Employment Law & Lawyers

Do you need help from a specialist employment lawyer? If so, then please complete your free legal enquiry form on the right, to request help from a qualified and professional employment lawyer, or click here. Our online service is available 24 hours, 7 days.

Losing your job or suffering from problems at work can be a traumatic experience. Whether you are made redundant or dismissed for other reasons, it will be a difficult time for you and your family.

Dealing with disputes with your employer can be daunting, and you will need to understand exactly where you stand in the eyes of the law. Employment Lawyers can advise you on what action you may be able to take against your employer and, where appropriate, help you to make a claim.

Employment Lawyers can also advise you on any employment matter including employment contracts, claims for wrongful and constructive dismissal, redundancy, discrimination in the workplace and workplace agreements. Employment Lawyers can advise you whether you are an employee or an employer.

Legal advice for employees

For employees, employment lawyers can help you with any type of task, such as negotiating your employment contract or redundancy settlement, negotiating on your behalf in grievance and disciplinary hearings, and representing you in employment related claims.

Legal advice for employers

For employers, having your employment policies and procedures looked over by a specialist employment lawyer is essential to ensure you are legally compliant. For every business, employment law compliance should be considered right from business set up. Whether it is a large or small business, employment law must be complied with equally.

Do you need help from a specialist employment lawyer? If so, then please complete your free legal advice enquiry form on the right, to request help from a qualified and professional employment lawyer, or click here. Our online service is available 24 hours, 7 days.

Generally speaking, employment lawyers represent both employers and employees in the following areas:-

• Unfair Dismissal
• Constructive Dismissal
• Equal opportunities and discrimination
• Pregnancy Discrimination
• Termination of employment
• Compromise agreements
• Redundancy
• Employment tribunal claims
• Employment Contracts
• Restrictive Covenants

Unfair Dismissal

If you believe you have suffered an unfair dismissal and would like help from an employment lawyer, then please complete your free legal advice enquiry form on the right, to request help from a qualified and professional employment lawyer, or click here. Our online service is available 24 hours, 7 days.

Unfair Dismissal - The Law pertaining to Unfair Dismissal

The following is a very brief outline of the law relating to unfair dismissal.

Were you dismissed from your employment for an unfair reason?

There are only 6 potentially fair reasons for terminating someone's employment. However, an employer will often allege that one of these reasons applies, when in fact the dismissal was unfair.

These potentially fair reasons are:-

a) Capability

If an employee does not have sufficient qualifications to do the job or if they are deemed to be incompetent, it may be fair to terminate their employment.

b) Conduct

Sometimes the employee's conduct gives the employer good reason to dismiss. This would include theft, fighting, abusive behaviour and other inappropriate conduct. In some circumstances, it may include misconduct.

c) Redundancy

If the employer's business (or part of it) has ceased to operate or has moved to a different place or if the needs of the business have changed, there may be a genuine redundancy situation. In such cases, it may be fair to terminate the employment.

d) Breaking the law

If it would be against the law to continue someone's employment, for example where a driver loses his licence, it may be fair to dismiss.

e) Retirement

If you have reached retirement age, your employer can dismiss you fairly as long as a fair procedure and the law is followed.

f) Any other substantial reason

This is very wide and covers a number of employment related reasons, not included above. These would include a business restructure, an employee's refusal to carry out legitimate work tasks.

Did the employer follow an unfair procedure?

Even if the termination of your employment was for a potentially fair reason, the dismissal may be unfair if the employer did not follow a fair procedure.

A fair procedure should, at the very least, include the following:-

• The employer should carry out a reasonable investigation before making a decision;
• The employer should arrange a disciplinary hearing at which the employee is given the opportunity to state their case;
• The employee should be notified of the hearing and the reasons for the hearing in writing;
• The employee should be given the right to bring a colleague to the hearing;
• The employer should consider other lesser forms of discipline;
• The employer should notify the employee in writing of the termination of employment and the reasons for it.
• The employee should be notified of the right to appeal against the decision.

Compensation

If you have been unfairly dismissed from your employment, you should be entitled to compensation. This is made up of a basic award and a compensatory award

The basic award is determined by your age and length of time you have been in employment. It is calculated in the same way as a redundancy payment.

The compensatory award is intended to compensate you for loss of employment, that is the financial loss resulting from the dismissal. This includes loss of wages up to the date of the Employment Tribunal hearing, as well as future losses.

In some cases, the Employment Tribunal may order the employer to re-instate you into your previous employment.

Very often, an employment dispute can be settled by way of a Workplace agreement.

If you believe that you have suffered an unfair dismissal then please complete your free legal advice enquiry form on the right, to request help from a qualified and professional employment lawyer, or click here. Our online service is available 24 hours, 7 days.

Constructive Dismissal

If you are forced to resign because of the way your employer has treated you, you may be able to claim "Constructive Dismissal". If this applies to you, we recommend that you complete your free legal advice enquiry form on the right, to request help from a qualified and professional employment lawyer, or click here. Our online service is available 24 hours, 7 days.

What is constructive dismissal?

Constructive dismissal is the term used where you resign in response to your employer's breach of the employment contract. In this situation, your resignation is treated as a dismissal. You were effectively forced out of your employment by your employer’s conduct.

For a constructive dismissal claim to succeed, you may need to show that:

• Your employer was in breach of the employment contract;
• You resigned in response to that breach; and
• You did now wait too long before resigning.
• Your employer’s conduct must be sufficiently serious to amount to a significant breach of the employment contract.
• The employer’s conduct may be a single serious incident or a series of less serious incidents.

Do I need to raise a grievance?

The law does not require you to raise a grievance but generally speaking, you should do so before bringing a claim for constructive dismissal. A failure to raise a grievance may mean that any compensation that you might subsequently be awarded could be reduced.

Even if you have already resigned, you should still raise a grievance before bringing an Employment claim.

Compensation for constructive dismissal

If you are successful in your constructive dismissal claim, the tribunal will usually order your former employer to pay you:-

• A Basic Award (calculated by reference to how long you have been employedyou’re your weekly earnings); and
• A Compensatory Award (calculated by reference to your lost earnings resulting from being out of work).

You should be aware that you are under an obligation to keep your losses to a minimum – for example, by looking for another job. If you find another job quickly, any compensation payable to you will be reduced by the amount of money you have earned during the period which would otherwise have been your notice period.

A Court may reduce compensation payable to you if it finds that you have not taken reasonable steps to seek alternative employment. This will depend upon a number of factors including your experience and the state of the job market in your line of work. The compensation will be reduced by an estimated amount, representing the income that you should have been able to earn during the notice period.

Complete your free legal advice enquiry form on the right, to request help from a qualified and professional employment lawyer, or click here. Our online service is available 24 hours, 7 days.

Redundancy

What is redundancy?

A redundancy situation exists where:-

* an employer's business, or part of the business, has ceased to operate; and/or
* the business has moved to a different place; and/or
* the needs of the business for work of a particular type to be done has ceased or diminished.

Redundancy Procedures

Your employer must follow a set dismissal procedure before making a redundancy.

If you are at risk of redundancy, you are entitled to a written statement, explaining why you are being considered for redundancy. You should also have a meeting with your employer to discuss the proposed redundancy, as well as the opportunity to appeal.

Your employer must use selection criteria that are fair, objective and non-discriminatory. In some situations, you should also be considered for alternative employment within your employer's business.

If your employer does not follow the proper procedures, any dismissal will be an automatically unfair dismissal and you may be entitled to compensation.

Redundancy pay

If you are made redundant, you should be entitled to redundancy pay. The amount of a statutory redundancy payment depends on an number of factors including:-

• how long you have been in employment; and
• you age; and
• your weekly pay.

If you would like help regarding redundancy please complete your free legal advice enquiry form on the right, to request help from a qualified and professional employment lawyer, or click here. Our online service is available 24 hours, 7 days.

Even if you are satisfied that the redundancy is fair, your employer may want you to sign a workplace agreement to confirm your acceptance and your agreement not to bring a claim for unfair dismissal. You will need the advice of a qualified legal representative, such as an employment lawyer, for the workplace agreement to be valid.

If you need legal help regarding employment law, then complete your free legal enquiry form on the right, or click here.

Discrimination

If you have experienced discrimination in your employment, complete your free legal advice enquiry form on the right, to request help from a qualified and professional employment lawyer, or click here. Our online service is available 24 hours, 7 days.

Employment Lawyers can also provide legal advice on any of the types of discrimination listed below:

• Sex discrimination
• Pregnancy discrimination
• Race discrimination
• Disability discrimination
• Religious discrimination
• Age discrimination
• Sexual Orientation discrimination

Generally speaking, if the discrimination led to your employment being terminated, you may be able to claim compensation, irrespective of how long you were employed.

If you need advice on discrimination, please complete your free legal advice enquiry form on the right, to request help from a qualified and professional employment lawyer, or click here. Our online service is available 24 hours, 7 days.

Further Resources - Employment Law & Lawyers

Additional Topics - Employment Law & Lawyers

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