Tribunals & Litigation
Hi I'm Alison Leith I'm a partner and I run the employment department for Tilly Bailey & Irvine. Our view that best practice is to act early before an issue escalates into expensive litigation. A relatively small amount of money spent at the planning stage may save thousands of pounds spent on costs and damages in the Employment Tribunal. This is particularly so when one considers the mandatory disciplinary and grievance procedures and the increasing volume of discrimination legislation which can be hard to navigate. It is worthwhile noting that discrimination claims have no cap on compensation in the Employment Tribunals. Contact us today and help us protect your business against damaging claims.
Alison Leith
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Organisations, regardless of size or complexity, are all subjected to the same stringent employment regulation. What is almost inevitable with jobs becoming increasingly scarce and employees more aware of their employment rights than ever is that your business could be hit by an employee bringing an Employment Tribunal claim.
Tilly Bailey & Irvine have the capacity and the extensive knowledge and experience to ensure that in these tough trading conditions, you pay as little as possible in defending claims or in negotiating a settlement should you be hit by such action. Our extensive knowledge of dealing with Employment Tribunal cases ensures our clients are left satisfied with our levels of service, and are the full picture of what they should do, all at a level of fees representing a good commercial outcome.
Should a matter escalate into litigation our team is able to provide advice from the very beginning through to the final hearing.
Our Employment Team will make a commercial assessment of your claim at an early stage, providing an accurate estimate of the likely costs of defending the claim and the likely cost of any settlement (if appropriate). This will enable you to take an informed view of the benefit to your business of defending the claim.
If it is to go to tribunal it’s important to note that we conduct our own advocacy, reducing the reliance upon barristers and potentially greater expense. The added benefit is that the same individual will deal with your matter from start to finish.
Tilly Bailey & Irvine are well aware of the pitfalls which can arise when dealing with recent changes to the Employment Tribunal rules. Certain errors made within the Response to an Employment Tribunal Claim can result in an Employment Tribunal rejecting it. This could lead to your business being unable to defend claims from employees and an Employment Tribunal may order your business to pay damages to employees without any consideration of the merits of the claim.
We can help protect your business against such events occurring providing you and your business with peace of mind.
Recent client stories
Successful defence against disability discrimination claim
We recently defended a disability discrimination claim which made the local press. This was brought against a public sector client and we were able to secure a favourable outcome, defeating the disability element of the claim and settling in respect of the unfair dismissal claim for less than £2,000 where the Claimant was looking for well in excess of £35,000 for the dismissal element. The client felt that the removal of this person from their organisation and defending the claim was money well spent.
Employer saved £90,000 in damages
We recently acted on behalf of two nationwide respondents: a cable installation and construction management company who had a tricky Employment Tribunal claim where the Claimant was in a strong position, seeking over £90,000 in damages. Through extensive negotiation and using our knowledge of case law, tribunals and regulation, we were able to persuade the Claimant to settle the case for a small fraction of what was claimed well within the approved client budget ‘to get rid of it’. Taking this hard line approach meant our client was both delighted and relieved by the result.
Defence of high-value whistle blowing and unfair dismissal claim
We recently acted on behalf of a large local construction company in defending a high value whistle blowing and unfair dismissal claim from a former employee. In negotiations and discussions with the Claimant’s representative, a large national law firm, we were able to persuade the Claimant to withdraw his claim before a Tribunal hearing, avoiding all of the associated and unwanted expense and press attention. The client was thankful for the help offered by Tilly Bailey & Irvine in bringing this matter to a close.