Employment law services for Employers

We provide UK employment law advice for a range of businesses from start-ups right up to large international PLCs across all sectors and industries.

Our aim is to provide clear, affordable advice on all aspects of UK employment law.

Our experienced solicitors are on hand to advise you in relation to any dispute or question which may arise in connection with your employment situation. We provide proactive and ‘best practice’ advice in connection with practical day-to-day business matters or more specific legal issues and disputes. Our solicitors regularly undertake advocacy in the Employment Tribunals and have well-established relationships with a number of leading barristers’ chambers.

Advisory work

Termination Situations/Claims

We would advise that employers always seek advice before terminating an employee’s employment (or starting any process towards this).

We are well set up to advise you in detail as to your rights and obligations in any such situation and as to the appropriate route to follow in order as to follow best practice and minimise the risks of any claims.

If you have already terminated an employee’s employment, then we can also advise you as to any claims which they may be threatening or may actually have brought in the Employment Tribunals or High Court. Such claims can be in areas such as constructive dismissal, unfair dismissal, whistleblowing, breach of contract or claims in any of the vast field of discrimination claims now open to employees. Discrimination claims can, indeed, also be issued by employees who remain in employment. If you receive any such claim, please seek advice immediately – time is often of the essence. We are vastly experienced in the area of successfully resisting these claims on behalf of employers and will work closely with you and your employees to reassure, assist and advise on your legal and tactical options.

Redundancy Procedures

In this changing economic climate, many companies have had to restructure themselves to keep their competitive edge or simply to improve.

Our specialist employment team can help guide you through any potential redundancy process to seek to ensure that you follow the processes which you are required to, so as to minimise potential liabilities and follow best practice.

We would strongly advise not to start such a process or reach ANY final decisions as to potential redundancies before you have sought legal advice.

Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures

We can expertly guide you through any employee issues which you are having including advising you on all stages of any disciplinary and grievance procedures as well as seeking to ensure that your business complies with UK employment law in order to minimise legal risk. We can also draft new disciplinary and grievance procedures for you, or amend existing procedures.

TUPE

Should you propose to sell or purchase a business, the businesses’ employees may be covered under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (“TUPE”).

This means you may have various obligations towards impacted employees which could, in fact, start to apply some time in advance of any proposed sale or purchase. We would recommend that you sought advice at the earliest time therefore and our specialist employment solicitors are on hand to advise you as to the best practice when transferring business ownership, guiding you as to what information you will need provide to impacted employees including any consultation obligations.

Drafting

Contracts/Service Agreements

Our team of employment solicitors can work with you to create tailor-made contracts of employment/service contracts to suit and address your businesses’ needs, and review and amend existing ones to ensure that they comply with up to date employment legislation and best protect your business. As well as complying with the legal requirements of such documents including detailing the job role, responsibilities, hours, place of business, remuneration, annual leave, maternity/paternity/adoption leave, pension provision, sick pay and notice period we can also advise you as to what additional clauses may assist to protect your business for example in the areas of confidential information, intellectual property and restrictive covenants.

Consultancy Agreements

Whether you are a consultant or a business, it is vital to draw up a consultancy agreement for use when engaging in such an arrangement, setting out the terms of their engagement. Our team can help you draft an agreement as basic or as in-depth as your specific business requires (or review one if you have been asked to enter into it).

Settlement Agreements

Our team of experts can draft your company’s settlement agreements and advise you in relation to appropriate termination payments, bonus calculations, termination dates, garden leave provisions, annual leave entitlement and any covenants you may wish your employees to agree to in order to protect your businesses’ interests.

Staff Handbooks

Our solicitors can draft new and comprehensive handbooks, or review and amend existing ones to ensure that they comply with the most recent employment legislation and best protect your business.

HR Support

We can offer your business a tailor made package to suit your needs, whether you need ongoing support or a one-off meeting to discuss a particular issue. We can assist you on how to conduct meetings, draft letters to your employees, guide you in connection with any internal procedures, and advise on potential whistleblowing issues.

Court and Employment Tribunal for Business Clients

Dale Langley & Co offers support as needed in cases brought before the High Court, County Court and Statutory Tribunals including the Employment Tribunal. The higher level court cases are usually handled by our associated practice Dale Langley Solicitors.

Support in such cases varies from monitoring and advising in the background when needed re the claim brought against you, to instructing Counsel and in many cases representing you and acting on your behalf. Where you have legal expenses insurance cover we also deal with most major insurers and can agree costs and representation with them on your behalf within the level of your indemnity.

The focus of the firm is to find the most cost-effective way of settling any particular claim which requires both depth of experience and a sense of timing. As a result the many claims or potential claims against our clients we deal with each year, very few end up in a trial. We are also very familiar with the different types of mediation including judicial mediation, mediation at a recognised mediation centre, ACAS conciliations, and a private mediation arranged and set up by us.

We view it as a great success of our settlement negotiation or alternative resolution process that this is the case, as it takes away a lot of risk from the client and makes a huge difference to the cost. In all our negotiations we try where possible to minimise legal costs as well as the cost of the terms eventually agreed.

When estimating or quoting costs for employment tribunal cases such as unfair dismissal, we are acutely aware of the relationship between the costs incurred (win or lose) and the likely outcome. This enables us to select the most suitable level of fee-earner to handle the day to day administration of the claim (and liaison with insurers where appropriate). All trainees and less senior solicitors will be fully supervised by a principal or senior solicitor. A junior solicitor will charge £250 per hour and a senior £285-£350. I as Principal charge £395.

Increasingly in privately funded cases we seek to agree fixed prices for various stages in the proceedings. These may coincide with a definite task (e.g. disclosure of relevant documents by list) or preparing witness statements. Much will of course depend on the individual case, e.g. the number of documents and of potential witnesses. All our prices assume a mix of face to face meetings and email/telephone work on a day to day basis.

COSTS

As an idea of the commitment involved in pursuing a simple Employment Tribunal claim for unfair dismissal up to trial we would start from the average cost of £9,950 for support and advice and a minimum of about £29,500 for our time for full representation. We are happy to discuss a costs arrangement to suit your budget and level of involvement requirement and devise it to cover your needs.

(All prices above are VAT exclusive unless otherwise stated).

We look forward to hearing from you if you wish to find out more about instructing this firm in defence your potential claim.

Our employment law services can help protect and develop your business to maximise its potential.

Call us today on 0204-549-2486 or email us on enquiries@dalelangley.co.uk to find out more.