Discussing the key Problem Areas and how to deal with them Friday 9 September 2022 at The Shard, Floor 24/25, 32 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9SG Friday 16 September 2022 at The Captains Club Wick Ferry, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 1HU Timings 08.30–09.00     Registration with Tea/Coffee and Pastries 09.00 – 10.30    Seminar plus questions Areas covered will include: What do I need to do to dismiss an employee, who has a lot of absence, who might have a disability, fairly and without discriminating? How do I work out if an employee has a disability? How d ..read more

You will have seen the recent news about British Gas (and Clarks footwear in Somerset) and their proposals to fire and rehire employees who refuse to agree to new terms and conditions. What is Fire and Rehire? The term is misleading. What it normally entails is an employer trying to persuade employees to agree to new (often worse) terms and conditions and terminating their employment if they refuse. They will only be “rehired” if they agree to the new terms.  If they don’t agree they will stay fired. Is it always a “bad” thing? No. It can be “bad” if it is simply a way of driving down pay ..read more

1. It's not a personal issue 2. Own goals by the claimant 3. Own goals by us 4. Understanding the settlement 5. Documents 6. Witnesses 7. Limiting damage 8. The hearing 1. Treat it as a business issue – not a personal issue Your decisions in relation to the Claim, including whether to settle and how much for, should be made on the basis of what is best for the business.   What is best, not just in terms of money, but also in terms of the impact on the business and management of spending 12-18 months dealing with the claim.  You May not like them... You may not like th ..read more

The Without Prejudice rule prevents a proposal made in a genuine attempt to settle an existing dispute from being used against the party making the proposal if an agreement is not reached. The proposal can be in writing or verbal. So, if we are in dispute with an employee, and we put a proposal to them, that they leave on agreed terms, but we don’t reach agreement, the employee cannot refer to our proposal in any later claim they might want to bring. For example, they might resign and claim constructive unfair dismissal and try to argue that our proposal showed that we wanted them out. Or they ..read more

The problem An Executive who is: Not contributing; Being paid too much; Holding back your attempts to build the How do we go about removing them without disruption or damage to the business? The numbers If they are a Director, do you have the support on the Board and among the shareholders to remove them as an employee and director? Contract of employment What is their notice period? Do we have the right to send them on garden leave? Are there any restrictive covenants? [We need to ensure we don’t jeopardise them by breaching the Executive’s contract of employment]; Do they cease to be a Di ..read more

  Why do we need Contracts at all? As employers, we aren’t always sure why we need them or what the most important points are that we need to include. The main reason why contracts are important for employers is that they enable us to protect the business by setting out key terms which bind our employees and which we can rely on if the relationship turns sour. So, what particular clauses should we make sure we include? In addition to the obvious points – such as salary, holidays etc Right to make changes As many employers have discovered during the COVID-19 crisis it helps enormously when ..read more

After 2 years of global pandemic and in the middle of a European war, it is understandable if businesses are not placing a high priority on the sort of legal risk check-up I refer to below. The reality, however, is that these issues are truly business critical and have to be looked at – sooner rather than later. We set out below a summary of areas you might want to take a look at. The list isn’t comprehensive but it should be a useful starting point. If we can give you some peace of mind by carrying out a (free – no charge, no obligation and no drama), audit of the legal risk areas in your bus ..read more

9am Tuesday 8 February 2022   1. Are we dealing with misconduct or poor performance?   Important point for us to consider right at the start of formal process Often, it’s clear For example, if the issue is dishonesty, violence or sexual harassment Sometimes, however, it isn’t clear It may be that the employee is not performing well They may be making mistakes or not meeting targets Is it misconduct – perhaps they are too busy chatting, spending too much time on their phone on social media? Is it performance – he is trying his best but perhaps he is struggling with new systems or ways ..read more

The problem A Director/Shareholder who is: Not contributing; Being paid too much; Holding back our attempts to build the business. The numbers Do you have the support on the Board and among the voting shareholders to remove them as an employee and director? Without that you can do nothing. Contract of employment What is their notice period? Does the Board have the right to send them on garden leave? Are there any restrictive covenants? Do they cease to be a Director if their employment is terminated? If you want to remove them as a Director and get hold of their shares you will almost cert ..read more

1. They are worth having You may not want to go to Court to enforce them but, if you have a simple and enforceable set of post-termination restrictions, that is unlikely to be necessary.  The party in breach (and their lawyer) will know you have a strong case and will normally give you most or all of what you want in order to avoid a Court claim. 2. Most disputes are resolved quickly Disputes about ex-employees taking clients or confidential information tend to go no further than the initial flurry of (often aggressive) correspondence.  Most of those disputes that do go further are r ..read more