Employers

We’ll manage your issues in a way that feels true to your values.

When it comes to employment issues, knowing the law isn’t enough. We know you need practical advice and outcomes-focused solutions.

Our clients include not-for-profit, voluntary sector and public sector employers. We also work with a wide range of businesses, from employment agencies and care providers to publishers, leading retailers and advertisers.

Clients come to us because we understand how to strike the right balance between protecting their business and staying true to their values.

How we can help

Our employment team help with:

  • Contracts: drafting, reviewing and varying contracts of employment and executive service agreements, disciplinary and grievance procedures, staff handbooks and policies and staff pension schemes
  • Data protection law
  • Departures, termination payments and settlement agreements
  • Whistleblowing, public interest and social media issues
  • Discrimination
  • Employees outside the UK
  • Employment status: employees, self-employed, casual workers, agency staff, volunteers, work placements, interns
  • Maternity, paternity and parental leave, flexible working, employee benefits, national minimum wage and health and safety
  • Partnership disputes and director and shareholder disputes
  • Redundancies, collective consultations and redundancy payments
  • Restrictions/team moves: restrictive covenants, confidentiality agreements and garden leave
  • Transfers; everything required under TUPE including keeping staff informed, sharing employee liability information, doing due diligence, and restructuring.
  • Unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal and constructive dismissal
  • Working time (holiday pay) and sleep-ins
  • Bonuses and deferred remuneration, long-term incentives and golden handshake

Learn more about our pricing for defending unfair and wrongful dismissal claims.

“Bates Wells helpfully apply advice to our context, while being extremely responsive and flexible with urgent issues.”

Employers, Chambers 2024

‘Attention to detail; knowledge of the law and collegiate working are particular strengths, along with approachability.’

Employers, Legal 500 2024
Meet our team
You May Also Be Interested In

Webinar | Planning and navigating collective redundancies: A practical guide | 10 July 2025

Collective redundancy processes remain one of the most legally sensitive and operationally complex challenges for employers. In this one-hour webinar, we’ll combine legal insights with practical tools, helping you to manage collective redundancy exercises with clarity and confidence, as well as ensuring compliance, reducing risk, and maintaining best practice throughout. Topics we’ll cover include: Who …
Read more

Keys with conditions: What you need to know about service occupancies

Service occupancies are a common but often misunderstood arrangement, especially for organisations like charities, schools, care providers and religious institutions that offer housing to employees as part of their job. While convenient in many ways, service occupancies carry significant legal complexity, particularly if the employment relationship ends or changes over time. What is a service …
Read more

Immigration White Paper to reduce net migration – what does this mean for employers?

The government released its White Paper on legal migration entitled ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration system’ on 12 May with a wide range of proposed reforms. These include restoring the Skilled Worker minimum skill level to degree level and increasing minimum salaries, restricting permission on the Graduate route to 18 months, raising the Immigration Skills Charge …
Read more

Employee awarded £256,000 in compensation following flawed disciplinary process and accusation of “playing the race card”: Lessons from Ahmed v United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Others

Managing staff complaints, workplace investigations and disciplinary processes fairly and reasonably is crucial for all organisations; not only to ensure a positive workplace culture and good staff morale, but also to minimise legal risk for the business.  Though most organisations will have relevant policies and procedures in place, key considerations to bear in mind are …
Read more

Balancing Flexible Working and Office Working: Lessons from Gill v BDW Trading Ltd

The Covid pandemic has left an indelible mark on the world of work; with flexible, hybrid working becoming the norm in many industries.  However, five years on, many employers are asking staff to return to working in the office – if not full time, then at least more often.  For example, companies such as Amazon, …
Read more