EMPLOYMENT LAW

Employment law is one of the most difficult areas of law. You need an expert.

We will give you a fixed price quote for attending and advising you at an initial interview and fixed price quotes for each stage of the matter. We can help you on a No Win No Fee basis in appropriate cases.

Underwoods Solicitors have huge experience in employment law and have appeared in many leading and reported cases. Kerry Underwood was an Employment Judge for 8 years.

All legal work on your matter will be dealt with by a qualified lawyer or someone in formal training to be a solicitor or Legal Executive.

Services for employees

We can advise you about:

  • Breach of contract
  • Bullying and harassment
  • Disciplinary procedures
  • Discrimination
  • Employment Tribunal claims and appeals
  • Holiday rights
  • Maternity and paternity rights
  • Minimum wage
  • Recovering Tribunal fees
  • Redundancy
  • Pension
  • Settlement agreements
  • Unfair dismissal
  • Working time 
Services for employers

We can help with any areas of employment law and can help take away the burden that employers face in dealing with:

  • Drafting contracts, handbooks and policies
  • Employment Tribunal claims and appeals
  • Health and Safety
  • Holiday entitlement
  • Maternity and paternity rights
  • Minimum wage
  • Recovering any Tribunal fees you have paid in the last 4 years
  • Redundancy
  • Settlement agreements
  • Termination of employment
  • Transfer of Undertakings
  • Working time
Employment Tribunal Fees

The cost of dealing with an employment tribunal, or potential tribunal claim, ranges from £200 to £250,000. However, we always offer a fixed first interview in any employment matter, and at the end of that fixed price interview we anticipate being able to give you a clear estimate of costs.

Employment Tribunal Costs

There are various options of how to fund the legal costs of a claim. One way is on the time taken to carry out the work, and depending upon who is dealing with it the hourly rates which apply to the person carrying out the work on your matter.

Those hourly rates are: -

Work carried out by a Partner £400 per hour plus VAT;
Work carried out by a Solicitor £300 plus VAT;
Work carried out by a Trainee Solicitor £180 plus VAT.

We can also consider acting for you in an Employment Tribunal matter under a Contingency Fee Agreement or a Damages Based Agreement. These types of agreements are commonly known as No-win, No-Fee Agreements. If successful, then you will pay us out of any money recovered for you, but that payment is capped at a percentage of the money recovered which is currently 35% including VAT.

Employment Tribunal claims are very varied, but typically a tribunal case which goes to a final hearing would incur costs of between £15,000 and £25,000 plus VAT. If the case settles early on and it has been funded on a time basis, then those costs may be as little as £1,000 plus VAT.

There are no court fees payable in the tribunal, but we may instruct a barrister to represent you at a hearing at and an additional cost of up to £5,000 plus VAT. However, most of the time we would expect to conduct the advocacy ourselves and that would be included in our fee.

If your matter does not settle and the claim proceeds in the Employment Tribunal to a final hearing, it may take 18-months to resolve, depending on when the tribunal lists your matter.

The work that we would undertake on your behalf includes:

  • taking your initial instructions and preparing a draft Witness Statement;
  • enter into negotiations to try and settle your matter;
  • advising you on the prospects of a successful claim or successfully defending a claim;
  • engaging in negotiations with your opponent and/or through ACAS;
  • preparing a Claim or Response and lodging with the tribunal;
  • dealing with any relevant documents and preparing Witness Statements;
  • preparing a schedule of your losses;
  • dealing with and attending any Preliminary hearing at the tribunal;
  • dealing with any Directions ordered by the tribunal;
  • preparing the matter for a final hearing including preparing bundles of all relevant documents.
  • representing you or arranging for a barrister to represent you at the final hearing.
Talk with a Lawyer

If you are have an employment law matter and would like to find out more before committing then please request a callback by filling in the form here.