Fox Whitfield continues to grow and expand as Sarah Russell, employment lawyer joins the firm from Slater & Gordon.

Sarah qualified as a solicitor four years ago, and previously worked in-house for a FTSE 100 PLC.  Sarah’s recent experience has been predominantly representing employees.  She says that “for most people, seeking legal advice is the last resort in a stressful situation” and that  after their first meeting her clients frequently report feeling “much better”.  Sarah is transparent about costs and offers fixed fees where appropriate.

To accommodate her clients appointments are available in the evening and at weekends, as well as during office hours.

All sorts of people have instructed Sarah, including CEOs, company directors, doctors, engineers, HR and IT professionals, and sales staff.  She regularly negotiates on behalf of senior executives who want a “controlled exit” from their employment, and appreciates the importance of securing the client’s reputation, as well as getting an excellent financial package.

Sarah is passionate about helping those who have suffered unfair dismissal and/or discrimination.  She has enabled many disabled clients to obtain adjustments at work.  Sarah often assists working mothers whose flexible working requests have been declined, or who are being made redundant or mistreated on their return from maternity leave.  She recently negotiated a six-figure settlement for a senior employee at a big four accountancy firm who had suffered maternity discrimination.

Fox Whitfield quickly established a strong reputation for providing practical and honest advice at a cost effective price. They seek to resolve issues by working with clients and their individual situations rather than simply advising on the legal position. As a result, many clients moved to Fox Whitfield after finding their proactive and open approach a refreshing change.

Paul Whitfield explains “Rather than operating as a conventional law firm Fox Whitfield works in a modern and innovative way. Current technology means our lawyers work efficiently from satellite offices rather than being permanently based in one central office. Much of the physical infrastructure traditionally required by a law firm is no longer needed and the reduced office space and administration enables us to pass considerable savings on to clients without compromising on the quality of advice given.”

Sarah can be contacted on

Mob: 07985 106 233

Tel:  0161 2581338
Email: sarahr@foxwhitfield.com

Sarah works from the Manchester office and predominantly represents employees.  She is a recognised expert on employment law, and was recently on the BBC News and BBC World, talking about pay issues.

Sarah understands that for most people, seeking legal advice is the last resort in a stressful situation.  Her clients frequently report feeling “much better” after their first meeting with her.  Sarah is transparent about costs and offers fixed fees where appropriate.  Appointments are available in the evening and at weekends, as well as during office hours.

All sorts of people have instructed Sarah, including CEOs, company directors, doctors, engineers, HR and IT professionals, and sales staff.  She regularly negotiates on behalf of senior executives who want a “controlled exit” from their employment, and appreciates the importance of securing and protecting each client’s reputation, as well as getting an excellent financial package.

Sarah is passionate about helping those who have suffered unfair dismissal and/or discrimination and has enabled many disabled clients to obtain adjustments at work.  Sarah often assists working mothers whose flexible working requests have been declined, or who are being made redundant or mistreated on their return from maternity leave.  She recently negotiated a six-figure settlement for a senior employee at a big four accountancy firm who had suffered maternity discrimination.

Sarah qualified as a solicitor ten years ago, and has previously worked for Slater & Gordon Lawyers, and in-house for a FTSE 100 PLC.

Tel: 07985 106 233

Email: sarahr@foxwhitfield.com

https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/sarah-russell/1a/874/854

“Government crackdown on zero hours contract abusers”

Vince Cable announced on 25 June 2014 that the government was cracking down on the abuse of zero hours contracts. The key measure they plan to take is to ban exclusivity clauses. These clauses mean that an employee on a zero hours contract is prevented from working for another employer even if their current employer is not providing them with any work.

As BIS put it: “The use of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts undermines choice and flexibility for the individuals concerned.” They claim this will help about 125,000 employees.

However, as a zero hours contract gives the employer the right not to provide the employee with any work employers will be free to refuse to provide work to employees who do find other work elsewhere. It will be difficult for an employee to prove they stopped being given work for this reason, so this ban may well have zero impact.

This action follows a government consultation into zero hours contracts which received over 36,000 responses. 83% were in favour of banning exclusivity clauses in zero hours contacts.

The Business Secretary also announced that the government will:

• consult further on how to prevent rogue employers evading the exclusivity ban, for example through offering 1 hour fixed contracts
• work with business representatives and unions to develop a code of practice on the fair use of zero hours contracts by the end of the year (2014)
• work with stakeholders to review existing guidance and improve information available to employees and employers on using these contracts

Tim Thomas, Head of Employment Policy at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, said:

Zero hours contracts occupy an important space in the labour market where, properly used, they provide flexible employment in job roles where open-ended contracts are unsuitable.

For manufacturers where skills are in scarce supply, zero hours contracts can help employers to tap into specialist skills when they are needed, such as drawing on the experience of older workers.

The way forward set out in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill treads a fine line between supporting the majority of workers who want to continue to work on their zero hours contracts and limiting their use where they are neither necessary nor appropriate.

The ban will be part of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, which is being introduced to Parliament today (25 June 2014)

Paul Whitfield can be contacted on 0161 2831276 or paulw@foxwhitfild.com

www.foxwhitfield.com

Employment Law Solicitors – Head Office based in Manchester with offices located throughout the United Kingdom.

Government Names and Shames Employers that failed to pay Minimum Wage

On 8 June 2014 the government named 25 employers who had failed to pay their employees the National Minimum Wage.

Under new rules from October 2013 the government can now publish the names of employers who have been found not to have paid their employees the National Minimum Wage.

Business Minister Jenny Willott said:

“Paying less than the minimum wage is not only wrong, it’s illegal. If employers break the law they need to know that they will face tough consequences.

“Any worker who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. If anyone suspects they are not being paid the wage they are legally entitled to they should call the Pay and Work Rights helpline on 0800 917 2368.”

The government plans to bring in new rules in the next parliamentary session so that employers can also be given penalties of up to £20,000 for each individual worker they have underpaid, rather than the maximum penalty applying to each employer. This will mean if an employer underpays 10 workers, they could face penalties of up to £200,000.

Employers must be aware of the current rates for the National Minimum Wage and keep up to date as they change. The government has announced the following rates will come into effect on 1 October 2014:

• a 19p (3%) increase in the adult rate (from £6.31 to £6.50 per hour)
• a 10p (2%) increase in the rate for 18-20 year olds (from £5.03 to £5.13 per hour)
• a 7p (2%) increase in the rate for 16-17 year olds (from £3.72 to £3.79 per hour)
• a 5p (2%) increase in the rate for apprentices (from £2.68 to £2.73 per hour)

There has been criticism about the government’s actions as the 25 businesses that they have named are said to amount to less than 1% of the problem. Apparently HMRC say that over £4.6 million is owed in arrears to people paid less than the minimum wage. This includes an unnamed Premier League Football club that owed more than £27,500 to 3000 of its employees.

The Low Pay Commission has said that it believes that there has been a “sharp decline” in compliance with the National Minimum Wage in the past two years and that the social care sector is one of the worst offenders.

A list of the named business can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-names-employers-who-fail-to-pay-minimum-wage

Paul Whitfield can be contacted on 0161 2831276 or paulw@foxwhitfild.com

www.foxwhitfield.com

Employment Law Solicitors – Head Office based in Manchester with offices located throughout the United Kingdom.

Giving Too Much Notice Meant Employee lost their Constructive Dismissal Claim

A constructive dismissal occurs where the employer does not dismiss the employee, but the employee resigns and can show that they were entitled to do so by virtue of the employer’s conduct.

Employees can resign either with or without notice, what matters is that they have the right to resign without notice because of the employer’s conduct towards them.

Employees need to be able to show three things to win a constructive dismissal claim:

1. A breach of contract by the employer that is sufficiently serious to justify the employee resigning.
2. The employee must resign in response to that breach of contract.
3. The employee must not delay too long in accepting the breach.

Constructive dismissal claims have always been difficult cases for employees to win. The employee has to prove that the employer was in fundamental breach of contract. It is not enough just to show that they were not treated fairly. Even if they can do that the employee could still lose their claim because they delayed leaving employment. Even though an employee is permitted to give notice on resignation, the fact that they feel able to work their notice period may lead a tribunal to find that the claimant had in fact delayed too long.

In the recent case of Cockram v Air Products plc a senior employee with a three month notice period resigned after a grievance he raised was not upheld. He claimed that this amounted to a breach of his contract entitling him to claim constructive dismissal. Because he did not have any other work lined up he gave 7 months notice to his employer. He lost his case because of that. The Employment Tribunal and EAT found that to give 7 months notice was to delay too long in accepting the breach and the case was thrown out.

Paul Whitfield can be contacted on 0161 2831276 or paulw@foxwhitfild.com

www.foxwhitfield.com

Employment Law Solicitors – Head Office based in Manchester with offices located throughout the United Kingdom.