Welcome to achieveHR

The client is a small owner managed business which supplies glues and adhesives by mail order. The company’s owner came to us in a panic, following an allegation of sex discrimination from a former employee, who was dismissed following a redundancy exercise.  Our client was very concerned about the prospect of an Employment Tribunal Claim and the associated risks and costs, with a particular concern that the claim may threaten the continuing viability of the business if not managed properly as it could potentially cost them upwards of £20,000.

The team assisted an international business set up its UK operation from scratch.  This involved ensuring the international business and their lawyers fully understood the employment rights applicable in England and Wales, as well as exploring the different types of employment models that can be used to engage staff.  We were hands on with the recruitment process, including attending interviews with candidates in order to provide HR assistance and input.  The final stage of this process was to draft and provide all relevant documentation to ensure that the new staff could commence work on appropriate and legally compliant contracts, with supporting policies and procedures in place to ensure a successful work environment was created from the outset.

We supported a business through a complex disciplinary, grievance and whistle-blowing matter from one of their senior employees.  After a disciplinary matter was raised with this senior employee about bullying and harassment, he made counter-allegations against a number of his colleagues also of bullying and harassment (including discrimination based on his alleged disability).  In his grievance, this employee also made a number of allegations relating to health and safety, which were covered by the whistleblowing legislation.  The employee subsequently went off sick due to mental health reasons.

The team assisted with the purchase of an East Midlands SME by a larger national organisation.  The purchase was a whole business purchase and so the employees engaged at the East Midlands SME were subject to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE).  The employment team assisted the corporate team to ensure that the purchaser had all of the employee liability information required ahead of the sale, and to ensure that the correct warranties and indemnities were within the purchase agreement, in order to protect our buyer clients.

The team regularly takes part in consultation exercises for the introduction of new pieces of legislation, commonly relating to family-friendly rights, such as the recent development of the right to take two weeks parental bereavement leave if you suffer the death of a child under the age of 18 years old, or a still birth after 24 weeks.  We keep up to date so that you can know the key developments hot off the press to give you the maximum time to prepare your business for the changes.  Within two days of receiving the draft Regulations on parental bereavement leave, we had drafted a Policy ready for our clients to include within their employee handbooks.