It is important that companies working today, particularly SMEs who may not have the resources to maintain a full time legal department of their own, understand employment law. Even the most well-meaning of companies can fall foul of a misunderstanding of current employment law; which can lead in the fullness of time to disputes regarding contracts; working hours; pay; leave; in fact any of the normal administrative bugbears experienced by teething businesses.
The fact of the matter is this: the careful company, in an age of encouraged litigation, is the protected company. Attention to detail is everything – so using a partner that understands employment law can genuinely make the difference between being prepared and being taken unawares.
The devil is always in the detail. Commercial solicitors with experience of current employment law can help you to draft employment documents, letters – indeed anything involving the written word – with the proper attention to the language you use.
The legal profession pays great heed to language. Any official document enshrines a company’s obligations to its employees. By understanding the ramifications of current employment law, and also understanding the niceties of legal English, commercial lawyers are able to help their clients draft their employment documents in such a way that there can be no doubt about their import.
Commercial lawyers assisting in this way are also able to help their clients draft these documents in accordance with the law – so the wording itself can be proved to give each employee every right he or she is entitled to.
The same applies to the due process of any grievance procedure. Where an employee may feel the need to take his or her employer through the courts, it is necessary for that employer to show that it has given the employee every fair hearing required along the way. Again, the documents proving this to be the case have a certain legal form they have to follow. Ignorance or simple oversight can render the whole process inadmissible and thus the case lost.
Why no employer wishes to engage in legal wrangling with its employees, nor yet sets out to treat them in a manner that would cause dispute, it’s a simple fact of business life that disagreements and misunderstandings occur. The employer that has prepared in advance for this kind of unfortunate eventuality is the employer properly protected against surprises. Also, from the point of view of simple fairness – if an employer has taken the time to engage commercial solicitors to advise it on employment law, then it can be seen as a company genuinely concerned about doing things right.
We live in an age where proper protection is afforded to both workers and the people for whom they work. This protection is only truly activated, though, when the employer is well schooled and well advised – so it can be sure it is giving its employees everything they are entitled to expect.
Employment law changes – so it is necessary to have advisers on hand to keep a company up to date on its obligations and their fulfillment.
Summary
Employment law changes – so it is necessary to have advisers on hand to keep a company up to date on its obligations and their fulfillment.
Shannen is a legal adviser to a number of UK companies. She works in employment law and helps draft contracts of employment.