Business Legal Services
Dealing With Discrimination For Employers
Every employer fears being faced with a workplace discrimination claim. Our expert employment team can help you resolve employee grievances swiftly and sensitively.
Discrimination claims under the Equality Act don’t just cost your business money: they affect your reputation too. Our senior solicitors are experienced in supporting employers with both internal complaints and formal legal claims, and will be your dedicated advisers during every step of the process.
Experts in employment law
In addition to dealing with discrimination claims, our team can assist you across all areas of employment law, including:
Helping you to minimise discrimination complaints and defend claims against your business
Our team of employment law solicitors can support you with:
Drafting staff policies
We’ll help you get the building blocks of equality right from the start. Whether you need a new equality and diversity policy, or a review of your existing one, we will make sure it’s fair, inclusive and comprehensive. We can check other important employment documentation to make sure that it is not directly or indirectly discriminatory.
Defending discrimination claims against your business
If things do go wrong, we can help you manage discrimination complaints, grievances, disciplinaries and claims. Our legal specialists will be by your side if an employee’s discrimination claim goes to employment tribunal, or is dealt with by ACAS. Our employment solicitors have encyclopaedic knowledge of the Equality Act and the commercial experience to represent your interests all the way to court if necessary.
Settlement agreements
We are highly skilled in drafting and negotiating settlement agreements for our clients. Our aim is to protect your business and minimise your outlay at all times.
Early advice on complaints and risk management
Seeking advice at an early stage can significantly reduce the risk of escalation. We can guide you through handling informal concerns, formal complaints and grievances, ensuring a fair and compliant approach from the outset.
Manager training and support
We provide training for managers and HR teams to help them identify, prevent and appropriately respond to discrimination issues. This proactive approach reduces risk and promotes a positive workplace culture.
Workplace investigations
If allegations arise, we can support or lead independent workplace investigations, helping you establish the facts, manage risk and demonstrate a fair process.
What are the benefits of seeking legal advice relating to discrimination?
Avoid expensive employment tribunal claims
Our approachable team will recommend personalised solutions for how to minimise the potential for discrimination claims in your workplace. Compensation for discrimination is uncapped in employment tribunals, which means that if you get it wrong, it can be very expensive.
Avoid personal liability
If you discriminate against an employee with a protected characteristic or anyone else in the workplace, you could be held personally liable. It is more likely that an employee will sue an employer rather than an individual, as they are likely to have more resources. However, if an employer is financially struggling, an employee may look to involve an individual into discrimination proceedings. To avoid this scenario, our experts can help you interpret what the Equality Act means in the workplace, so your managers and other senior individuals are protected as well as your business.
Defend employment tribunal claims effectively
If you find yourself faced with a crisis, and the threat of an employment tribunal, talk to us as soon as you can. Our tribunal experts will keep track of timescales for you and take care of the procedure for defending a claim. We are experienced in preparing the initial ET3 Response form and counterclaim, and we are also expert negotiators and tacticians when it comes to defending employment claims. If a matter becomes contentious, we can work with you to gather the facts surrounding the complaint. We’ll also assess your prospects for successfully defending the employment claim. Altering your ET3 response can be difficult: we advise submitting a well-drafted and comprehensive ET3 as soon as possible.
Settlement agreements
Our experienced employment solicitors can draft a settlement agreement based on your situation, handled with sensitivity. This will be legally compliant, up-to-date and will protect your business with appropriate post-termination restrictions. We can assist you to negotiate and effectively settle any employment claims.
Who we help: Employers of all sizes and from a variety of sectors all over the UK
Harper James supports a wide range of UK-based employer clients, but we do not represent employees. Our employment specialists advise HR directors, managers and founders across all sectors whether they are start-ups, SMEs or large multinationals. We can support your business with the full range of employment and HR legal services: from policies to contracts, grievances and disputes.
Testimonials
What our clients say
Why choose Harper James? Our discrimination solicitors’ experience
As the law firm for entrepreneurs, we understand the common and complex issues you face as owners and operators. We look to form genuine partnerships with our clients. Our team of remote-based and always accessible senior employment lawyers are the people to call when you need a second opinion, or specialist advice fast.
Our solicitors are all recruited from top 100 UK law firms or from large international businesses, and all have more than 10 years’ post-qualified experience. Find out more about the team here:
Pricing and service plans
Legal support designed
to fit your business needs
Our three transparent service plans are designed to give you the widest possible access to high-quality legal advice, whatever the size and nature of your business:
Engage
Flexible access to senior solicitors at highly competitive rates
An alternative to our subscription plans, offering access to full service legal expertise on a project-by-project basis.
Enable
Purpose built legal support for start-ups and smaller businesses
Monthly subscription plan for £239 per month, with £159 monthly credit and access to all legal services at 50% discount on our Standard Rates.
Extend
Comprehensive legal partnership for established businesses
Fully account managed and scalable annual subscription plan with support from a curated team of partners and senior solicitors, with up to 33% discount on our Standard Rates.
