, construction and financial services.

The types of training we can provide includes:

• harassment including sexual harassment
• equal opportunities and discrimination
• performance and capability
• long term sickness absence
• disciplinaries and redundancy procedure
• Immigration 

What is the fee for providing Training?
Our training is bespoke and will be adapted to the needs of the Company. The fee for providing the training will depend on the length of the training, number of people attending and whether it will be online or in person.

What is included in your training session?
We know that it can be difficult for employees to be able to concentrate on the subject when they are being lectured at. Therefore, we aim to make our training as interactive as possible and provide case studies to enable employees to become involved and put what they have learnt into practice.

Our Immigration law team specialises in providing our clients with up to date advice on the ever changing, UK Immigration laws.

Business Services

• Compliance advice and guidance
• Immigration audit services
• Management of sponsor licence
• Prepare and submit applications for your new employees and their families to join or remain in the UK
• Sponsor licence applications
• Work in the UK

Individual Services

• Dependant visa applications
• Graduate visas
• Hong Kong British National (Overseas)
• Naturalisation as a British Citizen
• Settling in the UK
• Spouse, civil partner, and unmarried partner visas
• Student visas
• Visitor visas
• Working in the UK

A redundancy situation occurs when the Company identifies the need to reduce the number of employees that it employs. The need to make redundancy will be caused by one of the following situations.

• Closure of the Business
• Closure of one of the Business sites
• Diminished requirements of the kind of work that the employee undertakes

Our team of specialist employment solicitors will be able to assist you with identifying the need to make redundancies and provide advice and assistance as to how to follow the correct redundancy process.

Restrictive Covenants or Post Termination Restrictions  are a valuable tool in protecting a business from a departing employee by ensuring that confidential information, commercial connections and remaining workforce are secure. 

Our specialist team of employment solicitors can assist on all aspects of post-termination restrictions including advising on current or proposed post-termination restrictions in contracts of employment, including whether or not such restrictions are enforceable and if so, how they will impact on future activities and for how long. In the event that a former employer is threatening or has taken legal action to enforce these restrictions, we can act for you to protect your position.   

A settlement agreement is a document provided to an employee by their employer with the intention of terminating employment and to settle potential claims the employee has against their employer. The agreement generally includes a Termination Payment to the employee as compensation for the employee’s agreement not to pursue any employment claims against the employer. Our team of specialised employment solicitors are able to provide you with advice on the terms and effect of the settlement agreement as well as the offer which has been made to you. 

For individuals
We can also look to assist you with requesting a settlement agreement with your employer if you have a dispute with your lawyers and your employer has not already offered you one. 

For a business
Our lawyers within in the Employment team have extensive expertise and experience which allows us to provide our clients with the most up to date advice and practical solutions whilst negotiating commercially considered and pragmatic settlements. 

 Our range of services includes:

• Drafting and advising on the terms of settlement agreements
• Advising on tailored commercial settlement terms and figures
• Drafting and negotiating bespoke amendments tailored to specific client needs and requests
• Identifying and valuing potential claims arising out of the circumstances leading up to the termination of employment and assisting to reduce exposure.

The Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employment) Regulations, widely known as “TUPE”, imposes several obligations and legal implications on businesses during a business sale or acquisition process. Our Employment team is experienced in providing advice on the applicability of TUPE, including its impact on employment relationships, effects of a transfer of employment and employee consultation obligations.

We are regularly engaged by clients on acquisitions, insolvency situations and changes in service provider. As well as advising on TUPE, we are experienced in assisting with the due diligence process and providing advice on the protections to build into any acquisition documents with regards to employees.

Any employee could make a protected disclosure (also known as whistleblowing). A protected disclosure is a disclosure of information which shows or tends to show one or more of the following has happened or is likely to happen

• That a criminal offence has been committed.
• That there has been a breach of legal obligations
• That a miscarriage of justice has occurred.
• That the health and safety of an individual has been endangered.
• That the environment has been damaged
• That any of the above events have been deliberately concealed.
• The disclosure of information must also be in the public interest.

It is important to ensure that any protected disclosure is taken seriously and addressed in the correct manner. The law surrounding protected disclosures is complex and our team of employment lawyers can help you understand and navigate the process correctly.

There are different types of discrimination that an employee can bring against a Company:

• Direct Discrimination – treating someone less favourably than others because of a protected characteristic
• Indirect Discrimination – imposing a provision, criterion, or practice that puts individuals with a protected characteristic at a disadvantage
• Harassment – unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic that has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment
• Victimisation – treating someone unfairly because they have asserted their rights under the Equality Act, such as filing a discrimination complaint or supporting someone who has
• Discrimination arising from disability – treating a disabled person unfavourably because of something arising from, or in consequence of, their disability
• Failure to make reasonable adjustments – failure to accommodate the needs of a disabled person, where such adjustments would prevent a substantial disadvantage
• Associative Discrimination – treating someone unfairly because they are associated with someone who has a protected characteristic
• Perceptive Discrimination – treating someone unfairly based on the perception that they have a particular protected characteristic, even if they do not

Employers must follow a fair and thorough process prior to disciplining or dismissing an employee. Employers must thoroughly investigate and obtain evidence of the misconduct prior to commencing the disciplinary process. This should include an investigatory meeting with the employee who has committed the alleged misconduct. Once you have obtained the information you should invite the employee to a disciplinary hearing, at which they will have the right to be accompanied.

If an employer does not have its own disciplinary process, employers should at least follow the procedure set out in the ACAS Code of practice.

If you feel you have been subject to discrimination at work, we strongly suggest you take legal advice on your position as we know how upsetting this can be. Our team of specialist employment lawyers support and advise you on your situation and the next steps. This could be looking to commence employment tribunal proceedings or raising an internal grievance in the first instance.

A whistelblower is an individual who makes a protected disclosure in the workplace environment.

Any employee could make a protected disclosure. A protected disclosure is a disclosure of information which shows or tends to show one or more of the following has happened or is likely to happen:

• That a criminal offence has been committed
• That there has been a breach of legal obligations
• That a miscarriage of justice has occurred
• That the health and safety of an individual has been endangered
• That the environment has been damaged
• That any of the above events have been deliberately concealed

The disclosure of information must also be in the public interest

It is important to ensure that any protected disclosure is taken seriously and addressed in the correct manner. The law surrounding protected disclosures is complex and our team of employment lawyers can help you understand and navigate the process correctly.

A collective redundancy is when an employer proposes to make more than 20 employees redundant at one establishment within a 90 day period.

If you propose to make 20 to 99 employees redundant you must commence the consultation process 30 days prior to the dismissal. If you propose to make 100 or more employees redundant you must commence the consultation process 45 days prior to the dismissal.

In addition to the consultation with the employees you must inform the Redundancy Payments Service that you intend to make redundancies prior to consulting with the employees.

What is an employee entitled to when they are made redundant?

In addition to their notice, employees are entitled to statutory redundancy pay. Statutory redundancy pay is based on the employees age, length of service, and weekly pay subject to certain statutory limits.

If you do not handle a grievance properly and the employee submits a claim at the Employment Tribunal you are at risk of the Judge awarding a 25% uplift to any compensation that may be awarded to the employee.

TUPE stands for Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment). It is a set of regulations in the United Kingdom that are designed to protect the employment rights of employees when their business, or part of it, is transferred to a new employer.