Who is an employment solicitor?
This is a lawyer specialised in dealings to do with employee compensation against the employer who has acted in contrary to the stipulated laws. They are only allowed to represent their clients where employment tribunal has a jury. These include the following areas:
- Victimisation, discrimination, and racial harassment
- Victimisation, discrimination and sexual harassment
- Sexual orientation discrimination
- Age discrimination
- Disability discrimination
- Religion discrimination
- Pregnancy discrimination or any other condition that is gender-based
- Workplace bullying
- Unfair dismissal
- Redundancy
- False redundancy claims for unfair and unlawful dismissal
- Compromised agreements for dismissal in terms of the finance settlement
- Working time regulations
- Forcefully resigning because of the behaviour of others
Most employment solicitors operate under the principle of ‘no win no fee,’ and they handle compensation claims with expertise that will always win cases for their clients and subsequent compensation. This is natural because if they don’t win a case, they will not get their compensation as well. Their cases normally involve claims of redundancy, racial harassment and sexual discrimination and unfair or wrongful dismissal. Immediately after dismissal, an employee should seek advice from employment solicitors because there is a limited duration in which an employee can file a dismissal case in the tribunal.
Dismissals handled by employment solicitors should be water-tight if at all success will be realised. Otherwise, the victim should accept and move on with their lives as usual without court cases. An employer is usually expected to issue warnings in written form before dismissal for the tribunal to certify that the dismissal was fair, prior to dismissal, an employer is expected to undertake thorough investigation and highlight the vindications that the employee is accused of for them to justify the dismissal actions, failure to which the tribunal will require the employer to prove beyond reasonable doubts that the employee was incapable to perform his or her duties, was redundant in the workplace, employee was accused of an illegality or any other substantial reason that warrants dismissal. The employment contract must be one or more years to warrant a tribunal to hear the case suit. Below one year, it is not possible to file a case of unfair dismissal.
For the case of constructive dismissal, where there is a serious breach of contract by the employer which is dismissed by the employees, they are entitled to resign and claim compensation from the employer.
An employment solicitor depends on numerous statutes or regulations designed to protect the unlawful dismissal of employees by their employers which include the following:
- Healthy and safety at work Act
- Employment Rights Act
- Disability Discrimination Act
- Sex Discrimination Act
- Race relations Act
- Criminal justice and public order Act
- Protection from Harassment Act
- Employment equality (belief or religion) regulations Act
- Employment equality (age) regulations Act
Constructive dismissal
Constructive dismissal happens when employers make working difficult for the employees until a point in which employees cannot stand anymore, and they are forced to resign. For the constructive dismissal to see the light of the day in the tribunal, there must prove that the employer breached the contract of engagement and that employees were forced to resign against their will.
Unfair dismissal
Unfair dismissal happens when an employer dismisses an employee unlawfully without a good reason for doing so. Taurus are employment solicitors in Melbourne who will guide the employee on ways to claim compensation from the employer for unlawful dismissal.