Defending employment tribunal claims
Our clients come to us for solutions to workforce issues. Employment law is complex and our experienced employment law team can help your organisation navigate a full range of employment issues.
Everyone at the firm is driven by our purpose of improving lives, communities and society and that has led to our specialisation in a number of sectors. We work with clients who share a similar outlook.
Supporting you with employment tribunal claims
We know employment tribunal claims can be stressful, costly and time-consuming and we
work with employers to handle claims in the most cost-effective and least time-consuming way
possible. Our specialist employment law team draws on its extensive sector knowledge and experience and can guide you through each stage of the tribunal process, from preparing the initial response to a tribunal claim, to support with preparing witness statements and strategic advice on handling a tribunal claim.
Legal advice before a matter gets to a tribunal
Our team understand that a lot can happen before a matter gets to a tribunal and early legal advice and support can be key to navigating difficult situations, avoiding the tribunal altogether or putting our local authority in the best place to successfully defend against tribunal claims.
We also understand the significant pressures that local authorities are under and the need for practical
and commercial advice. We are flexible in the support we offer from ad-hoc support to in-house
legal teams to engage with lead clients within a local authority.
Resolving matters with a settlement or judicial mediation
Where a local authority prefers to resolve a matter without defending the claim to a final hearing,
there are options. We have an excellent track record with settlement and judicial mediation. We
appreciate however that as a local authority using public funds, you will want to fully defend claims
where there are grounds to do so, out of principle, or because of the message that settling a
particular claim might send. We are experienced in defending claims from start to finish in those situations and fully understand the reasons for this.
Employment resources and training for your organisation
We are passionate about sharing our experiences and we can deliver training on the employment
tribunal process and procedure (and other employment law topics) to upskill everyone from local
authority staff, managers, HR advisors, members and others.
Our lessons learnt analysis can be provided at any stage of a claim and can be shared internally with
HR or management colleagues who seek to avoid similar situations from arising again.
We have produced documents and guidance based on our experience with certain claims to help with
internal processes that seek to reduce the risk of a claim. These include our guide on dealing with
employment situations with police involvement and a suspension checklist.
You can also receive our regular blogs and legal updates on issues affecting local authorities which are
free to access by signing up to our insights.
Recent employment tribunal work for local authorities
Defending a complicated unfair dismissal claim
We successfully defended a claim for unfair dismissal, various types of disability discrimination and failure to respond to a flexible working request.
Defending a claim for constructive dismissal
Our team successfully defended a claim brought by an internal housing benefit assessor for constructive dismissal who had worked for the council for over 20 years. The claimant sought compensation […]
Who we act for
We act for many local authorities across the country, including district councils, county councils, city
councils, London boroughs and arm’s length companies wholly owned by local authorities.
Our depth of expertise and extensive experience in the sector means that we understand the
practical issues faced by local authorities. These close sector ties assist with pre-empting likely issues
and offering pragmatic solutions.
Our approach to fees
The cost of defending a claim is often one of the foremost considerations and we understand that as
a local authority, you have limited budgets for legal costs so we make sure that we can deliver
effective results whilst offering value for money at all stages.
We are members of a number of legal frameworks (including East Midlands Law Share, London
Borough’s Legal Alliance, Northeast Partnership Organisation and Eastlight) that local authorities can
join in which we offer competitive hourly rates and fixed fee options to provide flexibility and
certainty.
Testimonials and legal directory rankings
We are proud of our expertise and successful track record, but don’t take our word for it:
I get the benefit of doing lots of employment work with lots of different firms and fee
Counsel at No5 Chambers
earners and probably get used to a decent level of competence – but every now and
again someone particularly impresses and Sarah certainly has. I’ve been hugely
supported in my role as counsel on the case by the fact that she is: completely on top
of the evidence (and so able to assist me on occasion with cross-referencing);
thoroughly efficient; willing to go above and beyond (working outside normal office
hours to finalise a witness statement and to proof read materials) and clearly has been
very supportive of the client and the witnesses (who I know have been impressed).
For more information
If your organisation is facing a potential employment tribunal claim, please contact Matthew Gregson, Jackie Morris or Sarah Harnett.