We help employers get contracts, discipline and dismissals right before a claim arrives.
Under the Employment and Labour Relations Act, a termination can be found unfair because of how it was carried out, even where the reason for it was sound.
We draft contracts and workplace policies, take employers through disciplinary, incapacity and performance procedures, and structure retrenchments so that the consultation and the written record hold up. Where a claim reaches the Commission for Mediation and Arbitration, we prepare the file and appear.
Contracts of employment, fixed term and specific task arrangements, secondment, restrictive covenants, and the terms that apply to non-citizen employees and their work and residence permits.
Policies and handbooks, disciplinary and grievance procedures, workplace investigations, and advice on incapacity, poor performance and misconduct before the decision is taken, while there is still time to get it right.
Representation at mediation and arbitration before the CMA, and on revision to the Labour Division of the High Court. We also advise on settlement terms and on the likely cost of defending a claim.
We explain what the Act requires, where the decision is yours as the employer, and what we advise. A named partner stays on the case and updates you at each step. On an employment case that includes the procedural steps in order, with the dates they have to happen by.
It depends on the contract. The Act sets seven days for an employee of a month or less, four days for a day to day employee, and 28 days for a monthly employee with more than a month of service.
Thirty days from the date of termination for an unfair termination claim, and 60 days for most other complaints. Those dates are worth checking at the outset.
For contract and policy work, and for a defined disciplinary process, we agree a fixed fee before starting.
Tell us what the employee did, what has happened since and when. Dates count here, so we will set out the procedure to follow before you act.
