Employment Disputes

If you have a nuisance employee, the first port of call should be following through your practices and procedures. You should be aiming to help and support them, to get them where you need them to be. If that fails, then dismissal may be an option, but it's really important that you follow the correct procedure to make sure that no employment tribunal claim follows.

As an employer, there are a number of times in which you can rightfully terminate an employees contract. It might be for reasons of capability, disciplinary reasons, or for redundancy reasons. But it's really important that a proper procedure is followed, so that you don't end up on the receiving end of an employment tribunal claim.

A settlement agreement ties up all of the issues between an employer and an employee around their employment and the termination of their employment. For an employer, it gives confidence that there will be no further claims. And, for an employee, the benefit will usually be some form of compensation for the termination of their employment.

For an employee, the key clause in a settlement agreement will usually be the one around compensation for loss of employment. For an employer, the key clauses will be that which prevents any future employment tribunal claims. And perhaps, if appropriate, some clauses restricting the employee from going to work for a competitor in the future.

If an employee leaves without notice, this is technically a breach of contract. If you have suffered a loss as a result of them leaving without notice then you may have a claim for damages. You should speak to a solicitor to find out if you do have a claim and, if so, what the next steps are.

For an employer, using an employment law solicitor could prevent any employment tribunal claims from being brought against you. For an employee, although you can represent yourself in the tribunal, it can be quite complicated and really daunting. If you use a solicitor, you give your claim the best chance of success.

If you're a small or new business looking to expand and take on staff, it's very important that you get advice. It's not jut as simple as having an employment contract template and hiring a new member of staff. It's important that you're aware of all of your legal obligations as an employer. Now they might include your duty to look after the health and well-being of your staff, laws around pensions which are now compulsory to have a scheme available for all employees in your business. Also, the general framework around employment contracts, staff handbook, there's equality laws. So, my best advice would be, if you're looking to take on staff for the first time or grow your business, get expert advice at the beginning to help establish good foundations. Now, often a lawyer can draft policies for you and give you good advice at the start, which you can then adopt going forward without the need to come back for regular visit or advice. So, if they get it right for you at the beginning, you can use that going forward to help grow your business.

It's important to remember for businesses that you can still be held responsible for the acts of your staff which take place in a social context. For example, the impending office Christmas party. If, for example, there was a member of staff who made an advance towards another colleague during the office party, and that subsequently led to a refusal in an animosity, either between the staff members or difficulties in place of work, that is a problem which is rests with the employer. So, it's important to be proactive, in ensuring these problems do not occur. Firstly, I would suggest have a clear policy in place. Make sure you have defined start and end times of your event. So, if the office party is due to end at 11:00 make sure it does it and end at 11:00, and maybe even organise transportation home for the staff, so that they can all be sent on their way. What you don't want is for any acts to take place during the work organised event, which would then become the responsibility of you as the employer.

At the outset of the matter you will be provided with a fee estimate based upon our experience in dealing with similar matters in the past. If something unexpected happens and it appears that fees are going to increase we will contact you and agree a new estimate prior to carrying out further work. Likewise, if we spend less time on the matter than expected we will not charge you the original fee estimate.

The amount of time it takes to conclude a matter will differ from case to case, however we will use our best endeavours to finalise the matter as quickly as possible. We will ensure that we respond to your telephone calls and correspondence promptly in order that we can progress your matter further.

It is not always necessary to attend our offices and have a meeting. We understand that time constraints affect businesses and that a telephone conversation is sometimes more convenient for clients. Alternatively, we are happy to meet with clients even if they only have a few queries. We will always be flexible in order to meet your business needs.

Mullis & Peake offer an insurance backed Employment Protection Scheme for business clients. This means you pay a fixed fee for a years’ worth of ad hoc advice alongside an insurance policy premium. If you are ever faced with an Employment Tribunal claim the insurance policy would pay your legal fees and any sum awarded by the Tribunal.*

Another aspect which makes us stand out is that, unlike a lot of other firms, we have a dedicated Employment Law function which sits in our commercial department solely for businesses. Our lawyers are both commercial and employment experts so we know how businesses work and are able to appreciate the time and cost restraints involve. This enables us to provide a better service to our commercial clients.

*subject to you not breaching the terms and conditions of the insurance policy

As an employer, you have the right to expect you employees to comply with the terms of their contract of employment. Outside of that, employees have quite a lot of protection under the law, and you'd be well advised to make sure you're aware of what their rights are before taking any action against an employee.