Employment and HR

When it comes to avoiding employment claims and protecting your business, there are no easy answers, however, putting in place effective employment contracts and policies is the first and most important step towards mitigating the risks and ensuring you are in the best position to defend any claims. We draft effective employment contracts, policies and procedures which will be the cornerstone of your HR strategy.

We understand that every employer has different priorities and objectives and that standard template documents are not necessarily appropriate for your business so we make sure that the contracts and policies we produce are fit for purpose and are consistent with your culture and objectives.

Our job is to draft workable, practical and accessible contracts and policy documents which are written in plain English (so your employees can understand them without resorting to a dictionary), give you the flexibility you need to operate your business effectively and to respond to changing market conditions, set out rights and obligations clearly to minimise room for dispute and protect your business against unfair competition.   

We can advise you on the best way to introduce new terms and conditions into your workforce, including advice on consultation with trade unions or other representative bodies.

As a standard part of our service, we regularly review your contracts and policies to make sure that the documents you have in place keep up with developments in the law.   We also offer audits of your current contractual documentation with recommendations for improvement and are happy to work with you to update your current contracts and policies.

We also draft consultancy agreements, directors’ service agreements, letters of appointment for non-executive directors, and negotiate and draft settlement agreements.

With 60 years of collective experience and clients ranging from multinational corporations and large public sector organisations to SMEs and social landlords, the Employment team has the expertise to provide a complete employment law and HR support service for our clients.

The team is noted in both Legal 500 and Chambers for its pragmatic and commercial approach, with head of team and partner, Jack Harrington, ranked in the Chambers UK Guide and praised by Legal 500 for being ‘very responsive’ and ‘very commercial’ and ‘grasping issues straight away’.

We offer helpline advice over the phone, by email, or face to face, for the employment issues faced by HR teams and line managers on a day to day basis.  Based on our extensive experience, we are able to offer clear, practical solutions (and moral support!) to those on the front line.  

We advise on the full range of HR and employment law issues, including disciplinary matters and grievances, sickness absence and performance management, holiday and other working time issues,  flexible working and family rights, agency and casual workers, job evaluation, equal pay and discrimination, executive terminations and ‘protected conversations’, business immigration, and data protection.  Whether you need advice on a complex issue or a sounding board for something more straightforward; we will talk through the issue with you and agree on the best way forward.

To support our advice, we assist with the review or drafting of HR correspondence, including disciplinary invitations and warning letters, grievance outcomes, instructions to occupational health or other medical experts and settlement agreements.

We also advise on more strategic issues such as business transfers, outsourcing and in-sourcing and the impact of the TUPE Regulations, re-structures and redundancy, employee consultation, and changing terms of employment.

Advice is provided by experienced lawyers who are up to date with the latest legal developments. This means you will get the right advice at the right time in a format that is accessible and appropriate for you.  In the words of one of our clients, “They are superb: they always communicate clearly, they listen and they give prompt, relevant advice.”

We understand that HR issues often blow up and need to be resolved quickly, so you will always be able to speak to a lawyer straight away if you have an urgent query.  

We understand that cost is an important part of the equation when it comes to legal advice and particularly so in the area of employment law where there is a bewildering range of offers and packages available.  

We believe the key to making sure you get value for money is transparency and flexibility and our pricing solutions reflect this approach.  We offer a range of pricing options, including competitive hourly rates, fixed and capped fees for project work and tribunal cases, and retainer and helpline arrangements for ad hoc HR advice.

We also recognise that employers are on the back foot when it comes to defending employment tribunal claims – because costs don’t follow the event, you are saddled with legal costs even though you have won the case.  Our HR Plus scheme provides helpline advice and an insurance policy which covers you for the legal costs and compensation arising from an employment tribunal claim whether or not you take legal advice. Under this scheme, you are covered “in any event”, so you do not have to take our advice unless you wish to reduce your “excess” payment. 

We discuss fees and openly at the outset of any piece of work, agree with an approach or an estimate with you, and make sure we deliver our service in line with what has been agreed.  We pride ourselves on our transparency so itemised billing comes as standard.  

We believe that prevention is better than cure when it comes to employment law, and training and knowledge-sharing are the keys to prevention.  We offer a wide range of seminars, workshops and interactive training sessions on employment law and HR issues for HR professionals, line managers, in house lawyers, and senior management teams.

We offer training on the full spectrum of HR issues, including TUPE, changing terms and conditions, handling sickness absence, managing poor performance, and equality and diversity. We also offer a ‘mock’ tribunal to give clients a real understanding of what goes into the preparation of a tribunal case and how a tribunal hearing will unfold.

We understand that training has to be delivered in a way which is relevant and accessible and, most of all, enjoyable so all our in house workshops and seminars are interactive with a practical focus.  In the words of one of our delegates, our workshops are “lively, engaging and create the opportunity for difficult real-life …. scenarios to be discussed with openness while offering practical solutions.”

We work in co-operation with our clients to make sure the in house training we provide reflects your internal practices and procedures and is consistent with your commercial and operational objectives.

For more information about the training we offer, please see the Pannone Academy website.

Tribunal and other legal proceedings can be costly, time-consuming and uncertain, however by making sure we understand your objectives and agreeing on a clear strategy at the start of the case, we can work with you to achieve the best possible outcome  – whether that be a win on the day or a commercially driven settlement.

We represent our clients in the Employment Tribunal, EAT, County and High Courts, handling claims ranging from unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing, equal pay, unlawful deduction from wages and breach of contract, to injunctive action for breach of post-termination restrictions and judicial review. We also act for clients in mediations.

We understand that every client is different so we don’t have a ‘one-size fits all’ approach when it comes to litigation.  We want you to be comfortable with the way we represent your business so we make sure we tailor our approach to fit your culture. 

We will provide you with an early case assessment setting out prospects of success, potential financial exposure for the business, and a cost/benefit analysis so that we can agree on the best way forward in partnership with you. 

We will always advise you on the pros and cons of an early settlement, but we also appreciate that many employers are quite rightly concerned about creating a ‘claims culture’ within their business so we will defend a claim to the hilt if that is what you decide to do.  Our experience tells us that thorough preparation is the key to winning a case, so we invest the time to make sure that all of your witnesses are fully briefed on the issues and the evidence and can present the best case on the day.  

We work closely with founders, CEOs, directors, and senior executives in relation to all aspects of their personal employment relationships. We also have experience of acting for medical professionals in relation to a variety of employment issues including NHS terms and conditions, workplace bullying and discrimination.

Our approach is straightforward – we listen, provide pragmatic and commercial advice and help you achieve your goals.

We can advise and represent you with any legal issues that may arise throughout the lifecycle of your employment. We can support you with advice in relation to:

• Your service agreement and other contractual documentation, whether as an employee, director, or self-employed contractor.

• Legal issues relating to bonuses, incentive arrangements, shareholder issues, and remuneration packages.

• Disciplinary matters, discrimination and equal pay, problems arising from illness or other incapacity, bullying and other grievances.

• Regulatory issues and any director’s duties.

• Issues arising on exit from your employment including contractual entitlements, shareholder rights, and confidentiality obligations.

• Post-termination restrictive covenants – their enforceability, strategies for dealing with them in your new career, and representing you in any dispute with your employer.

• Negotiating your exit and advising on the terms of any settlement agreement.

We also provide advice on potential claims and represent you at the employment tribunal or in the county or high court where you have an outstanding complaint against the organisation for which you worked.