Services to Employers

With legislation becoming increasingly complex, Employment Tribunals able to award compensation approaching £60,000.00 for employees found to have been unfairly dismissed and unlimited compensation possible for those employees found to have been discriminated against, professional advice on employment related issues is an important consideration for all businesses whatever their size.

Carter Hodge has a specialist employment department providing a comprehensive range of services including :-

• Drafting and reviewing terms and conditions, contracts of employment and service agreements
• Advising on disciplinary procedures and dismissals.
• Making employees redundant.
• Drafting of formal employment letters.
• Drafting of company handbooks, equal opportunity and other policies.
• Severance Agreements
• Defending claims in the Employment Tribunals or other Courts.
• Interpretation of relevant employment legislation.
• Restrictive covenants.
• Discrimination Issues.

Drafting and reviewing terms and conditions, contracts of employment and service agreements

Section One of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires employers to provide employees with a written statement covering their main terms and conditions of employment. A “contract of employment” is a more comprehensive document usually containing substantially more detail than the basic terms and conditions enabling more specific employment issues to be clarified and ambiguity avoided. Service agreements tend to be offered to more senior and well remunerated employees and careful thought needs to be given to their drafting.

Providing the statutory statement of terms and conditions or a more formal contract of employment will assist in :-

• Enabling both employer and employee to know exactly what the agreed terms of employment are.
• Managing staff relations.
• Reducing the risk of claims to the Employment Tribunals.
• Complying with relevant employment legislation.

We are able to assist in the drafting of both basic terms and conditions of employment, contracts of employment and service agreements. We can also assist in the review of existing documentation to ensure compliance with changes in employment legislation.

Advising on disciplinary procedures and dismissals

Disciplinary rules and procedures set standards of conduct at work and make clear to employees what is expected of them. The ACAS handbook discipline at work observes that “proper procedures are an aid to good management and should not be viewed primarily as a means of imposing sanctions or as necessarily leading to dismissal”. With the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal now £56,800.00 it is imperative that employers follow a fair procedure if expensive and time consuming claims to the Employment Tribunals are to be restricted.

The Employment Act 2002 introduced statutory minimum procedures in relation to disciplinary and grievance issues providing a requirement for employers to go through certain defined stages whenever disciplinary action or dismissal is contemplated. A failure to follow these procedures were a dismissal occurs will render that dismissal automatically unfair. Similar procedures operate in respect of grievances pursued by employees where specified steps must be followed. A failure by an employer or employee to use the procedures can result in an increase (or reduction) of between 10 and 50% of any later award by a Tribunal following a successful claim.

We will assist with the drafting of disciplinary procedures to ensure they are compliant with the Act and are able to provide advice at all stages of a disciplinary process including :-

• Advising as to whether disciplinary action is appropriate in the circumstances.
  
• Ensuring compliance with a fair procedure.
• Advising as to the potential risks of a dismissal.
• Advising with regard to the possibility of settling any claim through a Compromise Agreement.
• Assisting with the defence of a claim if one is pursued.