Employment
Experience
It doesn't matter whether you're a sole trader or large PLC, our Employment Law team can help you. We offer specialist employment advice to business clients from both our Colchester and Chelmsford offices. We advise on all types of problems and claims an employer may face from simple disciplinary issues to complex discrimination cases and collective disputes. We have extensive experience of the Employment Tribunal system, including the Employment Appeal Tribunal, and have achieved many successful results. For example, recently the team successfully defended a disability discrimination claim worth in excess of £300,000.
We are always keen to advise business clients at an early stage in an attempt to avoid dispute and litigation, but where they occur we are confident in achieving the best result. We take a practical and proactive approach to such problems including the consideration of, where appropriate, alternatives to litigation. Whatever route you decide to take, we provide business orientated and client focused advice, tailored to your specific needs, and working in tandem with the firm’s corporate and other teams when required.
We recognise that employment law is increasingly complex and therefore that compliance with it is an increasing burden for employers. Accordingly, we work closely with our business clients to keep them up to date, and in line with all new legislation, through a range of value added services. This includes breakfast clubs, seminars, conferences, published articles, bespoke training and regular e-newsletters. In conjunction with a leading insurance broker, we also offer our business clients the benefit of legal expenses insurance. This means that for the payment of a monthly premium, an employer can cover it's business against the risk of a claim to include any award at tribunal or court, or settlement sum, as well as the legal costs of defending the claim. We also offer the option of a monthly retainer with ourselves which allows our business clients unlimited employment advice from the team.
We believe that a combination of both provides our employer clients with certainty in their business planning to enable them to do what they're best at; focusing on their business and driving that forward.
We also work in partnership with leading HR consultants, Park City, should our business clients need external assistance with practical HR issues, specialist health and safety advice or HR management and training. The team also has other strong local business partner links so that we are able to recommend, if required, the best professional support in all non-HR and non-legal areas.
We recognise that the thriving business community is no longer restrained by national boundaries. Uniquely, in the locality, our team is fluent in four languages other than English. We have strong links through the firm's International Team with European lawyers in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Portugal to enable us to call upon legal advice from all parts of the EC when required.
The 2006 Legal 500 entry describes the team as “outstanding”. The 2007 Legal 500 entry describes the team as "widely admired".
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Main Services
Employment Law
All areas of employment law including:
- Employee status
- Unfair dismissal
- Wrongful dismissal
- Redundancy (including collective redundancies)
- All types of discrimination (including age)
- Equal pay and equal opportunities
- Transfers of undertakings
- Restraint of trade and confidentiality
- Vicarious liability of employers
- Maternity/paternity rights
- Breach of contract/contractual disputes
- Employment Tribunal procedure
- Retirement
- Working Time
- References
- Compromise agreements
Employment Documentation
- Contracts of employment
- Handbooks
- Maternity/paternity and other family friendly policies
- Equal opportunity policies
- Email/internet use policies
- Drink/drug/smoking policies
- Health & safety policies
- Disciplinary and grievance procedures
- Recruitment/relocation/training matters
Employment Disputes
- Rights and liabilities of employers
- Rights and liabilities of employees
- Key contact
Martin Hopkins - 01245 453818 - Key contact
Miranda Leate - 01206 217356 - Key contact
Reggie Lloyd - 01206 217347 - Key contact
Tim Ogle - 01206 217354 - Key contact
Emma Thomas - 01206 217356
