Practice Area:Employment
Hatten Wyatt has a dedicated employment team which is equally equipped to act on behalf of employer in preparing Contracts of Employment and Employee Documentation, as well as providing general advice in assuring that best practices are adopted to lessen the chance of any Claim being made by an employee. The team also advises employers on health and safety aspects, to ensure that they minimise any risks to themselves in the event that an accident may occur, leaving them liable to litigation.
The Employment Team also act on behalf of employees, helping them secure their rights where they have been treated unfairly in the termination of their employment, or in respect of the employers equal opportunity policies. They will assist you in negotiating a settlement, either through a Compromise Agreement, or alternatively represent you at a tribunal. At all times professional advice will be provided to ensure that all the options are explored, and the best settlement reached.
You should lodge a written complaint with your employer using your employer's internal grievance procedure (your employer's staff handbook/Human Resources Department should set out the procedure) as soon as possible for normally there are strict time limits (usually as little as 5 working days) to lodge a grievance.
The Employment Act 2002 says that you do, otherwise, the Tribunal has the discretion to reduce your final award if you fail to follow the grievance procedure.
An application can be lodged with the Employment Tribunal who will determine the case upon a hearing, giving details of the absence of any such procedure.
An Employment Tribunal (formally known as an Industrial Tribunal) must be in receipt of an Application within 3 calendar months from the date of dismissal or termination of the Contract of Employment i.e. if the employee was dismissed on the 1st February, then the Employment Tribunal must be in receipt of the application by 30th April). The rules vary if you are still in the process of the employers grievance procedure. The Tribunal does have discretion in accepting late applications, but that discretion is rarely used.
Public Funding is not available for employment matters, and therefore your costs will depend upon the complexity of the matter, and we will be able to give you an estimate once we have obtained information from you about your claim. Generally, speaking your costs are not recoverable from the employer (Respondent) except in exceptional circumstances. In certain matters we may consider acting on our clients behalf under a Contingency Agreement. This means that we enter into an agreement with you whereby upon the successful conclusion of your case, we can recover our costs from your damages. Should you not be successful with your application, then we do not recover costs, however, your would remain liable for the disbursements in most cases.
Normally, these agreements are known as "Compromise Agreements" . Once an agreement has been entered into and signed, it becomes legally binding. Therefore you should not sign or consent to such an agreement until you have taken legal advice upon the document. Normally, an employer requires the agreement to be dealt with within a short period of time and with this in mind, we are able to offer appointments at short notice. Further, it is common for the Employer to offer to pay a contribution towards your legal costs.
This very much depends on the circumstances of your case. You can ask for the Tribunal to order for you to be 're-instated' or 're-engaged' by your employer. If you are seeking compensation instead of the above remedies, then the following will apply:- There are two main types of award; Firstly, there is the "basic" award which is similar to a redundancy payment i.e. the employee claims so many weeks pay for each year of continuous employment before the date of termination; and secondly, there is the "compensatory" award which is compensation for the dismissal which is capped at £56,800. In addition to these loss of holiday and benefits can also be claimed.