Employment Matters

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Protect your company from employment-related legal issues.

Our specialist knowledge means we are confident tackling a range of issues, no matter how big or small. When you hire a settlement lawyer from our firm, you can rest assured that your case will be handled professionally and our wealth of knowledge will be put into practice.

We’re in your corner and are there to protect your business. We help you get everything in order to help protect you from future employment-related legal issues. We are also able to undertake urgent instructions and prepare letters and assist with compromise or settlement agreements in a prompt and efficient manner. 

UK employment law can be complex, but rest assured that our team stays fully up to date with any changes to legislation, making sure they can fight your corner with the most relevant legal knowledge. At Crystal Law Solicitors, we have resolved a range of workplace disputes.

  • Settlement and compromise agreements
  • Contracts of employment and restrictive covenants
  • Preparing for redundancies
  • Disciplinary procedures
  • Defence against employee claims
  • Understanding worker and employee rights
  • Redundancy
  • Dismissal
  • Contract disputes
  • Discrimination at work
  • Disciplinary & grievance issues
  • Employment tribunals
  • Equal pay
  • Flexible working
  • Stress at work
  • Workplace bullying
  • Financial issues
  • Employment tribunals.

Our team welcome clients from all parts of the UK. We can conduct telephone and web-based consultations with clients and complete all paper works via email and post.

Next steps

Talk to our expert solicitors and find out how we can help.

Employment Tribunal Explained

The fees set out cover all work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:

  • Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers, and advising you on the merits of the claim against the business. The likely compensation the business could be asked to pay the claimant. (Advising you on the merits and the likely compensation the claimant may receive are both likely to be revisited throughout the matter and are both subject to change)
  • Entering pre-claim conciliation where this is required to explore whether a settlement can be reached
  • Preparing the business’s response to the claim and filing it at the tribunal
  • Exploring and negotiating settlement throughout the process
  • Considering details of the claimant’s losses (schedule of loss) and preparing a counter-schedule
  • Preparing for and attending any hearings which are needed to resolve issues prior to the main tribunal hearing (these are called ‘Preliminary Hearings’)
  • Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
  • Taking witness statements, drafting witness statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
  • Preparing an agreed bundle of documents for use at the tribunal hearing
  • Reviewing and advising you on the other party’s witness statements
  • Agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and or a cast list for use at the tribunal hearing
  • Preparation for and attendance at the final hearing, including instructing a barrister

How long will my matter take?

The time it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved. If a settlement is reached prior to us having to file a response on your behalf, or shortly after filing your response, your case is likely to take 6 to 12 weeks. If your case proceeds all the way to a final tribunal hearing, your case is likely to take around 6 to 9 months but may be longer depending on how quickly the tribunal can find a date for the hearing. This is an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

Employment Tribunal Fees for Businesses

We have set out below our pricing range for defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal. Please note that the pricing does not cover any other type of claim, such as a discrimination claim, which your business might need to defend. We do not offer any conditional fee or damage-based agreements.

We cannot give a definitive cost for this work as it will depend on the complexity of the claim(s) that are being brought against your business. However, we have set out below a pricing range which shows you our charges for dealing with a claim from start up to (but not including) a final hearing according to its complexity:

  • Simple Case: £6,000 to £10,500 plus VAT at 20%, considering approximately 20 to 35 hours work.
  • Medium Complexity Case: £10,500 to £15,000 plus VAT at 20%, considering approximately 20 to 50 hours work.
  • High Complexity Case: £15,000 to £30,000 plus VAT at 20%, considering approximately 50 to 100 hours work.

Our Solicitors hourly rate is £250 plus VAT. VAT will be charged at the standard prevailing rate of 20%.

We may provide you with a fixed fee quote within the appropriate range once we have a better understanding of the claim against your business (exclusive of barrister’s fees). Any offer of a fixed fee will be dependent upon the merits and complexities of the claim against you.

Your legal fees may be covered by a commercial insurance agreement. If your fees are covered by such an agreement and your insurers appoint us to represent you, then some or all of your legal fees may be covered by your insurers, dependent upon the terms of your policy. However, you may be asked to pay an additional amount on top of the contribution being paid by your insurers, for example if the terms of your policy are only to pay a percentage of fees charged. The policy may also cover barrister’s fees.

Factors that could make a case more complex:

  • If it is necessary to make or dispute a request to amend the defence or provide further information about an existing claim
  • Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person
  • Making or defending a costs application
  • Dealing with complex issues before the tribunal hearing such as whether the claimant is an employee (if this is in dispute) or whether the claim has been issued in time
  • The number of witnesses and documents. The greater the number of witnesses and the larger the amount of the documents, the more complex the claim
  • If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim, e.g. if the claimant was dismissed after blowing the whistle on the business
  • Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal

There will be an additional charge if you would like us to attend the tribunal hearing of £1,500 per day plus VAT at 20%. Generally, we would allow 1 to 3 days attendance depending on the complexity of your case.

Disbursements are necessary costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, which we handle on your behalf. A barrister will be instructed to represent you at the tribunal hearing. Barristers are lawyers who specialise in representation at hearings. When a barrister is instructed to represent you at the tribunal hearing there will be an additional cost (Counsel’s fees). Counsel’s fees for an unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal claim are typically estimated between £1,500 to £3,000 per day plus VAT, depending on the number of years’ experience of the barrister. This cost covers the barrister’s preparation time and attendance at the tribunal hearing.

Why Crystal Law?

Our team are here to make the law crystal clear.

Our expert solicitors have a wealth of experience, bourne from years of helping 1000s of clients located across the UK on a wide variety of legal matters.

With our extensive knowledge and understanding across many key areas of UK civil law, we're able to provide bespoke legal advice that's tailored to your circumstances.

We know that the law can feel extremely complex and we are there to guide our clients with our down-to-earth approach and jargon-free legal advice.