Termination of Employment

Experts in the termination of employment

If despite your best efforts your business ends up employing someone who is not up to the job, not pulling their weight or worse still guilty of misconduct, you need to do something about it. Apart from anything else, this is likely to have a demoralising effect on other employees. Our team is highly experienced in navigating employee termination laws and providing expert legal advice to businesses.

In the end, having tried informal chats or formal warnings, you may have no option but to terminate an employee’s employment. Alternatively, in response to your actions, the employee may have ended up resigning, claiming constructive dismissal. Our employment termination solicitors are on hand to provide you with unbiased employment legal advice.

Whatever the situation, you need specialist advice from an expert employment termination solicitor. The earlier you involve us the better as getting it wrong can prove expensive. Our team has many years of experience advising employers both small and large across a wide range of different industry sectors. Having taken the time to understand the issues involved we will outline your options and identify the best tactics to be used. To achieve the best outcome we can for you in the circumstances, we offer employment termination legal advice which is straightforward, practical and cost-effective.

If your ex-employee ends up bringing an employment tribunal claim we have many years’ experience of defending such claims. If it is in your commercial interests to do so, we will negotiate a settlement on the best terms we can with a view to protecting the future of your business. When you enlist the services of Hart Brown, you can have peace of mind knowing that your employment termination agreement is being handled by experienced solicitors who will act in your best interest. We are extremely passionate about finding the right employment termination solution for our clients to ensure that disruption to the company and other employees is kept to a minimum.

To speak to an expert on termination of employment or any other employment law issue, call 01483 887766, email info@hartbrown.co.uk or request a call back from a specialist employment termination lawyer today.

Our Fees

Our costs for defending employment claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal cases:

Estimated Costs for a full employment tribunal case, based on an hourly rate of £348 (inclusive of VAT at 20%).

A straightforward case:  £6,612 –  £9,396 (inclusive of VAT at 20%)

Medium complexity case:  £10,440 – £13,920 (inclusive of VAT at 20%)

High complexity case: £16,008 – £22,620 (inclusive of VAT at 20%)

Our fees cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of an employment tribunal case:-

  • Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the documents and advising you initially on the prospects of success.
  • Entering into a pre-claim conciliation process to explore with the claimant whether a settlement can be reached.
  • Preparing and delivering a response on your behalf.
  • Exploring whether there is an opportunity to negotiate a settlement as early as possible.
  • Considering a schedule of loss and preparing a counter-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 witness statements and preparing a bundle of documents for tribunal.
  • Reviewing and advising on claimant’s witness statements.
  • Agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or index for the bundle.
  • Preparation and attendance at the final hearing, including preparing written instructions for a barrister.

These key stages are listed as an indication only. If you do not require us to undertake all of the steps detailed above, we can reduce your fees accordingly.  For example, you may wish to handle the claim yourself and only engage us to advise on a specific stage. Please contact us directly for a personal quotation based on your unique requirements.

Extra factors that could increase the complexity of a case and affect the cost:

  • If it is necessary to make or defend an application to amend your response or to supply further information about an existing claim.
  • Defending claims that are brought by people representing themselves.
  • Making or defending a costs application.
  • Deciding complex issues such as a disability.
  • The number of witnesses and documents.
  • If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim.
  • Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal.
  • There will be an additional charge for attending a tribunal hearing of £1,740 (inclusive of VAT at 20%) per day.

Other additional expenses that you can expect:

  • Costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We will handle the payment of the expenses on your behalf to ensure a smooth process.
  • Barristers fees are usually estimated between £1,800 to £2,400 (inclusive of VAT at 20%) per day for attending a tribunal hearing, depending on the barrister’s experience.
  • Our admin fee for customer due diligence of £24 (per client) including VAT at 20%.
  • Our admin fee for a GB Business Report and Business Sanctions Check of £24 (per check) including VAT at 20%.

How long will my matter take?

The time that it takes from taking 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 4 – 6 weeks.

If your claim proceeds to a final hearing your case is likely to take 12 – 27 weeks.  This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information as the matter progresses.

* Last updated July 2024.

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Who to contact

Jane Crosby -Head of Dispute Resolution

Jane Crosby

Partner, Head of Dispute Resolution & Accredited Mediator

Jane Crosby -Head of Dispute Resolution

Partner, Head of Dispute Resolution & Accredited Mediator

Jane Crosby

Jane is a Partner based in the Guildford office and she is also Head of the Dispute Resolution team here at Hart Brown. Jane specialises in employment Law and commercial litigation and brings more than 15 years' experience to her role.

Prior to entering the legal profession, Jane was employed in the aviation industry. This experience is appreciated by many of Jane's clients who note that she is able to take a commercial and pragmatic approach to any legal issue that they face.

Jane acts for a wide range of individuals and businesses and her areas of specialism include aviation, property related industries and IT. Jane regularly advises on aspects of employment law, such as settlement agreements, employment contracts, policies and procedures, redundancies, equal pay, data protection, issues arising from TUPE and reorganisations, the calculation of holiday pay, bonus and commission payments, disciplinary and grievance issues, dismissal and termination issues, the protection of confidential information and the enforcement of restrictive covenants. Jane gets involved in GDPR training for her clients and she is able to deliver tailored employment law training sessions upon request.

As a commercial litigation lawyer, Jane also deals in shareholder and directors disputes, commercial contract disputes and the enforcement of restrictive covenants.

Jane has been involved in successful high value commercial litigation for clients in the High Courts, she is an accredited mediator and she is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.

Jane is often asked to write for a number of well known publications, including The Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Week and she has been interviewed on BBC Radio 4.

Here is small selection of the feedback that Jane has received:

“Jane, I cannot sincerely thank you enough for your wise counsel and am delighted to have made your acquaintance. If I am blessed with a new position somewhere I will hand over my contract in the first instance to you. Likewise, any of my friends, peers, romans and countrymen wanting advice, I will point them in your direction.”

“Jane, you have been most resilient on my behalf for which I sincerely thank you for all your endeavours. I have a tremendous working relationship with Hart Brown and you have undoubtedly compounded this further."

“I appreciated the clarity of advice given at a stressful time”.

“A sensitive and highly professional approach and efficient work in the interests of the client”.

“Your advice, conduct and assistance have been indeed outstanding and very professional but also – and most importantly – very humane”.

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