Employment Disputes on the Rise

Employment specialists Lawson-West report an increase in enquiries for advice over Employment Law, particularly redundancy procedures and compromise agreements. In July, the number of employment queries shot up three times the monthly average for the previous six months. Lawson-West have also seen a dramatic increase in their employment law caseload. The Office of National Statistics report that in the three months to May, 118,000 people were made redundant, an increase of 10,000 on the previous quarter and ACAS have reported a 25% increase in the number of Employment Tribunal claims. Many employers are now preferring to use compromise agreements rather than redundancy when restructuring or laying-off staff. Partner Ashley Hunt comments, “We would urge employees and employers to seek legal advice to ensure that redundancies comply with statutory regulations and hence avoid a costly Employment Tribunal claim. The ‘credit crunch’ is particularly impacting on small to medium businesses and their employees at a time when people are feeling vulnerable to the increase in their fuel and food bills. Unfortunately employers and employees often have little knowledge of the complexities of dealing with redundancy or other types of dismissal and advice is needed at an early stage to ensure that the situation is dealt with fairly and lawfully. It is no surprise, therefore, that the statistics show that employment claims made to Employment Tribunals are on the rise and indeed we have seen a considerable rise in this type of legal work.” If you need advice on redundancy or need to know more about compromise agreements, call one of our Employment specialists, Ashley Hunt or Lara Scott, on 0116 212 1000 now or complete one of the forms on our Employment pages.