Employment disputes & tribunals

Our specialist employment dispute lawyers, based in Kent, provide business clients with strategic, commercial and practical advice throughout the dispute, ensuring the best possible outcome.

We have experience in fighting claims in the Employment Tribunal and the High Court and resolving claims through mediation and negotiating commercial settlements. Our employment dispute lawyers have significant experience and an excellent success rate in dealing with employment tribunal claims. We provide commercially driven, strategic and practical advice.

At Thomson Snell & Passmore, our team of highly experienced lawyers assist clients with all types of employment claims, including those relating to:

• Discrimination claims
• Breach of employment contract
• Unfair and constructive dismissals
• Redundancy
• Unlawful deduction of wages
• Equal pay
• Whistleblowing
• TUPE
• Worker status and IR35 related claims.

We have a high success rate in seeking a commercial solution or successfully defending employment tribunal claims when representing employers in claims brought by employees, or potential employees, for unfair dismissal, discrimination or unlawful deduction from wages. We know that protecting your company’s reputation is a key concern when defending a claim and will keep this at the forefront of our mind as we provide you with strategic and tactical advice when guiding you through every stage of the tribunal process.

Our expertise includes:

• Identifying the risks and approach to a claim at an early stage
• Assessing the legal costs involved in defending the claim
• Establishing your prospects of success; assess the risk of not succeeding and the costs involved
• Calculating the necessary time and resources from you to defend the claim
• Establishing whether a commercial settlement is appropriate or whether (for business or reputational and policy reasons) you should defend the action through to final hearing
• Preparing a robust response to ensure that your business and its reputation are protected
• Considering whether there are any lessons to be learnt from the process, identify any potential training requirements or if changes to your policies and procedures are required.

Watch a short video outlining our success and experience on Employment Tribunals.

Why use Thomson Snell & Passmore?

• We are highly successful in securing the best outcome at tribunal or a sensible commercial settlement
• We offer highly competitive legal services with fixed fees and no hidden extras
• We make it easy for you to contact us, you will have a dedicated lawyer, a direct dial and email address
• We ensure that you are always aware kept up to date with how your matter is proceeding
• We are committed to full transparency and giving our clients meaningful choice as to the basis on which they wish to proceed 98% of our clients rated our service as ‘excellent’.

Our fees for defending unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal employment claims

We have set out below our typical fees for defending employment tribunal claims on behalf of employers for unfair or wrongful dismissal. These fees are based on matters that proceed to a final tribunal hearing. If the matter concludes earlier the fee will be less, for example if an out of tribunal settlement is agreed.

There are typically three levels of employment claim depending on the complexity and the fee varies accordingly. See a full explanation here of how we reach the fee ranges below. We have also set out in more detail how we charge and the factors that will affect what the total fee will be for the claim. All fees are exclusive of VAT charged at 20%*.

• Simple ET claim – fees range from £15,000 – £27,000*
• Medium ET claim– fees range from £30,000 – £44,000*
• Complex ET claim – fees range from £46,000 – £125,000.*

There will be an additional charge for attending a Tribunal Hearing of between £1,715 and £3,290 per day (excluding VAT), depending on the hourly rate of the employment lawyer.

We can put you in touch with employment practice risks indemnity insurers to arrange before the event insurance to help cover the costs of defending any claims, if you wish.

Key stages in the employment tribunal process

The fee ranges set out above will cover all of the work in relation to the typical stages of an employment tribunal claim which can be seen here.

These stages are an indication only. If some of stages above are not required, the fee will be at the lower end of the scale and if there are additional stages, the fee will be higher. We have set out below the factors that will usually affect the overall fee. There are also things outside of our control, such as court availability and location. We would ensure that you are updated on these factors at the outset and as the matter progresses.

You may wish to handle the claim, or parts of it yourself and only seek our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can also be arranged based on your business needs.

Factors affecting the overall fee

Unfortunately, it is impossible to list all the factors that could affect the overall fee, as each case varies. We have set out below the most common factors:

• The conduct of the employee opponent
• The amount of correspondence and documents
• The length of the ET hearing.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs and expenses related to the matter that are payable to third parties, such as barrister’s fees. As we instruct the barrister on your behalf we handle the payment of their fees on your behalf, having first obtained money on account from you.

Counsel fees range from £1,500 – £5,000 per day, depending on their level of experience and availability. We would obtain quotes for your approval.

Travel expenses will be charged to you for attending any hearings on your behalf or with you. The amount of the expenses will depend on the location of the hearing and the number of times that travel is incurred.

How long will my matter take?

The time from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of the matter depends largely on the stage at which the case is resolved. If a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, the case is likely to take two to six weeks to conclude.

If the employee’s claim proceeds to a final hearing, then typically a final hearing takes place between 9 and 15 months from when the claim was submitted to the tribunal.

The date for the final hearing is usually set at the preliminary hearing, which generally takes place one to three months after the deadline for your formal response to the employee’s claim.