Employment Law
Inevitably, employment law is an area of rapid change, not just because of new statute but because of a continual flow of Employment Appeal Tribunal decisions, court cases, tax changes and "commissions" like those chaired by Cadbury, Greenbury and Hampel.
We have been involved primarily in advising employers, although it is also noticeable that employees increasingly seek legal advice, not just as a result of acrimonious partings but when negotiating or renegotiating contracts of employment and service agreements.
Case Study:
H, an oil service company, was facing a racial discrimination case.The complainant, an employee, was being backed by the Citizen's Advice Bureau. While the company was confident that its procedures would be vindicated it wished to avoid the bad publicity that an appearance at a tribunal would bring. As a result of a detailed analysis of e-mails sent by the employee during the course of his employment we were able to find evidence that significantly weakened his case, leading to the abandonment of the claim.
The firm can provide a full employment law service:
- Drafting Service Agreements for executives and directors
- "Template" Contracts for employees
- Advice on stock-options and other elements of remuneration
- Confidentiality agreements and restrictive covenants
- Advising on dismissals, grievance procedures, disciplinary measures
- Redundancy
- Court and Tribunal appearances
Future Issues:
The Inland Revenue's proposals to deem contractors working through personal service companies to be employees where they are working for just one employer - motivated by the desire to eliminate a means of minimising tax and national insurance - will, in turn, raise a further series of questions: Must employers put such former contractors on the payroll; can contracts be phrased to protect some of the flexibility that employers (and employees) previously enjoyed; in which circumstances could a contractual rather than an employment situation be preserved?
In a similar vein, the appearance of the European concept of Commercial Agent may confer rights on self-employed contractors that are not dissimilar to those of employees. What will these rights be, how might the present advantages be preserved?
Contact Aberdeen Office |
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| Tom Rennie | 01224 428000 |  |
Contact Inverurie Office |
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Graham Matthews |
01467 672800 | |
Contact Huntly Office |
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| David Black | 01466 792101 | |
Contact Keith Office |
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| Alexander Mitchell | 01542 882537 | |
Contact Alford Office |
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| Linda Purkis | 019755 62939 | |