Employment Law. We re on your side. Petherbridge Bassra. Your Local Solicitors

Transcription

1 Employment Law We re on your side

2 is a Bradford firm helping clients with cases close to home, nationally and internationally. These pages will tell you what we do and how we do it and naturally we will highlight what we consider to be our virtues. But beyond that, the staff of take pride in their work and care about their clients cases and the reputation of the firm. As a result, others know to take this firm seriously and more importantly to consider your case seriously, because they know- we mean business. You have our assurance that we will give you the best that we can give and treat you openly and with respect and compassion. Lawyers can be human too. We are in it together. Alan Introduction 3 Unfair Dismissal 5 Constructive Unfair Dismissal 7 Discrimination 9

3 3 Introduction Problems at work can be very stressful and affect other areas of your life. Your employer is legally obliged to treat you fairly so if you feel that you have been unfairly treated or even unfairly dismissed, you may well have a case for compensation. Our expert knowledge of Employment Law means that we know exactly what your rights are and we can make sure that you are treated fairly, however intimidating or unapproachable your employer may seem. Even if your initial attempts to negotiate with your employer have been brushed aside or dismissed, please call our Employment Law team today as there may well be much that we can do to help you. Don't feel you need to take on your employer alone, make sure you are aware of your rights and have the law on your side by speaking to.

4

5 5 Some types of dismissal are automatically considered unfair, such as if you are a woman who has been dismissed for reasons relating to pregnancy or your employer dismisses you because they are aware that you have 'blown the whistle'. However, an employer may dismiss an employee if there is a potentially fair reason such as: Unfair Dismissal Redundancy Misconduct Capability (including long-term non-excessive sickness) Illegality Or 'some other substantial reason' such as when an employee refuses to agree variations to employment terms which are required by the business. However, where employers have not dismissed an employee for an acceptable reason, or where they have not followed the correct procedure, then an employee may be able to bring an unfair dismissal claim, for example, if dismissal is related to poor performance and the employee should have received warnings in advance and been given a chance to improve.

6 6 Constructive Unfair Dismissal Constructive unfair dismissal occurs when an employee resigns (with or without giving notice) because of a fundamental breach of the employment contract by the employer. This is subject to other eligibility criteria, such as length of service and employment status. Constructive unfair dismissal can be quite difficult to prove and employees should be very careful about resigning if they want to claim constructive unfair dismissal. In order to succeed with this claim, an employee must be able to show that the actions of their employer fundamentally breached the contract of employment and that their resignation was in response to that breach. The employee needs to show that the working relationship has broken down. It is not enough if an employer simply acted unreasonably. However, extremely unreasonable behaviour might breach the employment contract, for example, persistent and unwanted amorous advances, failure to investigate properly employee's allegation of sexual harassment, undermining a supervisor by reprimanding him/her in the presence of subordinates, or swearing abusively at an employee.

7

8

9 9 Discrimination Discrimination can occur on the grounds of: Gender Disability Marital status Race or ethnic origin Sexual orientation Religion and belief Age There are different types of discrimination. For example, victimisation, harassment, direct remarks and having procedures in place for all which adversely affect a person with a particular characteristic. Discrimination can arise if a person is treated less favourably than someone else because of their sex, race etc. The comparison does not have to be with a real person, but can be a hypothetical one. Legal protection from discrimination exists even at the recruitment stage, during the course of employment, and in some circumstances, following the termination of employment.

10 10 Treated unfairly at work? You DO have rights

11

12 Employment Law We re on your side Call us now us now Vintry House, Piccadilly, Bradford, BD1 3LS Tel: Fax: Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority: REGIS ID Family Law Personal Injury Civil Litigation Immigration Road Traffic Offences Criminal Law Business & Complex Crime Employment Law Prison Law