When a business needs to make redundancies, transfer employees to a different business or deal with other employment issues related to business reorganisations and restructuring, it is important to get specialist legal advice.
Our Employment Law team work with a wide range of businesses, providing proactive and commercially astute legal advice that protects businesses and allows them to effectively carry out their plans.
Ashtons Legal is highly ranked in East Anglia across a number of areas by leading independent client guides the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners. We have an excellent reputation built on our clear, practical legal advice and a strong understanding of the needs of businesses when dealing with both straightforward and more complex employment law matters.
For expert advice on dealing with redundancy and other employment law issues related to business reorganisation and restructuring, please contact your local Ashtons Legal office in Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich and Leeds.
To make a quick enquiry, please use our simple online contact form.
How our employment lawyers can help your business with redundancy and related issues
Redundancy
Redundancy is a common and potentially fair reason for dismissal. A genuine redundancy dismissal ought to involve a full and transparent consultation and a fair procedure.
Our employment lawyers can help with all types of redundancy:
- Business Closure – closure of the business at which the employee was employed.
- Workplace closure – closure of a particular workplace where the employee was employed.
- Employee – Having a reduced requirement for the employee to carry out work of a particular kind.
Employees who are dismissed by reason of redundancy may be entitled to a statutory redundancy payment. Employees may also be entitled to an enhanced payment because of binding redundancy policies or previous redundancy pay practices. Our employment lawyers can advise on the correct redundancy payments to be made.
An employee may be able to challenge a redundancy if the employer has failed to:
- Identify an appropriate pool for selection
- Consult with individuals in the pool
- Apply objective selection criteria to those in the pool
- Consider suitable alternative employment
Our employment lawyers can advise you on the correct redundancy process and guide you through every stage of making employees redundant, ensuring your business complies with its legal obligations and minimising the risk of any employee bringing a claim against your business.
Our team is highly experienced in helping employers to deal with unfair dismissal and discrimination claims, including through settlement agreements and employment tribunal claims.
Advice on furloughing staff
Should you be considering furloughing staff in response to the current coronavirus lockdown, we can advise you on the correct process for doing so. Our employment lawyers can help to ensure you are complying with the requirements of the government’s furlough scheme and that you are treating your employees fairly.
Settlement agreements
When making employees redundant, it can sometimes be necessary to request they sign a settlement agreement in which they agree not to bring a claim against you in exchange for an enhanced redundancy package.
Our employment lawyers can draft a settlement agreement for you, represent you in settlement negotiations with your employees and provide independent legal advice on settlement agreements to employees (which is a legal requirement).
Find out more about how we can help with settlement agreements.
Collective consultation
If 20 or more individuals in the same place of work are at risk of redundancy and may be dismissed in a 90-day window, this is referred to as a collective redundancy. A collective redundancy places additional obligations on the employer as part of their redundancy process. For example, a duty to inform and consult employee representatives. If an employer is in breach of the additional requirements, compensation may be payable to each affected employee.
Our employment lawyers can advise you on this process and guide you through collective consultation, making sure you follow the correct legal steps and minimising the potential for disputes.
Reorganisation and Restructure
A reorganisation or restructure may mean that an employer needs to make changes to job roles, places of work or to pay and benefits. Some of those changes may be significant enough to place roles at risk of redundancy if changes cannot be agreed with affected employees. Sometimes an employer can enforce changes without needing consent because the employment contract has flexibility within it which allows amendments to be made.
Our employment lawyers can advise you on whether any changes require consent and the process to be followed.
If you need to transfer employees to a different business (e.g. during a merger or takeover) or are outsourcing services, you should seek specialist advice on whether the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) applies.
Our employment lawyers are highly experienced in dealing with TUPE and can advise you on its application and how best to work effectively to achieve your goals whilst staying compliant.
Find out more about how we can help your business with TUPE.
Why Ashtons Legal is the smart choice for employment law advice for businesses
Our Employment Law team is led by Partner Ross Strowger, a highly experienced specialist employment lawyer who regularly works with firms on issues including redundancy, restructuring and business transfers.
As well as providing proactive advice on redundancy proceedings and related issues, we are also very experienced in supporting businesses facing claims for unfair dismissal. We have consistently achieved positive outcomes for our clients, including through negotiated settlements and employment tribunal proceedings.
We are ranked for Employment by prestigious client guide the Legal 500, providing independent recognition of the quality of our legal services in this area.
Our Employment Law team work very closely with our Corporate Law team, allowing us to offer a joined-up approach that ensures every potential issue involved in redundancy, restructuring, and business reorganisation can be dealt with effectively.
Ashtons Legal is Lexcel accredited by the Law Society and is independently regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
Contact our employment lawyers for business today
Our employment lawyers offer expert advice on dealing with redundancy and relayed employment law issues to businesses across England and Wales from our offices in the East of England.
To speak to a member of our team today, please contact your local Ashtons Legal office in Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich and Leeds.
Or, to make a quick enquiry, please use our simple online contact form.