Contracts Of Employment

Closer attention must be paid by all who sign contracts of employment as they can severely circumscribe your rights.

Where you do not receive a letter of appointment, only a letter of appointment or a simple contract of employment, this may be better for the employee. One reason is that where they do not deal with notice this leaves it open to the courts to imply a term of reasonable notice which may be as much as 12 months depending upon length of service.

Where you have been working for a company for a number of years and at the date of inception of your employment your circumstances were as above and subsequently you are provided with a comprehensive contract of employment to sign, do not, as it may extinguish your common law reasonable notice rights and introduce some very restrictive post employment restraints. In all such cases obtain informed legal advice before proceeding.

It appears that the court will consider the cascading clauseser to be valid when the clauses are clear and unambiguous which does not require the intervention of the court in interpreting the cascading clausesre. In addition, the court will also consider the period in which the restraint of trade is to operate. The court held that a 12 month period was reasonable for the protection of the business. The question of reasonableness is to be decided upon the facts of each particular case.

One would need to consider the issue in relation to cascading clauses prior to them being inserted into the contract of employment. A recent trend in the employment circle has been the introduction of a clause known as a cascading clause. A cascading clause is defined as a clause that provides a number of options in regards to time and areas of coverage of the restraint of trade clause.

Recent court decision has considered the validity of cascading clauses in an employment contract and in a recent decision the court considered the issue whether the cascading clauses can be severed from the rest of the cascading clauses. The court will consider each clause separately and whether the clauses are inconsistent with each other. In the above case the court decided that the clauses could be read separately and therefore valid. Other cases have concluded that the cascading clauses are invalid as the employee is unaware of the nature of the restraint and this would causes difficulty in the assessment of the validity of such a clause.

If you are interested to know something more on Employment Contracts and other details,you are welcome to the Employee Contracts site.

Tips To Get Lawsuit Funding On Your Wrongful Termination Litigation

No-Risk Lawsuit Loan on Your Wrongful Termination Lawsuit

Wrongful termination lawsuit funding is a non-recourse cash advance provided to a plaintiff involved in a wrongful termination or wrongful discharge litigation even before his/her lawsuit is settled or resolved.

Most of the plaintiffs involved in wrongful termination or wrongful discharge litigation are not aware that they can use their potential lawsuit settlement as collateral to get a non-recourse pre-settlement cash advance before their lawsuit is settled.

What is Wrongful Termination?

Wrongful termination happens when an employee is discharged from employment for illegal reasons or if company policy is violated when the employee is fired.

Experts estimate that at least 250,000 workers are illegally or unjustly fired (wrongful termination) each year and these figures do not include those that were justifiably terminated.

Who is Eligible for Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Loan - Lawsuit Funding?

If you were an employee and you were unfairly fired or laid off and have filed a lawsuit with the help of an attorney than you may be eligible for a lawsuit loan or lawsuit funding on your pending lawsuit settlement.

How Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Funding is Different from Regular Types of Loans:

Wrongful termination litigation funding provided is a contingent transaction in which cash is advanced based solely on the merits of pending litigation. In layman language these are called lawsuit loans, but in true sense, these are not loans because the money does not have to be paid back unless the case is won or settled.

Lawsuit funding is considered a secured non-recourse debt due to the fact that if the litigation reaches a final verdict in favor of the defendant the lawsuit loan is forgiven. The plaintiff is absolved from payment of lawsuit loan debt. This is non-recourse settlement loan, which you pay back only if you win or settle the case.

Other Terms Used for Wrongful termination:

Wrongful termination is the most common term used. But an unfair employment discharge is also referred to as:

- Illegal discharge
- Illegal dismissal
- Illegal termination
- Unfair dismissal
- Wrongful discharge
- Wrongful dismissal
- Wrongful firing

Wrongful discharge law suits are mostly high value and complex cases and very few lawsuit funding companies provide lawsuit settlement loan on these types of cases.

Process to Get Lawsuit Funding on Your Pending Wrongful Termination Litigation:

It involves four easy and stress free steps:

Step 1: You complete the simple and easy application on line or on phone.

Step 2: A representative from lawsuit funding company will contact your attorney, the same day (preferably within one business hour) and will request for the required documentation to evaluate your request for lawsuit loan.

Step 3: Once the case papers are received, the underwriters will process the information. The decision to approve a lawsuit loan is based solely on the merits of pending lawsuit. If required the underwriting attorney will discuss the case with your attorney.

Step 4: If approved, you are informed immediately and your funding agreement is faxed/ emailed. Once the signed copies of lawsuit funding agreement from you and attorney are received, the check is sent the same day for next day delivery or funds are wired into your bank account.

Total process to obtain wrongful discharge lawsuit funding is fast and free. There are absolutely no up-front charges. Unlike a conventional loan, however, the credit and employment histories of plaintiff applicant are not a factor.

And unlike a conventional loan, there are no monthly payments. The lawsuit cash advance is paid back, plus accumulated fess, from the proceeds of the final recovery once the wrongful termination or wrongful discharge lawsuit is resolved.

Being fired from your job is difficult, especially if you have been fired in an illegal manner. A wrongful termination lawsuit process can have a serious impact on life of plaintiff, and his/her family, health, and finances.

How Lawsuit Funding Helps the Plaintiffs:

By offering appropriate lawsuit settlement loan, a lawsuit funding company enables the plaintiffs to get relief from financial problems and to resist financial pressure to take the first low ball offer made by defendants attorneys.

A lawsuit loan (lawsuit funding) on their pending lawsuit settlement allows plaintiffs and their attorney the time needed to get the maximum possible value for their case.

Paul Sherman, The Lawsuit Money Man, is a Legal Funding Consultant at Easy Lawsuit Funding. Visit our website easylawsuitfunding.com to get additional useful knowledge and information about lawsuit loan and make an educated decision to apply for your wrongful termination lawsuit funding or lawsuit loan today!

Top Employment Offer Forms List

Employment offer forms are required by the hiring company when having interview and thereafter the hire process begins, so that the candidate will be prepared and ready to start a new career. As a would-be-worker, you may want to ensure that there is glitch and missing documents that would stall the hiring process. There are employment forms such as job applications, W-2 forms, an I-9 form, and a W-4 form.

Usually employer provides these forms when the hiring process starts, but it is always good idea to get the copy at hands so you could begin your work immediately once you get a job offer from the company.

Job Application Forms

Most hiring company will require candidates to fill out a job application even for the top level position. This way they could keep the record of candidate's experience and education history. As an applicant, you would need to provide detailed information and dates of past employment and education, including credentials and certifications if any. As a proof of your education degree, you might be required to provide college transcripts during this hiring process.

W2 Forms

Every employer is required to complete a Form W-2 for their employees so that the record of salary, wage or other compensation is stated as part of the employment relationship. In case the employee works in multiple stats, employers will print out multiple copies of W-2 forms to report that the pay are divided to each state.

W-4 Form

This form is used to withhold the correct amount of federal income tax from your paycheck. It will be completed by you as an employee, and you need to let your employer know how much tax would need to be withheld.

Once you are hired, you are required to complete this form to prove that you are legally entitled to work in the United States. This is called an Employment Eligibility Verification form, and it must be completed and kept secured on file by the employer. You are required to make original document verifying that you are eligible to work.

Many times, a job offer may be made orally, either in person or over the phone, or in writing. Usually it is done over the phone, so the hiring employer doesn't lose the chance of getting quality worker by some other employers while officially written offer is still in the mail.

Regardless of the job offer form, employer won't make any promise or statements that can be construed as promises that the candidate cannot intend to keep because those statements can lead to expensive litigation when the employer decides to terminate the employee, among which disability discrimination in employment is included.

Visit Legal Document Download site and you can get free PDF Legal Forms, Documents and Papers for free, including valuable legal information such as Employment Offer Forms and legal business related issues.

Constructive Dismissal

Constructive dismissal is when an employee is forced to resign from their job because the way the employer treats them is so bad or unreasonable that continuing in the job becomes unbearable, forcing the employee to leave. Although there's no actual dismissal by the employer, the end result is the same as if the employee had been sacked. It is sometimes also called constructive discharge.

An employee can lodge a legal claim against an employer if he or she feels they have been forced to resign. It's often difficult to prove that the employer's behaviour forced the resignation so having witnesses or other tangible evidence to back up the claim is necessary. It is important to get specialist legal advice before actually quitting the job so that the best way to proceed can be advised. This is because the employee must prove that the employer was acting unlawfully. In effect the employer's actions must be proved to be a breach of contract.

If the employer has seriously breached the contract of employment, an Employment Tribunal may find that constructive dismissal has taken place. The Tribunal will examine whether there is clear evidence of a serious breach. A serious breach could involve an employer's behaviour 'making life hell', leaving the employee feeling that there is no choice but to leave. Another example could be that the employer forces a major, unwanted change in the employee's work situation without prior agreement or consultation. The breach may involve one major incident or a series of incidents that bring about an unbearable situation for the employee.

Examples of breaches of an employment contract include:
• cutting significant benefits or pay without consultation or good reason,
• creating new impossible targets,
• demotion without reason,
• making duties impossible to perform,
• unreasonable changes such as a new location, longer working hours, or greater responsibilities,
• failing to take action against serious bullying, and
• physically dangerous working conditions.

An employee should try to resolve any problem with his or her employer or, if a resolution cannot be reached, lodge a formal grievance. The employee must make it clear that the new circumstances are unwanted. The employer will have a credible response if it can be shown that an employee's complaints were taken seriously and that the employer had no choice but to behave as he did. In such a situation, the employer could reasonably believe that if the employee takes no further action he or she has accepted the new situation. So, for example, failing to resign within a reasonable period after the breach may be considered an acceptance or waiver of it - this is called 'waiving the breach.'

Because of the complexities in cases of constructive dismissal, employees are strongly advised to seek legal advice before resigning and seeking to claim.

Constructive dismissal comes under general heading of unfair dismissal

Sharma Solicitors is a specialist Employment Law firm which deals with issues of discrimination, employment contracts and constructive dismissal. For further information and a free confidential initial consultation please call on 0845 430 0145

Human Resources Tips and Tricks for Employees

I recently returned from The SHRM® 2010 Annual Conference and Exposition, held in beautiful San Diego, California. I thought you might like some insight into what those dastardly Human Resource folks are cooking up. I attended the Conference in my "day job" capacity as a Human Resources professional, and as your Undercover HR Director.

But first - a question: What do you call one hundred HR professionals on the bottom of San Diego Bay? A good start! No, wait - that's lawyers. Lawyers on the bottom of San Diego Bay! (Apologies to Curt)

A little background: SHRM® stands for Society for Human Resource Management, and it's the world's largest association of HR professionals, with over 250,000 members in more than 140 countries. There were over 11,000 attendees at this year's 3-day conference attending training sessions on everything from "Diversifying the Leadership Bench: Maximizing the Potential of All Employees" to "Bullying and Workplace Violence" to my personal favorite, "RETALIATION - Coming Soon to an Employer Near You!!".

I have to say that of the 200+ training sessions available, not one was titled "Betraying your Employees: The Art and Science of Deception in HR" or "Effectively Padding the Personnel File Without Getting Caught" or even "Making Employees Miserable 101". You may not believe me, but 95% of the sessions were positive! They had titles like "People Are Your Business!", "Valuing Experience: Strategies for Employing the Older Worker", and "Creating a Culture of Engagement".

I've seen it time and time again: HR pros attend training and come home with a wealth of positive recommendations for making their organizations more "people-centered". Then they're hit with the reality of their top brass pushing back, saying that - although People Are Our Greatest Asset - we're not really willing to invest the time and money in ensuring that our people are protected from bullying, retaliation and other adverse employment actions. The organization weighs the cost of defending against a lawsuit or governmental agency investigation and decides it's cheaper to fight than to do the right thing in the first place.

Many times it simply begins with a poorly-trained supervisor doing the wrong thing with a protected-class employee. Then the supervisor misrepresents the facts to HR, which accepts the supervisor's version without an in-depth investigation and goes along with the supervisor's recommendation to terminate or discipline. This is further compounded when it's learned that the supervisor lied or was mistaken and upper management defends the supervisor and upholds the discipline, rather than doing the right thing and reversing the bad discipline. And that's how discrimination claims and lawsuits are born. Very few cases begin with the HR professional and the supervisor deciding together to deliberately discriminate against an employee.

Most folks go into HR with the best intentions - to help others. I didn't speak to a single HR pro at the conference who said his or her goal was to screw employees over - even in jest. But they all admitted they had a difficult time balancing the pressures from their top management with the needs and rights of employees. Trading off a larger paycheck to move up the food chain isn't an excuse to ignore employees' needs and violate their legal rights. A true HR professional is not only technically competent in the field, but finds ways to stand up for employees' rights. A true HR professional doesn't sell out his or her principles even when ordered by management to discriminate or retaliate against an employee. I've been the victim of retaliation by my boss and her boss for whistleblowing activities - and that's why I'm your Undercover HR Director.

Stay tuned - in my next article, I'll fill you in on the latest topics putting Human Resources managers' knickers in a twist. I'll tell you what advice HR managers have been given to investigate questionable FMLA claims - including surveillance - and why your employer not consistently following its own policies benefits you.

Preparing for an Employment Tribunal Hearing

Once you have submitted your claim form - the ET1 - your ex-employer (the respondent), has 28 days to submit their response to your claim. Your claim form will be sent to the respondents and you as the claimant, will receive a copy of the form returned by the respondent. There will then be an extended period of time during which you will need to prepare your case gather all the documents that you require, seek any documents from the other side, and exchange those documents.

It is important that you prepare all the documents on which you wish to rely before the hearing commences. The papers that are used in the tribunal hearing itself are referred to as "the bundle", and preparing this bundle, numbering the pages and sorting out a chronology can be extremely time-consuming and relatively stressful.

You should agree with the other side who will physically prepare the bundle and agree what goes in to it. It is not a good idea when attending a hearing, to turn up with a bundle that is not agreed and/or to try to introduce new papers at that late stage; no matter how important they may be to your case. At best it will cause delay to the start - which may transmit to costs being awarded against you later - or you may not be able to use the document at all which could seriously damage your prospects of success.

It may be that there will be a preliminary stage before the full hearing takes place called a pre-hearing review (PHR), and this is normally heard by a judge sitting alone. The purpose of the PHR is to decide whether or not the claim that you have submitted, or the response completed by the respondent should be thrown out. It can deal with questions such as whether or not you are entitled to bring the claim at all and it can decide, if either side's case is weak, whether any deposit should be paid into the court and if so how much that should be. It is important to attend this stage if one is arranged as it can prove critical to the way you will able to conduct your case.

A Case Management Discussion (CMD) is normally held to clarify the issues, decide what orders should be made such as disclosure of documents, attendance of witnesses etc, and the date time and approximate length of the full hearing. CMD's will always be held by a judge sitting alone and can be dealt with by a review of the papers. However, if you are involved as a party to the proceedings you or your representative should attend if invited.

Getting your head round the process, particularly if you are unrepresented, can be difficult; you have to decide what papers you need, if you want to call any witnesses, write your statement and think about how you are going to cross-examine the witnesses called by the other side.

The case will be listed for the requisite number of days, and dates will be notified to both parties. It is important to notify the employment tribunal, as early as possible, if you are unavailable on certain dates, to avoid having to ask for a postponement. There will normally be orders from the tribunal about the disclosure of documents the preparation and exchange of witness statements and the times by which they should be completed. As a minimum you will need to bring a total of six prepared bundles; one for each side, one for the witness table and three for the tribunal members.

The hearing itself is set up to decide whether the claim will succeed or fail and if it succeeds what remedy or compensation should be paid. The full hearing will usually be heard by a judge sitting with two lay members one from each side of industry. This means that they will generally be one employer and one employee appointed person however this does not mean that they will side with one or the other; they are all neutral and they are all appointed based on their industrial experience and understanding of how workplaces operate.

To read the complete article and to access many others on the subject of UK employment law along with further information on how Tacticks can help your organisation to stay on the right side of the law Click Here to be taken to our website.

Steve Ferns is the owner of Tacticks and has held senior management and board level posts in both UK listed companies and local government over the past 20 years specialising in turnaround situations. He has extensive experience in people management and advises companies and individuals on UK employment law, best employment practice and HR. He has been ` lay member of the Employment Tribunals for over 17 years and is on the County Court panel of lay assessors in discrimination cases specialising in sexual orientation discrimination. He currently serves on the management board of two charities as well as carrying out consultancy work. His website address is; www.tacticks.co.uk

Top Tips For Employment Law Policies

Without basic formal employment law policies there is a much higher risk of unwanted disputes and legal issues. Data Protection is an important thing to be covered in employment policy, it should adhere to the regulations set out in the Data Protection Act (1998) which discusses the way an individual's information should be used and held. This policy should cover processing data, collection of data, transferring data and retaining data.

Equal opportunities policy is meant to be used by employers to ensure the company follows equality responsibilities set out by anti-discrimination legislation. It should include a statement about the aim and objective of the policy as a whole, who the policy applies to, the specific actions that will be taken to prevent discrimination and promote equal opportunities, how these will be implemented and who is responsible for this, how it will be monitored and reviewed and how complaints will be handled.

Complementary to this is the Age Discrimination Policy; this covers the obligations of employers under the Employment Equality (Age) regulations (in place since 1st October 2006) which regard age equality and retirement. In terms of retirement it covers banning unjustified retirement under 65, the employee's right request to work beyond retirement age as well as the employer's duty to then consider the request and that the employer has to give at least 6 months notice of the retirement data to the employee.

Other key policies to have in place are maternity, paternity and adoption leave. Maternity leave policies should include ante-natal appointments, that the employee has to inform the company of the pregnancy, protection during the leave, statutory maternity pay and that the employee will return to work after the leave. Paternity and adoption leave should both cover eligibility for leave, the length of leave and the statutory pay.

A further policy to consider is a sickness and absence policy which should cover the procedure for notification and certification of absence and medical examinations. It can also overlap with health and safety policy covering risk assessments, injury at work and manual handling.

Another key policy is the drug and alcohol policy which should clearly cover employee's use of illegal drugs, testing for alcohol or drug use, employee's refusal for testing, confidentiality, disciplinary action and monitoring and reviews.

There are many important employment law policies to consider and it is vital to make sure they are clear and fully outline all the details in order to avoid legal complications.

Bio: Gordon Dean is the founder and partner of Gordon Dean Solicitors in Great Yarmouth and Norwich. Gordon Dean Solicitors provide legal advice and services throughout the Norfolk area. They specialise in employment, personal injury and wills & probate law. Contact them today for a free consultation.

Solicitors Norwich

Know Your Basic Employment Rights

Today, in employment law, there is a lot of legislation in place to protect employee rights. It is quite unbelievable that in the past there were no where near as many protections available to employees and they were frequently mistreated without the employers being held liable. But fortunately in today's society there are many different angles at which employees can take their employer to tribunal if they are treated unfairly. The pieces of law in place are there to ensure that every employer is treated equally, fairly and lawfully and if not, that there are grounds available to take the employer to tribunal. The main statutory protections in place to protect employees are the following:

    * Health and Safety Acts
    * The Equal Pay Act 1970
    * The Race Relations Act 1976
    * Employment Rights Act 1996
    * The Sex Discrimination Act 1975
    * Protection From Harassment Act 1997
    * Employment Equality Regulations 2003

The aforementioned statutory rights are in place to protect employees across all areas of daily duties at work. I now move on to look at more detailed areas in which problems can arise and the rights that employees have in each section.

Minimum wage employment rights

Employees have the right to be paid the national minimum wage, any attempts by an employer to pay less than this can be claimed upon by an employee. The current national minimum wage is £5.93 per hour.

Working time regulation employment rights

Employees have various rights regarding their working time. They have the right too work no more than a maximum 48 hour week. They have the right to compulsory rest breaks and the right to paid annual leave.

Maternity employment rights

Employees have four main rights under the area of maternity. They have the right not to be fired due to becoming pregnant or requiring time off for a pregnancy. They have the right to return to work after maternity leave, the right to maternity pay and the right to take time off for ante-natal care. If any of these rights are infringed by an employer then the individual is in their right to act against the employer.

Discrimination employment rights

Employees have the right not to be discriminated against. Discrimination based on gender, race, age, disability, religion, nationality or sexual orientation is strictly forbidden. Discrimination can occur in many forms from different working environments, different pay and different treatment. Any sort of discrimination should be reported and claimed against.

Health and safety employment rights

Employees also have many rights regarding health and safety. This includes being provided all relevant health and safety information, training and protective items dependent on the work to be carried out. The levels of health and s`fety required will vary between jobs. A far more substantial amount of health and safety advice is required on a building site compared to an office space.

Right to an employment tribunal if any of the rights above are infringed upon.

If any employee feels that their employment rights have been breached in any way mentioned above or in any other way they feel they shouldn't have been then they have the right to take their employer to an employment tribunal to attempt to claim and receive any compensation rightly owed to them.

Employees shouldn't be subject to situations where their rights are infringed but unfortunately this isn't the way of life. Far too often employers try to cut corners and try to avoid doing all the necessary requirements when it comes to their employees. It is important for employees to know their right s and be able to hold their employer liable where they have failed to uphold the basic employee rights.

I am a legal writer who specialises in employment law, if you would like more information about employment rights and would like to find a solicitor, I suggest you have a look at lawontheweb.co.uk.

Legal Aid and Employment Law

Employers and employees of all businesses should know what legal aid is available for them. A legal aid solicitors will be able to give the best advice about various employment law issues where it is possible to make a claim, whether it will be successful or not, and general guidance and information on areas of employment law that some may find confusing. Employees will be given different legal aid to that of employers.

Legal aid for employers

As you do not need any grasp of employment law to start up a business, the majority of employers do not understanding how employment law works. The reason for this is that employers are expected to pick it up employment law as they go along. However, the major problem with this method is that all employers can be held liable, under employment law, by their employees. A solicitor will be able to help inform employers about how employment law works and explain where they could be held liable by their employees or where their employees would be liable.

Legal aid for employees

Legal aid is also very useful for the employees if some kind of dispute arises. It is common that most employees are unaware of the various areas of their duties where they could have the right to claim against their employer. Most employee rights can be found in their employment contracts, but there are several other areas of legislation that state how employers cannot treat their employees. Legal aid will tends to be required when an employee needs to understand their rights in order to take legal action against their employer. It can also assist employees in disputes against their employees for the following reasons:

· Redundancy

· Working hours

· Discrimination

· Data protection

· Minimum wage

· Unfair dismissal

· Maternity issues

· Disciplinary procedures

The list is almost endless and very few employees will know their rights for each area and how to tackle the problem if their rights are breached. Solicitors are extremely useful to ensuring that an employee's case will be successful.

Employment contracts

Employment contracts between an employer and employees should contain all terms and conditions which state the rights, duties and responsibilities of both the employer and employee. A detailed and well written contract will help to ensure that if any legal disputes arise, the dispute can be sorted out properly. A legal aid solicitor will be required to create, change and deal with a dispute of employment contracts. Without legal aid helping with employment contracts, it would become a much more difficult process.

I am a legal writer who specialises in legal aid, if you would like more information about employment law and would like to find a solicitor, I suggest you have a look at lawontheweb.co.uk.