HR Advice for Employers

We act for a range of company owners, managers, and HR professionals to offer expert advice and prevent employment problems arising. Call 01202 525333 for a free no obligation quote.

HR Retainers and Consultancy

We offer bespoke HR retainer packages tailored to your business needs, where we advise and consult in relation to all aspects of HR, as well as acting as your HR department.

We regularly advise our retainer client’s on day-to-day HR issues and we’re always at the end of the phone to answer any questions or queries, provide advice and offer input on different HR strategies to deal with employment issues that arise. By having early advice and intervention you can put yourself in the strongest position to defend against future Tribunal claims by ensuring that all processes are followed correctly and decisions are made lawfully. 

We can advise on all areas of employment law, including: 

• Disciplinary matters
• Handling grievances 
• Handling poor performance
• Managing sickness absence
• Redundancy process
• Defending Employment Tribunal claims

We can also provide a review of your employment documents, including contracts and policies, ensure they are up to date and legally compliant, and make recommendations where appropriate.

Please feel free to get in touch with the team for a no obligation discussion about your business requirements and how our specialists can assist you.

HR Training Courses

We offer a range of bespoke HR training courses for your team or staff. We often travel to businesses and deliver these training courses directly to staff on site, usually to managers, HR and business owners. The training that we offer is tailored to our client’s specific requirements, which can cover any topic and be aimed at any specific team. We aim to keep our training and courses as engaging as possible, encouraging interaction and offering examples from our own experience.

Recent examples include managing poor performance, managing sickness absence, equality and diversity, dealing with data subject access requests, conducting a disciplinary process, and grievances.

If you believe your staff would benefit from any specific training, our team is on-hand to discuss your business, requirements, and explore ways we can help you.

Employee Documentation

By law, employees must be given written terms and conditions of employment on their first day of employment. The written terms and conditions must various information such as place of work, hours and length of service. 

Employment law is regularly changing, which means that contracts need to be just as regularly reviewed to ensure they are legally compliant. For example, we often see a number of contracts where the notice periods are outdated or below the legal minimum, and therefore unlawful. We recommend that employee documentation is updated annually to ensure that no changes to the law are missed and you stay compliant.

Our team has extensive experience reviewing existing contracts and policies, and provides a free no obligation quote to either draft new documents or update existing ones. We also explore and discuss with you the needs of your business, to ensure that the documents adequately cover all of your requirements, such as drafting intellectual property clauses or post-termination restrictions.

It is important to have clear, non-contractual policies in place to guard against costly Tribunal claims and set out guidelines and rules for employees to follow, so that they always know what is expected of them. Usually, policies are contained in a staff handbook, and depending on the size of the business, include: anti-bullying and harassment, equal opportunities, capability, disciplinary, grievance, data protection, health and safety. We offer several other policies in addition to these, and can also create policies tailored to your business.

Employment Settlement Agreements

A settlement agreement is one of the only ways that an employer can be absolutely certain that an employee will not bring a claim against them. These agreements are legally binding, and usually include the employee waiving their rights to bring a claim, in return for a compensatory payment.

Our employment lawyers are experienced in drafting settlement agreements, as well as helping to negotiate them on your behalf. We understand that this can be a daunting process, but we’re here to help and support you in discussing the background, assessing any potential claims the employee may have, advising you in relation to negotiation and explaining the impact of the agreement. We will always help you find the best possible outcome as quickly and cost effectively as possible.

Employment support for buying or selling businesses – TUPE

Our team can provide specialist advice to guide you through the process of a TUPE transfer, ensuring that you comply with all of the legal requirements, reducing the risk of any Tribunal claims arising from the transfer. TUPE will usually apply during a business purchase, or when a service is transferred to a new provider. Whether you are buying or selling, TUPE still imposes various legal restrictions and obligations on you that must be complied with, including the obligation to inform and consult, for the seller to provide the buyer with specific employee information and restrictions on changing employee terms and dismissals.

During a TUPE transfer, employees automatically transfer to the new employer on the same terms, together with all associated liabilities, so it is vital that the buyer knows exactly which employees they are taking on, and for the seller to provide the appropriate information required.

We can advise you throughout the entire process of buying or selling a business, identifying any risks and dealing with any issues that may arise, our team works hard to ensure that the transaction is as smooth as possible.

Changing Terms and Conditions of Employment

No matter the business, all employees have an employment contract, either in writing or by custom and practice. To change the terms or vary an employee’s contract, it is crucial the correct process is followed, as you cannot force a change on an employee without the risk of being in breach of contract, which could lead to incredibly costly Tribunal claims.

Employment terms may change naturally throughout an employees time at your company, for example pay increases, which are not controversial at all. Written employment contracts usually include the discretion to make changes, however these clauses only usually cover minor changes. If there is no express agreement in the contract, you will need to seek the employee’s agreement by way of consultation.

However, if a fundamental change is intended, i.e. reducing pay, changing hours or introducing post-termination restrictions, you have to consult with the employee and seek their agreement. Of course, employees may not always agree to changes, our team are experts in assisting you if this happens and can provide actionable advice on your options. 

If you are considering making a variation to your employee’s contract, we recommend contacting us early on if you anticipate an issue may arise or the employee not happy with the change, as we can help guide you through the entire process to hugely reduce the risk of a dispute or future Tribunal claim.

Data Protection and responding to Data Subject Access Requests

GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 impose many strict obligations on businesses, particularly in relation to how they process their employee’s personal information, and whether this process is followed lawfully. Individuals have the right to make a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR), which can be a very daunting process for any business, as these requests usually require a significant and detailed search of systems and records in order to comply with the request. There is also a strict time frame to comply with the request, which is currently one month.

Our expert employment solicitors can provide specialist guidance and advice about your data protection obligations, helping to review your current processes and procedures and assist you with responding to a DSAR (including what information to include, redact or exclude).