Employment Law For Businesses - Legal Advice in Oldham

Both Peter and Geoff recognise the impact having to take disciplinary action against employees can have on your organisation and we are here to help you through what can become a minefield. When you find yourself as an employer having to take disciplinary action against an employee or to consider staff redundancies, it is important to ensure that you carry out the process in a procedurally correct manner.  We can assist in reviewing evidence and providing advice as to how to deal with a disciplinary hearing or redundancy consultation. For pricing information in relation to unfair/wrongful dismissal claims please see below.

Employment Tribunal Cases If you receive an unfair dismissal claim, it is vital that you act upon it by obtaining legal advice without delay. No two cases are ever alike and so it is impossible to provide you with the total cost of the service at the outset.  What we will do, however, is assess the case and provide early advice at a first interview for a fixed fee of £250.00 + VAT. We will then send you an engagement letter providing you with the best estimate we can of the likely costs of acting for you in the case. In this information page we provide a range of costs based on our knowledge and experience of conducting unfair dismissal cases for Respondent employers. Please note that if there are other claims brought within an unfair/wrongful dismissal case, such as discrimination, this will impact upon the costs estimate. It is important to consider at the outset if you do have other funding options available to you, such as cover under an Insurance Policy.  Please bring any such Policy with you to the first interview.

Range of Employment Tribunal Costs Our pricing for defending unfair or wrongful dismissal cases :-

• Simple case where, if the case goes to a final hearing, the hearing takes no longer than 1 day : £4,000.00-£6,000.00 (excluding VAT)
• Medium complexity case : £6,000.00-£8,000.00 (excluding VAT)
• High complexity case : £8,000.00-£12,000.00 (excluding VAT)

Factors that could make a case more complex

• If it is necessary to make or defend Applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim
• Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person
• Making or defending a Costs Application – normally each party bears their own legal costs whatever the ultimate outcome but in rare cases costs can be awarded against a party who has acted unreasonably
• Complex preliminary issues such as whether the Claimant is disabled within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Legislation
• The number of witnesses and documents
• If the case brought against you is an automatic unfair dismissal claim, for example, if the employee claims to have been dismissed after blowing the whistle on you
• Additional claims are brought, such as disability discrimination or whistleblowing

If the Tribunal decides to hold a preliminary hearing our charges for attending such a hearing and undertaking the work required in preparation for that hearing are likely to be between £500.00 and £1,000.00 exclusive of VAT. If we are to represent you at a final hearing there will be an additional charge of £1,000.00 per day (excluding VAT).  If the case is of some complexity, it is generally the case that a hearing may take anything between 2 and 5 days.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties.  We would not anticipate that you would have any Tribunal fees to pay.  If any disbursements do become necessary, e.g Medical Experts fees, we handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.  Obviously you would be liable to pay to us the fees charged by an Expert. If Counsel is to represent you at a final hearing, then Counsel’s fees (including preparation for the hearing) will depend upon the experience of the Advocate instructed but can be expected to be between £750.00 and £1,500.00 per day.  Counsel’s fees can be more in the more complex cases.

Key Stages in a Tribunal Case

The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a typical unfair dismissal claim :-

• Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation.  This is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and be the subject of change
• Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached
• Preparing a response to the claim
• Reviewing and advising on the other party’s claim
• Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
• Considering a Claimant’s Schedule of Loss and preparing a Counter-Schedule
• Preparing for (and attending) a preliminary hearing
• Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a Bundle of Documents
• Taking Witness Statements, drafting Statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
• Preparing a Bundle of Documents
• Reviewing and advising on the other party’s Witness Statements
• Agreeing a list of issues, a Chronology and/or cast list
• Preparation and attendance at final hearing, including, where appropriate, Instructions to Counsel

The stages set out above are an indication only.  If some of the stages are not required, the fee will be reduced accordingly.  You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages.  This can be arranged to suit your individual needs.

How long will the matter take?

The time from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends upon a number of factors and largely on the stage at which your case is resolved.  For example, if a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, your case is likely to take between 4 and 8 weeks.  By contrast, if the claim proceeds all the way to a final hearing, it could easily take 6-9 months.  You will appreciate that this is just an estimate and we will be able to give you a more accurate timescale as information emerges and the case progresses.