Blog Posts: April 2009

Please do not get me wrong. I am a solicitor(lawyer) and I work for clients on this basis. As a lawyer one can provide a truly excellent service which can be invaluable for clients. Nevertheless there is a clear problem with using lawyers as the fees can be expensive whichever way you look though the support is vital. Interesting news here that mediators will be asked to try and kick-start the multi-million-pound redevelopment of Bournemouth’s historic Pavilion Theatre. The £4....

My firm deals with quite a few Compromise Agreements and redundancy scenarios at the moment. There is interesting news from the Budget.  Alastair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced that the maximum of a week's pay for statutory redundancy payment purposes will increase from £350 to £380. Accordingly, the maximum statutory redundancy payment will rise from £10,500 to £11,400. However:- Do not jump with fear straight away, the Chancellor was....

Evaluate One of the key skills which an employment lawyer or mediator can bring to the table is the ability to effectively evaluate any employment dispute. Knowledge of law will help an employer to know the possible value of any employment claim and what is involved. From this one can start to consider what the offer should be and when to walk away. This involves identifying all plausible alternatives you may pursue if you fail to reach an agreement and how things will work out with the employee....

Congratulations to the CIPD who have introduced some useful guidance on dealing with the new disciplinary and grievance procedures. Whlist we are getting rid of the old dreaded legislation, the new rules make no legal obligation to mediate. The result being that the Gibbons Review which was published 2 years ago will lead to little upsurge in mediation. Frankly I do remain optimistic that long term there will be growth in mediation within the employment sphere but it ....

In these difficult economic times we need good news to cheer us up. With this in mind, congratulations to Tim Kevan who The Times Online revealed as the autor of BabyBarista last week at http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6009689.ece. BabyB's reply is here http://timesonline.typepad.com/baby_barista/2009/03/year-3-week-27-my-identity-yeh-right.html. I know Tim well and I have edited the mediation section of the PI Brief Law Update which he is connected with.....

As I point out in my recent enewsflash there are  worrying statistics published just a few weeks ago which suggest the risks of punitive employment tribunal claims are getting greater for employers. Six months later than expected the latest statistics published by the Employment Tribunals Service show a steep increase in the number of employment claims being upheld and a corresponding drop in the numbers being turned down. In the latest figures (for 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008) 189,3....