Employment Lawyers St John’s Wood NW8

We set out below examples of the type of cases which we undertake – by way of example only. We have experience of undertaking many different types of claims.

1. Settlement agreement. This is a core area; we undertake some cases every week. We take our approach to these agreements seriously. We advise our clients as to their legal position, the adequacy of the money on the table, and also concerning the wording of the agreement. In our experience agreements are drawn very favourably to the employer, and it is necessary to amend the agreements to make them commercially acceptable to sign. The examples are a warranty that nothing will be paid under the agreement if there is any breach, however minor, and this includes a breach in the future. Since the clauses in an agreement are very demanding, it is fairly easy for such a breach to occur. We normally amend these clauses to provide for that money to be forfeited only if there is a serious breach of the agreement. Another example is where the agreement contains a warranty by the employee that they have not committed any breach of the agreement before it is signed on the basis that the agreement was then in force or that they have never committed any breach of their contract of employment. This would include arriving to work late in an extreme example. You can see how these clauses work against the employee and why it is normally quite useful to amend the agreements to protect the interest of the employee, our experience is that employers normally accept about 70% of our amendments. The employers normally pay a contribution towards our legal costs under the agreement the amount of which is negotiable. In regards a settlement agreement ; please just contact us to make an appointment. We would ask for you to bring to the meeting as well as the agreement a copy of your employment contract and a recent payslip. If you can send us an electronic copy of the agreement, this will also be helpful.
2. Defence of performance management/disciplinary proceedings. We are very experienced in relation to this situation. In particular, we have come across some fairly serious charges which have been raised against our clients where we are instructed that they are not guilty of the allegations. For the professional client, in particular, a dismissal for gross misconduct will mean that they will have great difficulty or it may become impossible for them to find new employment in the same field. Hence the necessity to vigorously contest the proceedings and to try to negotiate a resolution with the employers – normally on the basis of our clients resigning under a settlement agreement with an agreed monetary package and an agreed reference. The reference could constitute a passport to secure new employment.
3. Employees who are suffering from work-related stress/depression. This can occur for many reasons such as excessive working hours or bullying, harassment or micromanagement of their work by their line manager. Most of our clients within this category end up absent on sick leave, and we represent our clients in this situation in protecting their legal position and endeavouring again to negotiate a resolution of the matter with the employers. This consists of moving our clients to a different location or reporting to a different manager or leaving under a settlement agreement, again with a monetary package and an agreed reference.
4. Representing clients against proposals to make them redundant in particular in situations where they are pregnant/away on maternity leave again we would make representations and protect our clients, in particular having regard to the fact that there is a statutory right for them to return to work if away on maternity leave. Again, we would be looking for our clients to leave on the basis of a settlement agreement and an agreed reference. Our experience is that once an employer has decided to incur aggressive steps to remove our clients from the business, they are reluctant to continue with the employment which is a natural reaction to this. However, for clients who wish to carry on working, we will fight their corner to ensure to the best we can that they are not selected for redundancy and are able to return to work.
5. Raising claims following termination of employment in the employment tribunal. We are assisted in relation to such claims by our internal employment barrister consultant Kevin Harris. Kevin specialises in employment law, and we run the claim in conjunction with Kevin, who represents our clients at the employment tribunal hearing. Kevin has particular experience in relation to representing clients with discrimination claims.

Please contact us today to discuss your case. Our telephone and email addresses are:

020 8446 6223 – Finchley office
020 7112 8841 – Bloomsbury office
Email address: – enquiries@sr-law.co.uk