The answer to surviving for many firms is cutting jobs. Unfortunately this is not as easy as it seems and is full of potential pitfalls. With a large number of litigious minded lawyers operating – who are keen to start unfair dismissal claims or the like, caution is required and in view of the complexity of the law, specialist advice is always required before any action ( no matter how informal ) is taken

All Hilton clients are covered by our Professional Fees Insurance Scheme which includes access to a free helpline including Employment Law.

Key factors to consider with redundancy are:

• Is an employee covered by the redundancy rules
• Have procedures for selecting redundant employees been followed
• Is a job role really redundant

All matters relating to employment – Maternity pay, Sickness pay, Disciplinary procedures, discrimination etc – all require specialist legal advice and employers should remember that no matter how “friendly” they have been with staff or how diffi cult a circumstance is – employment tribunals are deemed to favour the employee and as claims can be expensive to defend and pay (and in the extreme payable by the director or owner) – extreme caution is urged in dealing with any situation.