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Employees

We have experience in advising on the following areas of employment law:

• Contracts of employment
• Compromise Agreements
• Discrimination
• Disciplinary matters
• Grievances and Constructive Dismissal
• Harassment
• Flexible working requests
• Minimum Wage
• Non payment of bonuses
• Sick leave
• Stress
• Post termination restrictions
• Pregnancy related issues
• Redundancy
• Staff Handbooks
• Termination of employment
• TUPE transfers of employees
• Unfair dismissal
• Working Time Regulations
• Whistleblowing

We provide advice for both employers and employees which means that you will benefit from our experience in representing either side of an employment dispute.

We have experience in advising when your home insurance pays for your legal fees which often means that you do not have to pay any of your legal fees from the date that you issue proceedings.

We also offer no win no fee agreements for claims which we believe are likely to succeed, which means that you do not have to pay our fees from the date of the agreement if you follow our advice and lose.

Many employment claims fail because people leave it too late.  For example, if your employer changes part of your job without asking you, then your employer is entitled to assume that you have accepted those changes if you do not make an official complaint within a reasonable period of time, which could be as short as just four weeks after the changes have been made.

For other employment related claims, such as harassment, discrimination and unfair dismissal, there is a limit of three months less one day from the date of the last event complained of.  This means that you must “raise a grievance” or make a written complaint within that period.

To be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal you generally need to have worked for the same employer for at least a year, but for claims involving discrimination, whether it is based on your gender, age, race, disability, sexual orientation or religion, there is no such minimum period.  For example, if you feel you have been discriminated against in a job interview by a potential employer or even by an employment agency, you could potentially bring a claim.  Pregnancy related discrimination is almost always unlawful and it can be discriminatory to ask a woman about her childcare arrangements, marriage or family plans at a job interview.

Many employees do not make complaints because they worry that it will affect their future employment prospects.

Our experience is that most complaints are resolved by discussions between the employee and the employer, including agreeing a reference if the employee decides to move on.  Unfortunately, Employment Law is complicated and keeps changing, which results in both employers and employees misunderstanding their legal positions.

We have advised numerous clients about their employment rights and they have then carried out their own negotiations.  The feedback we have received is that they were often able to achieve an improved settlement because they were more confident of their legal rights after receiving advice from us.

Whatever your query may be, you will benefit from knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your case, your chances of success and what the correct procedures are.

We are usually able to provide this advice in a one hour meeting for which we charge a fixed price of £100.

Of course, if you require further advice, we can provide you with help and assistance throughout the negotiations, disciplinary or grievance process, representation, support and guidance to bring a claim at the employment tribunal and subsequent enforcement of any judgment made in your favour.

For further information contact Justin Sadler by telephone, fax or e-mail to justin@barrettandco.co.uk or if this relates to compromise agreements paul@barrettandco.co.uk.