Employment

We can help you with most types of employment problems, including:

• Breach of employment contract claims
• Unfair and wrongful dismissals
• Advice on compromise/severance agreements
• Redundancy issues
• Maternity and other family friendly rights
• Discrimination on the grounds of sex, gender orientation, race, age or disability
• Compliance with compulsory grievance and disciplinary procedures
• Employment Tribunals

If your particular problem is not listed above, we may still be able to help, so please get in touch.

We can advise you on your rights and the likelihood of your claim succeeding. If you are sacked on sexual, racial, disability or age grounds then there is potentially no limit to the value of your claim. In practice, however, the majority of settlements are well below the legal limit of £55,000. If may not make economic sense for you to pursue a claim and if we think this is the case we will tell you so that you can make an informed decision on what to do next.

In the majority of cases this will not be necessary and wherever possible we’ll seek to resolve your dispute without going to Tribunal. We’ll look at all the strengths and merits of your case and correspond with the other side, setting out your case in full and asking for their comments and proposals for settlement. We’ll push the other side hard to get you the best possible offer and if necessary start Tribunal action (or file a defence, as appropriate). If Tribunal action is necessary we put together the best team for your individual case. This means drawing on a wide variety of specialist experts, as well as barristers. Going to Tribunal raises the stakes, since losing can mean you pay the other side’s legal costs. As holders of the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark, however, you can rest assured that we will prepare your case thoroughly and professionally to maximise your chances of success.

Litigation can be an expensive business, particularly if you require specialist evidence. There are various ways in which your claim can be funded and part of our first meeting will be to discuss all the options with you. Whether paying privately, on a no-win-no-fee basis, through legal expenses insurance (which you may have on your income insurance plan) or After the Event Insurance, we’ll provide a realistic estimate at the outset and pay close attention to the costs – we can even stage payments. The most important thing is that the costs don’t outweigh the benefits to you.

It usually takes about two to three months to reach a negotiated settlement. If you go ahead with Tribunal action, a claim for unfair dismissal must be made within three months of the date of your dismissal and most cases will be heard within five months of issue.

The first thing to do is to get in touch with us so we can discuss all of the options open to you. Remember, many claims have deadlines for issuing so it is important that you contact us immediately. The more information you can bring us about your dispute, the quicker we can help you and the less time (and therefore cost) will be involved in obtaining the information we need. We can provide a list of useful information to bring to this meeting when you call to make the appointment.