Employment Law

"I really appreciated your high level of professional service throughout the process. Thankyou very much."

Mr S

DMP act both for employees and employers.

Our experienced employment lawyers are able to provide a full service covering:

  • Employment contract drafting and negotiation
  • Severance packages and compromise agreements 
  • Discrimination including equal pay, gender, race, disability and age-related issues
  • Disciplinary and grievance matters 
  • Maternity, paternity and parental rights 
  • Unfair dismissal 
  • Redundancy 
  • Breach of contract, including restrictive covenants
  • Flexible working
  • Transfer of undertakings (TUPE)
  • Whistleblowing
  • Policies, procedures & staff handbooks
  • Restructuring organization issues
  • Claims avoidance
  • Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal and court cases.

Our charges for  employment work:

A: Settlement Agreements

If the parties reach a settlement of the claim(s) then sometimes the employer may request that the employee enter into a written settlement agreement.  The employee will need to obtain independent legal advice on the terms of the settlement agreement.

Acting  for an employer:  our charges for preparing a settlement agreement, to include liaising with the employee (or their solicitors) and making any minor amendments:  £390-£520 + VAT@20%.

Independent legal advice for an employee on the terms of a settlement agreement:  £250-500 + VAT @20%.   Our charges are normally limited to the employer’s contribution with no additional cost to the employee.  

Where a settlement agreement proves to be complicated or there are prolonged negotiations, then our charges may exceed the above guidelines, in which case we will discuss with you the anticipated additional charges and provide a revised estimate for approval before further work is undertaken.   

B: Bringing or Defending  Employment Claims

Our charges in relation to employment disputes relating to dismissal or employee rights will depend on the complexity of the case and whether or not it settles before a final court or tribunal hearing.   Our guideline estimates below assume that the case is decided after a full court or tribunal hearing;  if the case is settled or withdrawn before then, the legal costs would be proportionately less depending on when this occurs and the work involved up to that point.  

  • Straightforward case: £8,000-£10,000 + VAT@20%
  • Medium complexity: £10,000-£15,000 + VAT@20%
  • High complexity: £15,000-£20,000 + VAT@20%

Key stages

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

  • taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)
  • entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
  • preparing Claim or Response;
  • reviewing and advising on Claim or Response from other party;
  • exploring  and negotiating settlement throughout the process;
  • preparing or considering a schedule of loss;
  • preparing for (and attending) a preliminary hearing;
  • exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents;
  • taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses;
  • preparing bundle of case documents;
  • reviewing and advising on the other party's witness statements;
  • agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list for the court of tribunal;
  • preparation and attendance at final hearing, including instructions to Counsel.

Factors that may make a case more complex include, for example:

  • if it is necessary to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim;
  • the need for a initial hearing to decide any complex preliminary issues in dispute  eg. relating  to disability;
  • If any hearing takes place at a distant tribunal venue (ie outside Reading) as there will be additional travel costs;
  • a significant number of witnesses or high volume of documents;
  • defending claims brought by litigants in person; or
  • making or defending a costs application.
  • If it is necessary due to the complexity of the case or at your request for your solicitor to attend a hearing or trial in addition to a barrister.  In this event, the solicitor’s attendance will be charged at our usual hourly rate.  We will discuss this with you before any decision on solicitor attendance is made.

Disbursements

Disbursements are payments which we make on your behalf as part of the overall process.  These  depend upon the individual circumstances of the case, but may include, for example, court fees or your barrister’s fees.  We handle the payment of these on your behalf and will normally ask you for advance payment on account to cover them.   (There are currently no fees payable to the tribunal to issue an Employment Tribunal claim).

Barrister’s fees:  If due to the complexity of your claim you decide that we should instruct a barrister to represent you, then the barrister’s fees, depending on experience, and including preparation are likely to be:

  • for an initial hearing: £850-1,250 + VAT@20%
    • for a final hearing or trial: £1,000-£1,500 + VAT@20% per day #

Funding a Claim

Our work is normally undertaken on a privately funded basis and our fees are paid by you, our client.

You should however always check the terms of any insurance policy you may hold, such as household/car insurance or that connected to a bank account or credit card to see if you have the benefit of legal expenses cover which may cover your costs (or a proportion of them) in the event of an employment-related dispute.

How long will my case take?

The time taken from 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 during pre-claim conciliation, your case is likely to take 6-8 weeks.   If your claim proceeds to a final hearing,  the likely timescale is 12-15 months.   We will be able to give a more accurate time estimate once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

Who will deal with your employment matter?

Your matter will be dealt with by Asim Munir, a partner with our Dispute Resolution Team, who has extensive experience in handling employment law disputes and civil & commercial litigation in general.    Where our charges are calculated on an hourly basis (eg. bringing or defending employment claims) , his hourly rate as a partner is £260 + VAT@20%.