Solicitor

Lorraine Emery (redirected to team page)

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Lorraine is a specialist employment solicitor. She studied Law at Liverpool University followed by Chester Law College and qualified as a solicitor in 1995.

Following qualification Lorraine worked in private practice and was partner at a regional law firm following which she has spent 15 years in industry working for two public limited companies. Lorraine has extensive experience across a number of sectors including telecoms and retail and has advised both business clients as well as private individuals in all aspects of employment law from unfair dismissal and breach of contract to complex discrimination and whistleblowing claims.

Lorraine’s time spent in industry means that she has experience of trade unions and industrial relations issues that affect businesses and their employees as well as expertise in specific areas including agency workers and workforce and re-organisational strategy and planning. Lorraine brings her industry experience to employment matters to deliver practical solutions that support wider business strategy.

Outside of work, Lorraine has an active lifestyle keeping up with her young son and relaxation time is spent with friends enjoying a glass of wine.

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

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The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill was presented to Parliament on 23rd May. The key employment law reforms under the Bill are listed below:

Mandatory Acas Pre Conciliation:

Prospective claimants will be required to contact Acas before they initiate certain types of employment tribunal proceedings. This is intended to help both parties come to a resolution before the dispute enters into the tribunal system.

Introduction of Legal Officers:

Low value or simple tribunal claims will enter into a “rapid resolution” system whereby if both parties give written authority, the claim will be heard by a legal officer without the need for a hearing.

EAT hearings to be heard by a single judge:

Employment Appeal Tribunals (EAT) will be heard by a sole judge unless ordered otherwise.

New Limits on Unfair Dismissal Compensatory Award:

Currently the maximum award for unfair dismissal is £72,300 although in practice awards for these claims are usually much lower. The new bill provides that the Secretary of State will be given the power to limit unfair dismissal compensatory awards to a set amount, such as one year’s earnings or a set number of weeks pay. However, any set amount would not be able to be lower than the national medium earnings (currently circa £26,000 per annum) or higher than three times the national medium earnings. It is currently unclear whether all businesses will have the same set amounts allocated or if for example, lower thresholds may be set for smaller enterprises.

Financial Penalties for employers:

The tribunal will be able to impose penalties on employers who breech a claimant’s employment rights and whose behaviour is said to have had an “aggravating feature.” This “aggravating feature” is not currently defined but suggests intentional disregard or actions carried out with specific malice. Where a compensatory award is made to a claimant, the employer would have a penalty imposed of 50% of the award given with the ability to reduce the amount by 50% if paid within 21 days. The financial penalty would be subject to a minimum of £100 and a maximum of £5,000.

Compromise Agreements to be renamed:

The Government believes that by renaming “Compromise Agreements” to “Settlement Agreements” will “more accurately describe an agreement that is about delivering a satisfactory solution for all parties.”

Whistleblowing claims:

Definition of “qualifying disclosure” in Whistleblowing legislation will be limited to disclosures “in the public interest.”

The majority of the employment law reforms will come as no surprise to employers although the proposals surrounding the cap around unfair dismissal have not been previously suggested. It reflects a clear attempt to try and lower the awards nearer the higher end of the current cap and will surely be welcomed by employers. The Bill in its entirety appears to be a commitment from the Government to cut the cost of doing business and eradicate red tape. The Bill will be subject to a second reading in Parliament on 11th June 2012, the Bill could be subject to amendments as it goes through the Parliamentary process.

Written by

Edward Aston

What does 2012 have in store for UK Employment Law?

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2012 looks like it will be a busy year in UK Employment Law as the Government seeks to implement the changes announced at the end of last year. These, together with several other key matters, suggests that 2012 will be a year for ringing the changes.

I have cited the most notable developments by month below

February

  • An increase in the maximum Compensatory award for unfair dismissal from £68,400 to £72,300
  • An increase in the maximum amount of a week’s pay (used to calculate statutory redundancy payments and the basic and additional awards for unfair dismissal) from £400 to £430
  • An increase in the amount of a guarantee payment payable to an employee in respect of any day, from £22.50 to £23.50

March

  • As of 8th March parental leave increases from three to four months, pursuant to the Parental Leave Directive (2010/18/EC) repealing the Parental Leave Directive (96/34/EC).

April

  • It is expected that 2 years will become the new qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims
  • Various changes are expected to be set in motion in relation to tribunal procedures including increasing deposit orders and costs awards, Employment judges to sit alone in unfair dismissal cases and witness
    statements no longer to be read aloud but taken “as read” unless ordered otherwise by the tribunal
  • Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay will increase from £128.37 to £135.45 per week
  • SSP will increase from £81.60 to £85.85 per week

October

It is also a possibility that the following changes will take place in 2012 but at this moment in time no deadline for implementation has been agreed:-

  • All claims to be submitted to ACAS for pre-conciliation before a claim can be issued in an Employment Tribunal
  • Introducing the concept of “Protected Conversations”, which would allow employers to raise workplace issues with employees “in an open way, free from the worry it will be used in evidence in… tribunal”.
  • Imposing financial penalties on employers who breach employees’ employment rights. The penalty will relate to the size of the award granted by the tribunal with a minimum penalty of £100 and maximum £5,000. The money would be payable to the Exchequer

Written by
Edward Aston

Legal Expense Insurance – Freedom of choice of Solicitor?

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In Brown-Quinn v Equity Syndicate Management, Burton J re-confirmed that an individual who benefits from Before the Event Insurance has the freedom to choose his own solicitor. He also went on to find that the insurer could not insist on the hourly rate that it would have paid its panel solicitor but at the same time the chosen solicitor cannot demand its own hourly rate. Rather, the hourly rate must be reasonable having regard to the complexities of the case as well as to the insurer’s standard panel rates.