Employment

A settlement agreement may follow a protected conversation, and essentially summarises the terms of the employment termination.

We can draft Settlement Agreements and give guidance as to how you can have those tricky protected conversations with an employee. We also advise employees on Settlement Agreements.

Settlement agreements are legally binding contracts between an employer and employee normally used to bring an employment relationship to an end in a mutually agreed way.

Employees with a settlement agreement are required by law to seek independent legal advice before signing.  Almost all settlement agreements include a contribution to the employee’s legal fees for having the settlement agreement reviewed and agreed with a solicitor.

Our expert employment solicitors can advise employees on the settlement agreement terms and level of compensation and whether they have grounds for an unfair dismissal claim.

For guidance on what you should do if your employer has offered you a settlement agreement check out our blog https://samuelphillips.co.uk/blog/what-should-i-do-if-my-employer-has-offered-me-a-settlement-agreement/.

To bring forward an unfair dismissal claim an employee must, in most cases, have the requisite qualifying period of continuous service, which is currently 2 years.

In considering if the dismissal is unfair, an Employment Tribunal would first consider the principal reason for dismissal and whether this is a potentially fair reason, and then consider the reasonableness of the decision for that reason. The potentially fair reasons for dismissal include misconduct, performance and capability, redundancy or some other substantial reason.

In some circumstances, a dismissal could be deemed automatically unfair if the dismissal is connected to pregnancy, childbirth, health and safety activities, whistleblowing or exercising various statutory rights, in which case there is no minimum length of service.

Constructive dismissal is when an employee is forced to leave their job because of the employer’s conduct. Examples could be that the employer failed to pay the employee’s wages, or if the employer has imposed changes to terms and conditions without consent, and as a result, the employee feels that they have to leave.

From the date of unfair or constructive dismissal, the employee generally only has 3 months less 1 day to make an unfair dismissal claim. It is therefore extremely important that the employee obtains legal advice as soon as possible.

We act for both employers and employees in the above circumstances, and can provide representation up to and including an Employment Tribunal hearing if necessary.

Whether it is reviewing pre-existing documentation to ensure they are fit for purpose or drafting new contracts and policies, Samuel Phillips are able to assist.

For employers, we invite you to review our Biz-Care Scheme, which includes the review and production of up-to-date documentation, and may be a more cost effective way for work in this area to be complete.  A bespoke quotation can be provided on request and is dependant upon your wage roll, number of employees and last 3 years claims history. Find out more about Biz-Care here or contact paullott@samuelphillips.co.uk for further information.

For employees, we are available to review contract of employment and provide any assistance with regards to any queries that may arise.

When following either a disciplinary or performance management procedure, employers need to ensure the process is fair and thorough to avoid possible exposure to claims such as unfair dismissal or breach of contract.

Our employment solicitors can help your business:

• Draft and implement appropriate policies and procedures
• Review existing procedures
• Provide guidance on internal processes
• Manage and provide direct support through individual cases
• Draft correspondence

If you are an employee faced with disciplinary action who feels that your employer has not followed the correct disciplinary procedure or the ACAS Code of Practice, our employment solicitors can provide specialist advice and guide you towards a satisfactory outcome.

An employer should follow a fair redundancy process, and a failure to do so can expose an employer to a claim of unfair dismissal.

A fair process comprises a number of stages:

• consultation;
• fair basis for selection, including selection pool and criteria; and
• consideration of alternative employment

At Samuel Phillips we can advise both employers and employees on the correct process that needs to be followed.

We can support employers to reduce the risks of failing to follow a fair process, and we can advise employees if they think that their employers have failed to satisfy the requirements of a fair process.

Restructuring may involve changes to roles/job titles and a change to the overall structure of the business, and/or the redistributing work of a business among its current employees. It could also result in changes to terms and conditions, and a reduction in the numbers of staff, and therefore this type of work is often interchangeable with redundancy situations and contractual variations.

As Samuel Phillips we are able to assist with any restructuring queries and employment implications this may have.

A grievance procedure is a formal way for an employee to raise a problem or complaint to their employer. An employee can raise a grievance if they feel raising it informally has failed to reach an agreeable conclusion or they do not want it dealt with informally.

As an employer would you know what to do if you received a complaint from an employee?

Having a clear and concise grievance procedure will ensure that you take the right steps to address grievances.  We can guide you through the grievance procedure and ensure that you are compliant with the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary & Grievance procedures.

Our employment law solicitors can also help employees on how best to present their grievances to their employers.

There are various protected characteristics that an employer should be aware of, and which should not form the basis for discrimination, and these are age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

At Samuel Phillips Law we can advise both employers and employees in situations where there are concerns that discriminatory behaviour has or may take place, or where complaints about such treatment have been raised.

TUPE stands for Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment). A TUPE transfer happens when an organisation, or part of it, is transferred from one employer to another or a service is transferred to a new provider.

TUPE regulations protect your rights as an employee when you transfer to a new employer

Whether it be a business transfer or a service provision change, we’re on hand to help employers understand your employment law responsibilities under TUPE including your responsibility to provide Employee Liability Information, obligations to inform and consult employees about measures, the automatic transfer principle and pension rights.

Employees who believe their employer has fallen foul of the TUPE regulations should also seek specialist employment law advice and the team at Samuel Phillips Law are here to help.

A whistleblower is a person, often an employee, who discloses information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent.

The Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) was established to ensure that employees who engage in protected disclosure are free from fear of reprisal for their disclosures.

If an employee makes a qualifying, protected disclosure, which in the reasonable belief of the worker shows a qualifying failure and the worker believes making the disclosure is in the public interest, then subjecting that worker to a detriment or dismissing that worker for making that disclosure could be costly. We advise employers how to handle whistleblowing complaints received from employees.

The employment law team at Samuel Phillips Law also act for employees in claims for unfair dismissal for making a whistleblowing complaint and in claims where workers have suffered less favourable treatment for having blown the whistle.

We do the majority of our own advocacy so you have the same solicitor throughout the case up to and including a hearing in the Employment Tribunal. We also represent clients in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice.

We can represent professionals such as doctors, lawyers and teachers in regulatory proceedings.

When conducting workplace investigations, employees must take fair and reasonable employment decisions.  We are able to conduct sensitive internal investigations of grievance or disciplinary issues as an independent law firm when an employer may benefit from external support, particularly if a situation is complex.