Any termination of employment must be reasonable and be carried out in a reasonable manner. An employer must usually issue warnings about unacceptable behaviour prior to termination. An employer is required to investigate thoroughly and be able to justify his actions and if he fails to do so a claim for unfair dismissal can be made to The Employment Tribunal which must be satisfied that the job termination was fair for one of five permitted reasons which are conduct, capability to do the work, redundancy, illegality or some other substantial reason. The duration of your employment must normally have been for twoyears or more and the claimant must be below the normal retiring age for the job.

Constructive dismissal arises as a result of a serious breach of the work contract by the employer which is unacceptable to the employee and entitles the employee to resign and claim compensation from the employer.

Redundancy occurs if the termination of employment is due to the business closing down or if the business continues and there is reduced need for workers of the employee's type. The employee must have been continuously employed by the employer for 2 years at the date of the redundancy however some categories of employees are excluded from making a claim.

We have well trained staff to handle employment matters and are able to give detailed advice on The Race Relations Act which covers the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin and some religious groups under the Discrimination Act. Those protected against race discrimination, victimisation and harassment include job recruitment applicants, employees, self-employed and contract workers. Behaviour covered includes racist jokes and banter, innuendoes, offensive language, practical jokes, notes and emails containing insults, display of racist publications, physical assault and racist terminology.

Sexual harassment is conduct which is offensive, unwelcome and unreasonable which results in a humiliating, hostile or intimidating environment at work and may include;

Counsel's fees (depending on experience of the advocate) for attending a Tribunal Hearing (including preparation). We will obtain quotes upon request. Key stages

The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:

• Taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change)
• Entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached.
• Preparing claim or response
• Reviewing and advising on claim or response from other party
• Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
• preparing or considering a schedule of loss
• Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing
• Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
• Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
• preparing bundle of documents
• Reviewing and advising on the other party's witness statements
• agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
• Preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel

The stages set out above are an indication and if some of stages above are not required, the fee will be reduced. You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can also be arranged on your individual needs.