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Employment Law for Employers

At Taylor Fordyce we offer Employment Law and HR services for employers to save you time and money.  Access to our services will help ensure legal compliance and also bring you peace of mind. 

In order to set high HR standards within your business, you need to have access to legally qualified Employment Law and HR specialists.  Getting things wrong, or receiving inappropriate advice from unqualified advisers, could prove costly.   Our team of Employment Law experts will work with you to keep your business compliant.

Most people know that Employment Law is complex.  However, many businesses do not have legally qualified Employment Law and HR Advisers in their in-house teams, and some have no HR function at all.  If either of these scenarios applies to your company, Taylor Fordyce can help you.

Our range of Employment Law and HR services will help to ensure that you achieve legal compliance and raise HR standards within your organisation, and by so doing, keep your staff happy and productive.   Taylor Fordyce uses a pre-emptive and constructive approach to ensure that our clients manage and work with their staff effectively, efficiently and lawfully, and in so doing, avoiding costly Tribunal claims.

We have expertise in the following areas:

  • Employment Contracts
  • Employment Disputes
  • Restrictive Covenants
  • Disciplinary Hearings
  • Employment Policies
  • Restructuring
  • Redundancy
  • TUPE
  • HR & Compliance Services

Fixed Fee Employment Law and HR Support Service

Our Fixed Fee Employment Law and HR Support Service offers your business access to full-time support.  Just like a traditional firm of Solicitors, you will get highly qualified legal experts to work with you.  This support will be tailored to meet your needs and delivered by a dedicated Employment Law Solicitor who will get to know you and provide you with the support that your business requires. 

We would be delighted to meet with you and discuss your needs before providing you with an assessment of your requirements, and an analysis of what Taylor Fordyce can offer to meet those requirements.  Our annual fee (payable in 12 monthly instalments via Standing Order) will be commensurate with your needs and you will find that the cost of this method of support is very competitive.

Taylor Fordyce also offers a ‘Pay as you use’ Support Service, if you prefer to only receive an invoice when you use our services.

‘Pay as you use’ Support Service

Taylor Fordyce can also offer a ‘Pay as you use’ Support Service which means that your business will have access to our expertise and advice at the point of need, and you will only receive an invoice when you use our services.  There are no additional monthly, or hidden, charges and the cost of our support is very competitive.  We would be very pleased to meet with you to discuss any ad hoc advice and support that you may need. 

If at any point you decide that you would prefer a more structured billing approach, you can always sign up for our Fixed Fee Employment Law and HR Support Service.

What are restrictive covenants and are they enforceable?...

Restrictive covenants are most often seen in employment contracts and also in director service agreements and are known as Post Termination Restrictions. They are intended to protect the business of the employer when an employee or a director leaves particularly when he or she might compete with the business by setting up their own business in competition with the employer’s business or by working for a competitor.  The employer’s business might need protection to prevent the possible loss of customers or the unauthorised use of confidential business information.

The court will usually regard theses terms as covenants that are enforceable against the former employee or director but only if the meaning and extent of the covenant is fair and reasonable for the parties to have agreed at the commencement of the contract.

In a recent High Court decision (Bartholomews Agri Food v Thornton) the court refused the employer’s claim to be entitled to the protection of contract restrictive covenants against a former employee who was competing with the business because when the contract was agreed the employee was only a junior trainee worker.  Even though 18 years later the employee had become a senior employee the original contract which had been relied upon by the employer had not been suitable for  someone in a junior capacity; in other  words, the  contract was unfair at the time it was signed and was therefore fundamentally unfair and could not be enforced 18 years later.

The decision might well have been different if the employer had reviewed all contracts regularly and had updated them as appropriate for each individual employee.

The team at Taylor Fordyce can advise businesses and employees about restrictive covenants and other contractual matters.

I have a small business and do not use formal written contracts or ‘t & c’s’ is that ok?...

A contract can be made orally and it need not be in writing unless it is a type that is governed by statutory rules as in property transactions or credit agreements.  However, unless there is written evidence of the actual terms of an oral agreement it is likely to become difficult to enforce and more likely to give rise to disputes with the other party.

Many businesses are able to rely on experienced administrative staff and also on their legal advisers for advice before drafting of contracts. Some businesses make the mistake of only taking legal advice when they have a problem which is usually ‘after the horse has bolted’ and can be a costly error.

Good legal advice taken at an early stage is not expensive but costly mistakes are.

The team at Taylor Fordyce regularly advises businesses and individual owners or employees regarding contract terms and can assist in drafting new contracts or amending existing terms and conditions.

 

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