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hr focus 19


The perfect prescription for HR headaches


With 191,541 claims accepted by the employment tribunals in the financial year 2012/2013, many arising from badly documented employment contracts and policies along with failures to follow suitable procedures, it is clear that employment issues still cause problems for businesses


Catering for the many SMEs that do not have a dedicated human recourses manager as well as supporting HR teams in larger businesses, Thames Valley and Blackwater legal firm Herrington & Carmichael offers a specialist HR retainer service which, in return for a monthly fee, offers advice from an experienced employment lawyer. The team also offers ad-hoc advice as and when required, and project support to in-house HR and legal departments for businesses throughout the South East.


Head of the employment team is Ashley Holden, who has well over 25 years’ experience in dealing with both contentious and non-contentious employment work, with particular expertise in advising on complex TUPE matters, strategy and employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions.


Working alongside him is solicitor Laura Harris, who also advises on all areas of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious, with a particular interest in advising on complex disciplinary and grievance procedures, post-termination disputes and drafting bespoke contracts and handbooks.


“Our core client base for the retainer service is businesses with between 20 and 150 employees, which means they are big enough to have HR issues, but not usually of a size where they can afford to employ their own HR team,” he said.


“Joining our retainer service means they have the peace of mind of knowing legal expertise is available whenever they need it, all for a fixed monthly cost.”


Larger organisations benefit from the team’s support to their in-house legal and HR departments.


Holden makes the point that, unlike some similar services, Herrington & Carmichael takes a very personal approach and is focused on providing the best commercial outcome for the business.


“We believe that the way we offer our service is quite different, we know our clients don’t want to be treated as simply a case reference in a legal call centre,” he said. “They want the benefit of face-to-face advice, to have someone who will guide them through the whole process of finding a solution, rather


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – FEBRUARY 2014


“For example, we can advise on the best way forward to structure an agreement to ensure that if key individuals perform well and increase the value of a company, then they too will benefit when the business is sold. It’s a win-win for both parties.”


Looking ahead to the legal issues likely to affect businesses over the coming months, he forecasts an increase in TUPE related issues and restructuring as more contracts and businesses are taken over as a result of the more buoyant economy.


In addition, he says the types of claims pursued in the tribunals are likely to become increasingly complex, due to the recent changes to employment legislation which reduced the qualifying period of employment for making an unfair dismissal claim and also capped award payments.


Ashley Holden


than simply stating what the law says for any particular problem, which is what many employment advice providers do.”


He says typical topics can range from how to ensure the correct wording for a job advert, to the best way to handle an employee’s discrimination claim; questions around disciplinary action; and how to carefully and effectively manage a restructure.


Holden believes as the economy picks up and more businesses look at new opportunities or restructure their company in a bid to move forward, the potential to run into employment problems will grow.


“With businesses becoming more active, they are looking at ways of expanding and increasingly one route is to poach an individual or team from another company, which clearly has a major impact on the original employer,” he said.


“As a result, over the past few months we’ve seen an increase in work around restrictive covenants and also cases where we’ve had to issue letters addressing breaches of covenant and, in some cases, threaten an injunction.”


At the same time, Holden says companies are exploring more proactive ways to encourage employees to stay.


“Many employers want to ‘lock in’ their senior executives and best teams through a variety of methods, not just via traditional bonuses, but also through other benefits and incentives such as equity and share schemes,” he said.


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“It’s quite unusual now to see a ‘simple’ unfair dismissal


case,” he added. “Employees are more likely to additionally claim some form of discrimination on grounds of race, age, sex, disability or another protected characteristic, or make a claim under the whistleblowing regulations in order to try and win a larger payout.


“It’s a trend I think we will see more of and the key for employers who are facing a claim is to seek advice early on in the process in order that we can challenge the claim, or negotiate towards achieving the best possible settlement, and ensure the case is brought to a final conclusion.”


With the economy on the rise, the employment team looks set for a busy year ahead.


Details: Ashley Holden 0118-9774045 ashley.holden@herrington-carmichael.com www.herrington-carmichael.com


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