Wards specialist solicitors - Employment services

Employment services

Unfortunately, despite all precautions and best intentions, employment disputes do occur. What can you do if you think you are being treated unfairly by your boss or are being threatened with dismissal or redundancy? At Wards, we are here to explain your legal rights and outline what can be done to help you.

When you are involved in any type of dispute, it is better to seek advice sooner rather than later, as you are more likely to get it resolved.

Who should I contact?
Our specialists are based in central Bristol and Yate but they visit our branches regularly and will be happy to meet you at an office local to you.

Central Bristol/North Somerset: Martin Keegan on 0117 929 2811or email him
North Bristol/South Gloucestershire: Larry Rawlinson on 01454 316789 or email him

Types of problem
We can help you with most types of employment problems, including:

Breach of employment contract claims
Unfair and wrongful dismissals
Advice on compromise/severance agreements
Redundancy issues
Maternity and other family friendly rights
Discrimination on the grounds of sex, gender orientation, race, age or disability
Compliance with compulsory grievance and disciplinary procedures
Employment Tribunals

If your particular problem is not listed above, we may still be able to help, so please contact us.

Can I get compensation?
If you are sacked on sexual or racial or disability grounds, then there is potentially no limit to value of the claim. However, in practice, the vast majority of settlements are well below the legal limit of £55,000. We can advise you on your rights and the likelihood of your claim succeeding.

For example, if you have been employed for a continuous period of more than 1 year with the same employer, then you have a statutory right not to be unfairly dismissed. This can mean that you can recover an award for the fact of the unfair dismissal and you can also recover a sum if you lose any future earnings or benefits as a result.

However, it may not always make economic sense for you to pursue a claim. If this is likely to be the case, we will tell you and you can then make an informed decision about whether or not to pursue the claim.

Will it go to a Tribunal?

Negotiating a successful solution
In the vast majority of cases, this will not be necessary. Wherever possible, we seek to resolve employment disputes without going to Tribunal.

We will obtain the background on your case to assess its strength and merits. This may be easy if you are able to give us all the evidence we require. In other cases, we may need to spend some time obtaining that evidence from other people.
We will correspond with the other side, setting out your case in full and asking for their comments and responding to their proposals for settlement of the case.
If you are making a claim, we will push the other side hard to get you the best possible offer. If you are defending a claim, we will assess the chances of success and negotiate the best settlement possible.

Taking Employment Tribunal action
Going to the Employment Tribunal raises the stakes, since losing at this stage can mean you pay the other side's legal costs. However, once Tribunal action starts, the other side will be under much more pressure to negotiate a solution.

It is essential to be prepared early - there is a very strict Tribunal timetable to be followed after you have issued proceedings. If you are not prepared, costs could be imposed against you or the case dismissed altogether. Therefore it is important to instruct solicitors who are efficient and well-organised and to then co-operate with them fully. If you go to Tribunal, we will:

start Tribunal action for you or file a defence, as appropriate.
prepare the evidence to be used at Tribunal. This involves obtaining documents, witness statements and experts’ reports.
continue to seek a negotiated settlement - if that is in your best interests. If the case becomes more involved, we may use a specialist barrister to advise you further.

If Tribunal action is necessary, we have the skills and experience to manage your case efficiently, with access to a wide variety of specialist experts in various fields, as well as to barristers to provide more specialised advice.

As holders of the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark, you can rest assured that we will prepare your case thoroughly and professionally to maximise your chances of success.

Enforcing the Tribunal’s decision
If you are successful, the other side usually has to pay any compensation owed within 14 days. If they do not, there are still many ways to get your money after the judgment is registered at the local County Court.

What will it cost?
Unlike other types of Court disputes, you cannot recover your own legal costs from the other side in the dispute. Any lawyers’ fees will have to be paid by you privately or taken from any compensation award you receive. However, there are various ways in which your claim can be funded and we will advise on all the options at our first meeting.

Public funding (Legal Aid) - if you qualify on financial grounds you may be able to get Civil Legal Help. This enables a lawyer to work for up to 2 hours' in starting to prepare your case for the Tribunal. However, this will not cover representation at the Tribunal itself and is unlikely to cover the total costs of preparing the case.

To qualify, your gross income must be below £2,000 per month or your disposable income below £601 per month and you must not have capital or assets over £8,000 (excluding the value of your home). If you do, you will not qualify for public funding.

No win - no fee/contingency fee arrangements - this means that if you do not win your case, you will not usually have to pay our costs. If we do win, then you agree to pay us a percentage of your compensation award.

As costs are not awarded to the other side in employment cases, the insurance which, in other types of dispute, would pay for the other side's fees is not available.

Legal expenses insurance - you may already have this insurance within your house or motor policies or have legal expenses insurance linked to these policies, which could cover the cost of litigation or you can take out insurance just to cover the risk of losing your claim.

A word of warning however. You should check the small print very carefully, as most policies limit the type of claim covered and often have a limit on claim value. Such policies also usually require that you use one of its panel solicitors, who could be located anywhere in the UK. You are still free to instruct a local solicitor of your choice, but you must generally write to the insurance company giving reasons for your choice.

Paying privately - we can provide a realistic estimate at the outset and can agree set staged payments for each part of the litigation process, so that you know what you will have to pay when and can budget accordingly.

How you can help us
The more information you bring us about your dispute, the quicker we can help you and the less time (and therefore cost) will be involved in obtaining the information we need. It will help if you are able to bring the following to our initial meeting:

Your name, address, telephone number, date of birth, national insurance number, your employer’s details, and salary details (wage/salary slips)
Proof of identity (passport and utility bills) for anti-money laundering purposes
If you are receiving state Benefits, we would like to see your benefit book, so that we can advise you on how you might qualify for public funding and how any compensation may affect your entitlement to benefit
Your contract of employment, if you have one
Any written statement of terms and conditions from your employer
Details of any grievance procedure your employer operates
Notes of what happened from the first time you had a problem, with dates of each incident
Details of any warnings you may have received from your employer
Any documents or photographs relating to your claim, such as meeting notes, emails or letters from your employer, receipts or other proof of any expenditure you have incurred as a result of the claim
In the case of a dismissal claim, details of any jobs you have applied for since being dismissed.

Your questions answered

How much will it cost? Don’t be put off because of worries about funding your case. The main reason for litigation costs rising is the other side being difficult - but as a result of changes in the Tribunal rules, this is much less likely to happen. Similarly, it will help us to keep the cost down if you provide us with all the information we need at the outset and promptly, during the course of the case.

How long will it take? The typical time to reach a negotiated settlement is 2-3 months. If you proceed with Tribunal action, a claim for unfair dismissal must be made within 3 months of the date of your dismissal and most cases will be heard within 5 months of issue.

Contact us
Our specialists are based in central Bristol and Yate but they visit our branches regularly and will be happy to meet you at an office local to you.

Central Bristol/North Somerset: Martin Keegan on 0117 929 2811or email him
North Bristol/South Gloucestershire: Larry Rawlinson on 01454 316789 or email him