Employment

We give advice to employers and employees on all aspects of employment law. This includes:

For Employers

• the drafting of employment contracts; grievance and disciplinary procedures and other documents
• advising on the handling of redundancies, dismissals and various other problems arising in the workplace
• advising on and dealing with allegations of sex, race, disability, religion and sexual orientation discrimination
• defending claims in the employment tribunal
• the employment implications of buying and selling businesses
• bringing injunctive action against former employees in breach of restrictive covenants

Our objective is to give commonsense advice which will help prevent claims and disputes from arising, but we have detailed experience of handling claims before employment tribunals should that become necessary.

A feature of employment law in recent years, which looks set to continue for some time, is constant change and the regular introduction of new regulations and procedures. We have provided a number of in-house seminars to business clients to help them cope with the flow of new legislation, and we are always happy to discuss this as a practical way of keeping up-to-date.

For Employees

• raising a grievance in relation to poor disciplinary procedures, ill treatment and discrimination issues
• defending disciplinary action
• enforcing statutory rights during employment, for example, the right to maternity leave, parental leave and the national minimum wage
• assisting and advising on compromise agreements
• advising on maternity pay and leave and the regulations about flexible working
• advising on the effect of the regulations on part time working

We can also advise on any proposed changes to your employment contract and on redundancy problems.  We regularly handle employment tribunal claims on behalf of employees.

Contact partner – Michael Drake