Thorntons’ Employment Law team has announced the introduction of a new range of HR and Employment Law Support Packages designed to support the needs of SMEs.

Recognised for its employer-focused and practical advice, Thorntons’ Employment Law team has developed two packages that provide the right level of ongoing support employment law and HR support for a fixed monthly fee, bringing cost certainty to business’ legal and HR fees.

“Our Advice Line package gives an unlimited telephone advice line, where one of our specialist employment lawyers will be available to answer any employment related queries, 8.30am – 5.30pm, Monday to Friday,” said Thorntons employment partner Noele McClelland.

“We will strive to get to know our clients’ businesses to ensure our commercial advice is tailored to their precise needs, making this a genuinely bespoke service.”

Clients will also be provided with a comprehensive set of HR documents drafted by specialist lawyers – which will be accessible through an online client portal allowing documents to be accessed at any time – and will also be able to access employment law updates and bulletins.

The price of the Advice Line package starts from only £83 plus VAT per month for a business with up to 10 employees.

“In addition to everything included in the Advice Line, our HR Plus package gives clients a fully customised service with documents tailored to suit their business needs,” added Noele.

“We will undertake an audit of policies and procedures – together with training seminars and regular on-site meetings– to ensure that each business is compliant with current employment law.”

The prices of the HR Plus package starts from £100 per month for a business with up to 10 employees. With HR Plus, Thorntons can also offer the added protection of employment practices and Health & Safety insurance to provide cover in the event that businesses do face an employment claim.

Noele said: “These packages offer businesses access to legal advice without the worry of escalating legal fees. However our clients also benefit from the fact that advice and correspondence between a solicitor and a client is protected by legal advice privilege, where the main purpose is to seek legal advice. This is not an option for other non-lawyers or internal communications on HR matters, and gives added protection to our clients in relation to sensitive employment matters thereby avoiding the risk that it could be disclosed if an employee makes a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998.”

If you wish to enquire further about any of the packages available, or to enquire about the One Month Free Trial, please contact Noele, Employment Partner on 0131 225 8705 or nmcclelland@thorntons-law.co.uk.

Law At Work LogoAdvice for companies to prevent unfair dismissal claims

Following a series of expensive unfair dismissal cases being reported in the media this year, HR and health and safety experts Law At Work (LAW) are calling on business leaders to focus more attention on their disciplinary procedures.

The Edinburgh based firm has revealed that the highest number of calls (80%) to their legal managers are related to staff conduct issues as companies strive to set out clear and concise directives when conducting disciplinary proceedings.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) produced a 2011 report on Conflict Management confirming that “the scale of workplace conflict is remarkable and has increased in the recession”. The report found that almost half of those surveyed say that their organisation has increased its use of disciplinary action (49.5%), grievance procedures (47.7%) and mediation (49.4%). Almost 62% of employers had reported increasing instances of training line managers to handle difficult conversations and two in three respondents (65.3%) quoted that troubleshooting by HR departments has gone up.

Donald MacKinnon, Director of Legal Services at LAW explained that employers need to take discipline procedures seriously and protect themselves from potentially damaging situations. He said:

“Effective management of workplace grievances and disciplinary procedures must be viewed as an important fabric of any business. It can often be a daunting and tricky area for companies to handle themselves and can be an expensive mistake if mismanaged.”

“There are a number of basic steps that businesses must be prepared for in order to undertake successful and well managed investigations or disciplinary procedures. Our experience demonstrates that employers can frequently turn a potentially fair dismissal into an unfair one by failing to apply basic procedural steps or using outdated policies and procedures, which in turn could leave them exposed to costly tribunals and damaging claims.”

LAW is holding seminars on Disciplinary Dilemmas as part of their interactive ‘’Focus On’’ training courses, to find out more about LAW’s training schedule and to request a place, please visit:

http://www.lawatwork.co.uk/focus-on