Employment Law

Employment law is an ever developing area of law with new legislation from Europe set to change the landscape of employment law and the rights and responsibilities of Employers and Employees alike.

Recent Developments

Employment Rights Act 2008

The Employment Rights Act 2008 introduces a new regime that is designed to simplify and streamline dispute resolution between employers and employees. The main change brought about the under the act was the repeal of the statutory dispute resolution procedures, which have been replaced by the ACAS codes of best practice which detail and provide guidance on how employers and employees should deal with disciplinary and grievances in the workplace. The Employment Tribunal has a discretion to increase or reduce of any award by up to 25% where an employer or employee unreasonably fails to comply with the ACAS codes of practice.

The other change brought about under the Employment Rights Act 2008 is the repealing of the rules on procedural unfair dismissal under section 98A of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The repeal of this legislation has resulted in a return to the old law as defined in the leading case of Polkey v A E Dayton Services that an employer will no longer be at risk of automatic unfair dismissal due to a procedural failing but in any case any unreasonable procedural failing will still render a dismissal unfair.

Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 is due to come into force from October 2010 and the purpose of this act is to harmonise all discrimination law into one single act to cover all types of discrimination age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

As well as harmonising all discrimination law the act has redefining the law on direct discrimination which has been being changed from less favourable treatment on the grounds of a protected characteristic to the wider ranging because of a protected characteristic. Whilst direct discrimination still retains the need for a real or hypothetical comparator we await how the new wording will be dealt with in cases before the Tribunal

The other major change which is set to come into force in April 2011 is combined (dual) discrimination as defined as less favourable treatment because of a combination of two relevant protected characteristics. The new combined discrimination is only applicable to direct discrimination and covers two and not more protected characteristics at a time. One major criticism of the old discrimination law is that it failed to deal with the fact that employees often fall into more than one or more protected characteristic. The new law is quiet complex and once introduced it will be fascinating to see how develops through claims and rulings of the Tribunal.

We at Frisby & Co understand that it is imperative that clients are provided with accurate and timely advice. We act for both employers and employees which provides our employment law team with an invaluable insight into all aspects of employment law and an appreciation of both sides of any employment dispute.

FOR EMPLOYEES

For the individual we recognise that work takes up a large part of your lives and that when problems arise these need to be dealt with swiftly and in a timely fashion. We are able to provide advice on managing and resolving problems within the work place. We also appreciate that not all employment issues can be resolved internally; our litigation experience in employment matters enables us to provide legal representation, advice and assistance of the highest quality.

We are committed to providing clear and supportive advice and ensuring that all employment matters are handled with consideration and care.

 

FOR EMPLOYERS

Employers must be aware of the legal obligations and responsibilities to all employees, given that legal proceedings can have a very negative effect on a business we emphasise the need for pre-emptive action to resolve employment issues quickly and effectively.

We provide a service to our business clients to draw up strategy and processes that minimise the potential of litigation and are available to provide advice and assistance at every step in employment matters. As part of this strategy we offer to our business clients an Employment MOT service where our team will attend on your offices and review your employment contracts, disciplinary and grievance procedures, company polices and all aspects of employment within your business to assess its compliance with new legislation and ACAS codes of practice. Within this service we will provide advice and highlight areas within your business that need alteration and development. We will also advise you on our professional services in to provide and draft tailor made documents for your specific business needs.

We are pragmatic with our approach and appreciate the commercial as well as the legal aspect of any employment matter

We provide a wide range of advisory services to both employees and employers including:-

• Drafting employment contracts/ Directors Service Agreements
• Disciplinary, grievance and Appeal Hearings
• Unfair Dismissal
• All types of discrimination, race, sex, age, disability, religious and sexual orientation
• Redundancy/Re-organisation
• Compromise Agreements, both preparation of and advice on
• Representation at Tribunal (including Appeal)
• Breach of Contract/ Constructive dismissal
• Maternity and Family Friendly Rights
• TUPE Legislation
• Wrongful dismissal
• Equal Pay and deductions from Wages
• Working time regulations
• Tribunal Awards

 

You can contact the employment Law Team directly by calling Andrew Lester on 01785 244 114 or andrew.lester@frisbysolicitors.co.uk.