Employment (Employer & Employee)

Employment (Employees)

Our fees are based on a time costing basis.  We offer a free 30 minute initial interview, with subsequent work being charged on an hourly basis – Treve Lander’s hourly rate is £225 plus VAT at 20%.  At present no Employment Tribunal fees are payable.  Employees and Employers should check that they have no costs insurance in place before we start work.

The actual work undertaken varies from case to case, but may involve correspondence with employers, the commencement progression and hearing of employment tribunal cases – also where possible, negotiation of settlements.

Employment (Employers)

Our basis of charging is the same as for employees, with the same 30 minute free advice and hourly charging rates.

The work carried out by the Firm (Treve Lander) will be focussed on defending claims by employees, but arrives at cost effective outcomes, include the negotiation of settlements in appropriate cases.

Costs

In all employment work whether from employers or employees, it is difficult to give an accurate fee estimate – quite simply, every case is different.  Wherever possible, we will do our best to give more detailed guidance on costs at our first (free) interview and continue to update this as your case progresses.  Below is a guide to our expected range on costs for taking or defending a claim for wrongful dismissal up to and including the Employment Tribunal hearing

Simple Case                               £3,500   plus VAT at 20% (no Barrister at hearing)

Medium Complexity case       £6,500   plus VAT at 20%

Complex Case                          £10,000 plus VAT at 20%

As noted above our charges are based on hourly rates.  Factors which could make a case more complex are:-

• Complex legal issues
• The number of witnesses and documents
• Allegations of discrimination/disability
• Whistleblowing
• mediation

However:-

If we agree to employ a Barrister at the hearing then Counsel’s fees, depending on seniority are likely to be between £1,000 and £2,000 per day plus VAT at 20%

Other disbursements are generally limited to our travelling and parking charges and of witnesses – current mileage 54p per mile (incl. VAT) a cost which depends on the site of Tribunal Hearing.  Locally, most likely Nottingham or Derby.

Key Stages

The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:

• Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)
• Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
• Preparing claim (employee) or response (employer)
• Reviewing and advising on claim or response from other party
• Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
• preparing or considering a schedule of loss
• Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing
• Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
• Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
• preparing bundle of documents
• Reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements
• agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
• Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel

The stages set out above are an indication and if some of stages above are not required, the fee will be reduced. You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can also be arranged on your individual needs.

However:

A large proportion of cases will be settled before a hearing.  In these cases our costs will be based on the hourly charge rate mentioned above (£225 plus VAT at 20%).  Some cases progress to mediation – a professional mediator’s fee is likely to be £1,500 to £2,000 per full day – possibly subject to VAT at 20% depending on whether the mediator is VAT registered.

Timescale:-

Timing may vary considerably.  Agreement may be reached between 4-8 weeks.  A claim for Unfair Dismissal has to be lodged with the Employment Tribunal within                       months of dismissal.  Once issued in the Employment Tribunal a case is likely to take between 6-12 months depending on the complexity of the case and case Tribunal listings.

Settlement Agreements:-

Both Mr T.J. Lander and Mr C. G. Dawson have many years (20+) in preparing Settlement Agreements for Employers and advising Employees on these documents.  Likely fees for preparing a Settlement Agreement for an Employer are £750 plus VAT at 20%.  The fees payable for an Employee are met by the Employer and range between £250-£500 plus VAT at 20%.  Settlement Agreements may “settle” existing tribunal proceedings.  More often they are signed off before proceedings commence.  Negotiating the terms of an agreement are based on our hourly rates of £225 plus VAT at 20% payable for work by Mr C. G. Dawson or Mr T. J. Lander.  Mr C. G. Dawson’s employment work only covers Settlement Agreements, by reason of his long business experience with commercial clients taking into account taxation and pensions advice.