When a business is up, running and ticking-over quite nicely, it’s both easy and common to fall into a false sense of security. You assume that as things are going fine as they are, things must be pretty much perfect right down to the brand’s very core. Which of course they might be, but at the same time this is the kind of overly-relaxed attitude that leads so many businesses and the owners thereof into rather unpleasant hot water from which escape can be tricky.
According to the experts at www.hudsonmckenzie.com, it’s extremely rare for corporate legal experts to be called upon until any given business is already neck-deep in trouble. Sadly, this tends to be a little akin to sticking a plaster on a broken leg – far from ideal and unlikely to facilitate a fast and favourable outcome. Instead, it’s always more beneficial for the business in question to head off any and all unfortunate eventualities at the pass, which in this instance can be done by siding with a solid legal team before the proverbial hits the fan.
With comprehensive knowledge and experience in all matters of law, it’s the job of quality legal representatives to protect the business from the worst possible outcomes – not just try and patch things up when it all goes wrong. Legal troubles can breed the kind of disruption and reputational damage that’s borderline fatal – certainly not worth taking the risk just for the sake of saving a few very minor costs here and there.
In terms of how and where employment lawyers can come in handy, the answer is really anywhere the business is governed by any UK laws or regulations.
Policies and Contracts of Employment
For example, it takes an individual or group thereof, with extensive experience and legal knowledge to create employment contracts, working policies, terms & conditions and so on that cover all bases and are 100% fair and legal. Going at such things with a random or haphazard approach, hoping to cover all bases tends to guarantee an outcome that’s littered with flaws and gaping holes. The right legal representative can make the creation of these crucially important documents not only simple, but far quicker and more reliable than an in-house effort ever could.
Equality and Diversity Law
These days, all businesses across the UK are being forced to ask themselves whether or not their policies, workforces and general methods of operation abide by increasingly strict equality and diversity laws. It was only relatively recently that these laws were brought into effect and they are still changing all the time – the goalposts are moving and making it difficult to stay ahead. Suffice to say, those found to be in any way contravening such laws face the prospect of not only heavy legal action, but the kind of reputational damage that could kill the company dead. So really, is this a risk worth taking for the sake of cutting costs?
Large Scale Reorganisations
From mergers to scale-downs and all manner of other large scale reorganisations, changing any business in a big way throws in the air a near infinite array of legal questions and concerns. From what’s to happen to the workforce to taxation to insurance to contractual changes/potential breaches and so on and so forth, there’s a hell of a lot more to a large company change than the logistics of making it happen. As such, it is in fact nigh-on impossible to go about such a change without the help of a qualified and experienced employment lawyer – going it alone is more often than not a recipe for disaster.
Dealing With Redundancies
One of the trickiest balancing acts a business will ever have to pull off is that of striking the kind of redundancy deal that employees who will be or must be laid off will be satisfied with. It’s extremely rare for any employee facing the compulsory sack to be in any way happy about the decision, even if they know it’s 100% inevitable. As such, coming up with terms that are both realistic for the business to bear and will be accepted by the individual in question can be a nightmare to say the least – without the appropriate legal assistance.
Unfair Dismissal
Last but not least, unfair dismissal cases can turn very ugly very rapidly. These kinds of stories never fail to attract the attention of the media for all the wrong reasons, which is why it’s always best to get them dealt with as quickly, quietly and fairly as possible with the right legal team on your side.