For Employees: Our Services Explained
 

Dismissals & Redundancies

Unfair dismissals 

If you are an employee and have more than two years’ service, your employer will have to abide by the terms of your employment contract and have to have a fair reason to dismiss you, and they must ordinarily follow a fair procedure when doing so.

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If you have less than two years’ service, your employer cannot lawfully dismiss you for discriminatory reasons or in certain other circumstances, for example, if you are being dismissed because of whistleblowing, or because you have raised a health and safety concern.

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Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in challenging an unfair or unlawful process.

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Constructive dismissals

If your employer does something that seriously breaches your contract of employment, such as refusing to pay you or allowing you to be bullied or harassed, you may be able to resign in response to such treatment, as a result of which you will no longer be bound by further contractual obligations, such as restrictive covenants or garden leave clauses.

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You will only usually be able to claim constructive dismissal if you’re an employee with two years’ service or more. However, resigning and claiming constructive dismissal is a big step, and can often be a difficult claim to win.

Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in making a successful claim.

Redundancies 

Just because your role is put at risk of redundancy does not necessarily mean that you will be made redundant. There may be alternatives to redundancy, such as redeployment, job shares and reduced hours, that you can discuss with your employer.

You will only be entitled to a statutory redundancy payment if you have two or more years’ service although you may still be entitled to a company redundancy payment.

There is a lot you can do to protect and enhance your position, whether you are looking to stay or negotiate a better exit.

Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in planning the right strategy.

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Grievances, Disciplinaries & Other Management Processes

​Grievances & disciplinaries

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Disciplinary and grievance procedures are mechanisms for dealing with and resolving difficulties that may arise in the workplace.

Disciplinary procedures can help to make you aware of what's expected of you in terms of standards of performance or conduct, and the likely consequences of continued failure to meet these.

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Grievance procedures can provide you with a course of action if you have a complaint which you’ve been unable to resolve informally.

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Sara can advise on your rights and options, and support you in raising a grievance or responding to or challenging a disciplinary allegation.

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Whistleblowing

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This arises when you make a disclosure in the public interest, or bring information about a ‘wrongdoing’ to the attention of, your employer or another relevant organisation. Your employer is not allowed to subject you to a detriment – for example, a demotion, suspension, bullying or ostracising you – or to dismiss you, because you have ‘blown the whistle’.

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Wrongdoing includes a criminal offence, breach of a legal obligation, a miscarriage of justice, a danger to the health and safety of an individual, damage to the environment or where any information relating to any of the above has been or is likely to be, deliberately concealed.

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You do not require any minimum length of service to bring a claim, and claims can be brought by employees and workers.

Sara can help explain your rights and options, and support you in making a disclosure.

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Bullying & harassment

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These are examples of difficulties that can occur in the workplace. Workplace bullying may involve offensive, intimidating, malicious, insulting or humiliating behaviour, or an abuse of power or authority which attempts to undermine you or a group to which you belong.

Examples of this include, unwarranted open criticism,  exclusion from meetings, emails, lunches or other office gatherings or blocking promotions and other opportunities.

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Workplace harassment is unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, such as age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation, which has the purpose or effect of violating your dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for you or someone else.

Examples of this include, unwelcome sexual advances, homophobic comments and being teased about your disability.

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Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in resolving the matter, challenging an unsatisfactory process or negotiating an exit.

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Performance management

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Performance management describes the techniques employers use to maintain, and improve your performance. These generally include:

• being set performance measurements, targets or objectives

• meetings between you and you manager to discuss your performance

• assessing you against your performance measures, targets or obejctives

• keeping records of your performance.

If your performance falls below a required standard, it may be addressed via a formal performance management process. This could result in you being issued with an improvement notice or warning or even dismissed.

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Sara can help explain your rights and options, and support you in resolving or addressing any performance issues.

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Sickness absence

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Sickness absence policies make clear exactly what's expected from you if you need to take time off work because of illness. These should set out the standards of attendance expected of you and provide you with information on any terms and conditions relating to incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provisions for sick pay and your rights and obligations where you have been or likely to be absent for a long period of time.

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Sara can help explain your rights and options, and support you in dealing with any absence management procedures, including any proposed dismissals.

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Settlements & Negotiations

​Settlement agreements

These allow you and your employer to draw a line under any claims you may have against your employer and allow you both to move on. They are often offered in redundancy situations or company re-organisations, but can also be agreed upon as a way to resolve a workplace dispute and/or to avoid an employment tribunal claim.

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For such agreements to be effective, you must receive independent legal advice on the terms and effects of the proposed agreement.

Sara can advise on this and help you to negotiate the best outcome for you.

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Protected conversations

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This is an ‘off-the-record’ conversation between you and your employer to explore the possibility of a settlement agreement or negotiated exit.

These conversations can be initiated either by you or your employer and anything said cannot be used as evidence in an unfair dismissal claim.

Sara can help explain your rights and options, and support you in initiating, or responding to, a protected conversation.

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Discrimination & Protected Characteristics

​'Protected characteristics

Under the Equality Act 2010, it is unlawful to discriminate against people at work because of nine so called 'protected characteristics'.

These include:

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• age

• disability

• gender reassignment

• marriage and civil partnership

• pregnancy and maternity

• race

• religion or belief

• sex, and

• sexual orientation.

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There are various types of discrimination and other unlawful conduct that apply to most (and in some cases all) of the protected characteristics:

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Direct discrimination or ​less favourable treatment

Direct discrimination is when someone is treated unfairly or less favourably because of a protected characteristic, such as sex or race. For example, where someone is not offered a promotion because they have a mental health problem.

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Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in making a successful claim.

Indirect discrimination or treatment that disadvantages groups of individuals that share  'protected characteristics'

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Indirect discrimination is concerned with your employer's acts, decisions or policies (broadly speaking) which, on the face of it, are not intended to treat anyone less favourably, but which, in practice, have a worse effect on a group of people who share a particular protected characteristic. For example, where an employer specifies that all employees must work full time. Where female employees are more likely to be the primary carer of their children and may need to work part-time or work flexibly, such action can put them at a disadvantage and amount to indirect discrimination.

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Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in making a successful claim.

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Harassment

There are different types of harassment. These include:

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Bullying or unwanted behaviour relating to any 'protected characteristics (other than maternity and civil partnership, and pregnancy or maternity), where this unwanted behaviour, intentionally or otherwise, either:

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• violates a person's dignity, or

• creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for someone.
   

The behaviour can include, for example, derogatory jokes, racial slurs, personal insults, and expressions of disgust or intolerance toward a particular race or sex.

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Harassment is unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature or that relates to gender reassignment or sex. This can be written, verbal, imagery, physical or sexual assault. For example, someone making sexual comments or trying to touch someone against their will.

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Being treated less favourably because a person received or stood up to sexual harassment or harassment that relates to sex or gender reassignment. For example, when a male worker is asked out by his team leader. He rejects their advances and then is turned down for a promotion which he believes he would have got if he had accepted his boss's advances.

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Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in making a successful claim.

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Victimisation and detriment claims

If your employer treats you badly or subjects you to a detriment because you have complained about discrimination or helped someone who has been the victim of discrimination or treats you unfairly because you’ve done something protected by law, such as, ‘blowing the whistle’ or exercising your right to the national minimum wage or statutory holiday or rest breaks, you may be able to bring a claim for victimisation or detriment.

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You do not require any minimum length of service to bring such claims, and claims can be brought by employees and workers.

Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in making a successful claim.

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Disability discrimination

If your employer discriminates against you or puts you at a disadvantage for a reason that relates to ‘a disability’, you may be able to make a claim for disability discrimination.

Some conditions and impairments are automatically protected as disabilities; these include cancer,  HIV infection, multiple sclerosis and visual impairments. Other progressive conditions, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, will become a disability as soon as they start to have an effect on your normal day-to-day activities provided this is likely to be long-term. Otherwise, a disability is a physical or a mental condition which has a substantial and long-term impact on your ability to do normal day to day activities.

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Disability discrimination can occur in a number of ways, including where your employer fails to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate you, discrimination arising from disability, such as, dismissing you for disability-related sickness absences, treating you less favourably than those in a similar situation without a disability, and disability-related harassment and victimisation.

You do not require any minimum length of service to bring such claims, and claims can be brought by employees and workers.

Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in raising a grievance and making a successful claim.

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Making a Claim

ACAS: early conciliation

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If you want to make a claim to an employment tribunal, you must tell Acas first. You'll be offered the option of 'early conciliation. This is a free service to help you and your employer resolve disputes before you need to make a claim.

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You will not be able to make a claim without an early conciliation certificate.

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Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in initiating the early conciliation process.

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​​Submitting an employment tribunal claim

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You may have grounds for an employment tribunal claim if you have been treated unlawfully, unfairly or wrongfully by your employer.

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It may be possible to claim against your current employer, former employer or a potential employer, as well as against employment-related organisations, such as trade unions and persons employed by an employer or organisation.

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Examples of the types of potential claims you can bring in an employment claim are:

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• unfair, wrongful and constructive dismissal

• sex, race, disability, age, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, religion or belief and sexual orientation discrimination

• whistleblowing

• victimisation, and

• breach of contract.

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Generally speaking, claims must normally be lodged with an employment tribunal within 3 months of the complaining act (i.e. 3 months less one day). For example, from the date of termination of your employment or an act of discrimination.

However, this may be extended by Acas early conciliation by up to 6 weeks plus a further 14 days if the parties agree.

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These time limits are strict and even if the claim is received by an employment tribunal a day late, the employment tribunal may decide that it cannot hear such a claim.

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Sara can help explain your rights and options and support you in initiating and pursuing a claim.

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Employment tribunal costs

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We set out below an estimate of typical costs for bringing and defending unfair and wrongful dismissal claims in the Employment Tribunal. These are intended to indicate a general range of costs

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For an estimate of costs in relation to your own specific circumstances or for information about the costs of other types of claims, please contact us.

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Unfair Dismissal Claims

Simple cases – £7,500 – £12,000 plus VAT

Medium Complexity cases – £12,000 – £20,000 plus VAT

Complex cases – £20,000 – £35,000 plus VAT

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Factors that could make a case more complex:

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• If it is necessary to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim

• Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person

• Making or defending a costs application

• Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed by the parties)

• The number of witnesses and documents

• If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim e.g. if you are dismissed after blowing the whistle on your employer

• Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal.

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We will also make an additional charge for attending a Tribunal Hearing of £1,500 per day (excluding VAT).  However, if Counsel is instructed (see below) it will not ordinarily be required for us to attend the Tribunal Hearing and the additional cost can be avoided. Generally, we allow 1-3 days for the hearing depending on the complexity of your case.

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Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees, and printing costs. Payment of these disbursements is made on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

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Counsel’s fees are estimated between £1,250 to £2,000 per day (depending on the experience of the barrister) for attending a Tribunal Hearing (including preparation).

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Key stages of a claim

The fees set out above cover work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:

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• Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)

• Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached;

• Preparing the claim or response

• Reviewing and advising on claim or response from the other party

• Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process

• Preparing or considering a schedule of loss

• Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing

• Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing to a bundle of documents

• Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses

• Preparing bundle of documents

• Reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements

• Agreeing to a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list

• Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel

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The stages set out above are an indication of those that may be necessary. If, however, some of the stages above are not required, your costs will be reduced.

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Alternatively, you may wish to obtain advice only in relation to some of the stages set out above. This can also be arranged in accordance with your individual needs.

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How long will my matter take?

The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved. If a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, your case is likely to take 2-6 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 26-52 weeks. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

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