We advise businesses and other organisations on the legal issues arising throughout the employment relationship.

Our work covers:

• Contracts of employment and senior executive service agreements
• Staff handbooks and workplace policies
• Disciplinary, capability and grievance procedures
• Performance and absence management
• Discrimination, equal-treatment and workplace conduct issues
• Whistleblowing and protected disclosures
• Confidentiality, restrictive covenants and the protection of business interests
• Organisational change, restructuring and redundancy
• Negotiated departures and settlement agreements
• Trade-union and collective workplace matters
• Employment aspects of business transfers and reorganisations
• Workplace investigations
• Employment Tribunal and Court proceedings

We work closely with management and HR professionals to ensure that decisions are legally defensible, properly documented and consistent with the organisation’s commercial objectives.

Written policies are only effective if they are lawful, coherent and reflected in what happens in practice.

We undertake focused reviews of employment documentation, internal procedures and established working practices. These reviews examine:

• Whether contracts and policies comply with current Gibraltar law
• Whether contractual terms are consistent across the workforce
• How disciplinary, grievance and performance procedures operate in practice
• Recruitment, promotion and remuneration processes
• Equal-treatment and anti-harassment arrangements
• Sickness absence, family leave and flexible-working practices
• Confidentiality, data handling, workplace monitoring and acceptable technology use
• Whistleblowing and internal reporting arrangements
• Record-keeping and the quality of management documentation
• The allocation of responsibility between management and HR
• Exposure arising from informal, inconsistent or undocumented practices
• Cross-frontier issues.

At the conclusion of a review, we provide clear findings and prioritised recommendations. Where required, we revise the relevant contracts, policies and procedures and advise management on their implementation.

The purpose is not simply to produce compliant documentation. It is to ensure that the organisation’s actual practices are fair, consistent, workable and capable of withstanding scrutiny.

Restructuring requires careful preparation. A legitimate business objective can be undermined by an inadequately designed process, inconsistent selection, poor consultation or unclear communications.

We advise employers on the planning and implementation of reorganisations, changes to terms and conditions and redundancy exercises. This includes:

• Defining and documenting the business rationale
• Identifying the affected roles and appropriate process
• Advising on consultation and communication
• Reviewing selection criteria
• Considering alternatives to dismissal
• Preparing correspondence and supporting documentation
• Advising on individual and collective issues
• Negotiating agreed departures where appropriate
• Defending subsequent claims

We also advise employees and senior executives affected by restructuring or redundancy. We assess the process followed, the contractual and statutory position, the financial terms offered and the available options for challenge or negotiation.

Difficult workplace issues require prompt and impartial handling. Faulty investigations can compromise later decisions and materially increase the risk of litigation.

We advise on allegations of misconduct, bullying, harassment, discrimination, conflicts of interest, breach of confidence and other serious workplace concerns. We can:

• Advise on the scope and structure of an investigation
• Review allegations and identify the relevant issues
• Prepare terms of reference
• Advise investigators, disciplinary officers and appeal officers
• Conduct or support an independent investigation
• Review evidence and procedural fairness
• Assist with interviews and written statements
• Advise on suspension and interim measures
• Prepare for disciplinary or grievance hearings
• Review proposed findings and outcomes

We also represent employees who are the subject of investigation or who have raised a grievance, complaint or protected disclosure.

Clear documentation establishes expectations and protects both the organisation and the individual.

We draft and review:

• Employment contracts
• Senior executive and director service agreements
• Directorship contracts
• Consultancy and alternative working arrangements
• Bonus, commission and incentive provisions
• Confidentiality and intellectual-property provisions
• Restrictive covenants
• Staff handbooks
• Disciplinary and grievance procedures
• Equal-opportunity and anti-harassment policies
• Whistleblowing procedures
• Technology, communications and workplace-monitoring policies
• Termination and settlement agreements

Where a role involves access to sensitive information, important client relationships or strategic responsibility, we consider the employment arrangements in their wider commercial context.

We provide confidential advice to senior executives, detectors and employees at every stage of the employment relationship.

This includes advice on:

• Proposed contracts and changes to existing terms
• Extent of and protection from liabilities
• Remuneration, bonuses and benefits
• Disciplinary and capability proceedings
• Grievances and workplace complaints
• Discrimination and unequal treatment
• Whistleblowing and retaliation
• Redundancy and organisational change
• Suspension and workplace investigations
• Restrictive covenants and confidentiality obligations
• Negotiated exits and settlement terms
• Dismissal and Employment Tribunal claims

Early advice can be decisive. It allows the evidence to be preserved, communications to be handled carefully and the legal and negotiating position to be assessed before irreversible steps are taken.

Many employment disputes are best resolved without prolonged proceedings, but effective settlement requires a clear understanding of the evidence, legal risk and commercial leverage.

We advise on strategy, conduct negotiations and represent clients in mediation. We prepare and review settlement agreements designed to bring the employment relationship or dispute to a clear and enforceable conclusion.

Settlement is not appropriate in every case. Where a principled or commercially acceptable resolution cannot be achieved, we are fully prepared to proceed.

We represent employers and employees in substantial and sensitive employment disputes, including claims involving:

• Unfair or wrongful dismissal
• Redundancy
• Discrimination and unequal treatment
• Contractual entitlements
• Workplace discipline
• Whistleblowing
• Restrictive covenants and confidential information
• Trades-union and collective issues

Our approach is rigorous from the outset. We identify the determinative issues, test the evidence, assess the procedural history and develop a strategy directed to the client’s objectives.

Where proceedings are required, we provide firm representation before the Employment Tribunal and the Courts. Where an appeal or a matter of wider legal importance arises, we bring the same precision to the identification and presentation of the relevant points of law.