Employment and business HR services

Ensuring you stay within the law while dealing with your employees is vital as it prevents the risk of legal action and potential damage to your reputation. However, with a growing number of UK and EU employment regulations to deal with, being able to effectively manage your workforce while staying within the law can be a challenge for many modern businesses.

Whether you need assistance with the day-to-day management of your team, or advice on less everyday issues, such as redundancy and dismissing employees, getting the right legal and professional advice is essential.

Fishers employment law & HR experts can assist business directors or seamlessly work alongside an existing HR team to ensure your company runs efficiently while staying legally protected. Our specialist employment law solicitors provide one-off support and on-going HR services across a while range of issues, including drafting staff contracts, policies, handbooks and procedures, as well as providing advice and representation should your business face grievance claims or an employment tribunal.

We have been working with businesses of all sizes across a range of industries for many years, giving us extensive experience in all of the most common employment law and HR issues affecting businesses, as well as many less common problems. We offer peace of mind that your business practices comply with all the relevant legislation, as well as fast, effective solutions if employment issues do arise.

For expert legal advice on your employment issues or helping with on-going HR support, contact our employment law solicitors and HR experts in Tamworth or Ashby de la Zouch now.

Our employment law services for employers

We offer a comprehensive service covering all aspects of employment law for businesses, helping you to manage your workforce while staying within the law.

Making redundancies

If you need to make redundancies, it is important to do it in the right way to avoid employees accusing you of unfair dismissal. You have to respect your employees’ rights and follow the correct legal procedure to protect yourself and your business when making people redundant.

Our employment and HR solicitors can advise you on the steps you need to take, guide you on how to create a fair redundancy process and help you deal with any accusations of unfair dismissal arising from redundancies.

Dismissing employees

If you need to fire someone, you need to have a valid reason and be able to show that you have acted reasonably in the way the dismissal is handled. This includes following the correct disciplinary process and giving appropriate notice to the employee being terminated.

Our team can help you create fair disciplinary procedures, ensure that you are staying within the law when dismissing employees and help to defend you against accusations of unfair dismissal and constructive dismissal.

Settlement agreements (formerly known as compromise agreements)

When making an employee redundant or dismissing them, it is highly advisable to get the employee to sign a settlement agreement wherever possible. Settlement agreements (which replace ‘compromise agreements’) are legally binding contracts in which the employee will agree not to make an employment tribunal claim, usually in exchange for a payment and/or reference to the employee.

Our expert employment lawyers can negotiate and create settlement agreements for you, helping to protect your business from any potential negative fallout as a result of letting an employee go.

Employee contracts

One of the best ways to protect your business and ensure effective workforce management is with well-written contracts of employment. This makes every employee’s rights and responsibilities clear and can help to proactively prevent a range of issues.

Our employment and HR experts can draft employees’ contracts for you, as well as reviewing and amending existing contracts of employment. We can also assist you with directors’ service agreements, partnership agreements, staff handbooks and any other documents you need to define working relationships and expectations. Policies and procedures HR is often made much simpler by having clearly written policies and procedures that can be updated to take account of new issues or to reflect changing priorities. When creating or updating company policies and procedures, it is important to make sure they are written in a way that complies with employment law. You must also ensure employees are correctly notified of any existing policies and procedures when their employment begins and any changes made as and when these occur. Our expert HR professionals and employment solicitors can offer an in depth review of your existing company policies and procedures and suggest amendments, or create entirely new procedures and policies as required.

The Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 protects employees from discrimination in the workplace (and elsewhere) based on various ‘protected characteristics’, including age, gender, race, sexuality and disability. It is essential to understand how the Equalities Act applies to your workforce and to ensure that you are staying within the law when making decisions that affect your employees.

Our employment and HR solicitors can advise on how the Equalities Act 2010 applies to your workers and give you specific guidance on equality and discrimination issues so you can avoid the potential for discrimination claims and have a robust defence if such claims do occur.

Employment disputes

Even the best run businesses will occasional encounter disputes with their employees and former employees. When this occurs, it is important to take the right advice at the earliest opportunity to make sure you stay within the law and help you to achieve a fast, effective resolution.

Our expert employment disputes solicitors can offer a range of options to resolve disputes with your employees, including negotiation, mediation and supporting you in Employment Tribunals if this is the best or only option to resolve the dispute.

Employment Tribunals

If an employee or former employee of yours has started an Employment Tribunal claim, you will need to take the appropriate action to protect yourself, your business and your reputation. Our solicitors can advise and represent you in all stages of defending an Employment Tribunal claim, helping you to achieve a fair resolution.

In many cases, it is better to resolve employment disputes without going to an Employment Tribunal. This allows you to keep more control over the process, rather than leaving the decision in the hands of the tribunal, and can allow you to keep the matter private. If an employee informs you that they are intending to make a claim to an employment tribunal, we can assist you in negotiating with them or provide a mediation service to help find a mutually acceptable resolution.

If an employee does make an Employment Tribunal claim, they will have to contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) first and will be offered the option to resolve the issue without going to court using Acas’s free Early Conciliation service. Again, we can support you in this process to increase your chances of a positive outcome. If Early Conciliation fails, or is not appropriate, you and the claimant will both need to appear before the Employment Tribunal to put across your side of the dispute. The tribunal will then give a ruling that will be legally binding. Having the right advice and representation during Employment Tribunal is essential to achieve a favourable outcome.

Why use Fishers employment law solicitors & HR professionals?

Our employment law solicitors have been supporting businesses in Leicestershire, Staffordshire and throughout the Midlands with their employment law and HR needs for many years. We have a strong track record of success for our clients, making us one of the area’s most trusted law firms on issues of employment law and outsourced HR services.

Our employment law team take pride in offering an exceptional service to every client, prioritising good communication and providing a bespoke service that matches the unique requirements of your business.

We keep our fees transparent and will provide an upfront estimate of our fees to assist with your financial planning. If additional expenditure is required, we will notify you at the earliest opportunity so you can stay in complete control of the cost of resolving your issue.

Get in touch with our employment & HR solicitors in Ashby de la Zouch and Tamworth

Whether you need on-going HR support, or advice and representation in relation to a specific employment issue or dispute, our expert employment law solicitors and HR professionals can help. For more information on any of our employment law and HR services, or to book an appointment with one of our advisors please contact your nearest Fishers office or complete our enquiry form.