Employment

Overview

Chambers’ Employment Law team is one of the fastest developing areas of Chambers’ practice areas.

Developed in response to a need for a flexible and economic service for solicitors and individuals as an alternative to larger sets, the team seek to provide a prompt and friendly service dealing with the often complex issues at short notice. The core of the group has recently expanded to include additions at both the most senior and junior end of Chambers. The Employment Law team seek to provide a service based on value for money and is backed by an experienced clerking team used to dealing with Employment Tribunals.

Richard Barraclough KC and Nicholas Baldock have expertise in the most complicated employment law cases. Richard Barraclough KC has particular experience in stress at work claims and restrictive covenant work. He has for many years sat as legal advisor to both the General Medical Council and General Dental Council. Notably, he advises large employers in the financial and legal sector in relation to issues such as disability discrimination and capability procedures.

Nicholas Baldock has a substantial reputation in the context of local authority employment work, for example, acting for the Respondents in a case involving multiple and repeated claims by the same Claimant against a local authority. Another example of the local authority work that he has done includes a claim relating to a social worker who claimed unfair constructive dismissal and discrimination following being given an ‘option’ of resigning. He has also being doing increasing amounts of restrictive covenant work in the area of estate agency (non-competition and confidential information clauses). He also has experience of representing individuals in the legal and medical profession who have been referred to their professional bodies following the termination of employment. He sits as legal adviser on the GMC. This part of the team has been significantly strengthened by the addition of Noelle McGrenera KC who brings her substantial experience at the Northern Irish bar with her, most notably in the cases of SCA Packaging Ltd v Boyle (2009) UK HL 37 (the interpretation of ‘likely’ in the context of the definition of disability contained in DDA 1995) and Shamoon v Chief Constable of the RUC (2003) UK HL 11 (guidance on hypothetical comparators and ‘detriment’).

Gordon Menzies has been recommended for his employment law work in the Chambers UK Bar Guide and the Legal 500 for several years now. He appears regularly in the Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunal, for example  Truelove v Safeway Stores plc [2005] ICR 589 (time off for dependents), Piper v Maidstone NHS Trust EAT 18.12.12 (employment status and internal appeals) and Lynch v Sussex Downs College EAT 6.5.14 (standard for disciplinary investigations). He has particular experience in the context of restrictive covenants and acted for the Respondents in the case of Widmar v Earth Island Publishing and others [2013] EWHC 1881 (Ch) which touched upon the correct approach when dealing with ‘linked in’ groups operated by a former employee. A large part of the work that he does in this area relates to discrimination including transgender discrimination (McGrath v Kent Police). He also does substantial amounts of work directly for business advising on the handling of employment disputes prior to issue of proceedings, in particular long term sickness absence. He lectures to other members of the profession about the developments in employment law.

Grace Cullen is also recommended for her employment work in the Chambers UK Bar Guide. Most notably she acted for the local authority Respondent in the case of Arya v Waltham Forest District Council in which a primary school teacher dismissed on grounds including the making anti-Semitic comments attempted to argue that his belief about the merits of Judaism was ‘philosophical’ for the purposes of anti-discrimination legislation. She also acted for the claimant in the case of Roche v London Fire and Emergency Authority who claimed unfair constructive dismissal and disability discrimination having developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder linked to his experiences as a fire officer in the 2005 London bombings. She also lectures on recent developments in employment law.

The work that Ian Rees Phillips has done in this area has included successfully acting for a respondent recruitment consultant in a claim brought against it by an individual for race discrimination on the basis that the recruitment consultant had not found a role for this individual. The individual involved had brought a number of similar claims against such companies in the past and Ian was successful in securing a costs award on the basis that the claim was vexatious. Other work he has recently done includes claims relating to questions of whether a Claimant was in law an ‘employee’, the correct calculation of periods of continuous employment and disputes concerning whether TUPE applies.

Thaiza Khan, and Nicholas Ostrowski form a group of junior practitioners who are developing their practices to cover a wide range of cases enabling chambers to be able to cater for cases which span all ranges of complexity and budget.

Members of the team include individuals who regularly lecture on employment law, sit in the capacity of legal advisors to the General Medical Council and General Dental Council and participate on the Bar Council’s Equality and Diversity Committee.

Click on the sub-specialities listed on the left for further details of our expertise in employment law.

Testimonials

“Six Pump Court’s employment team has extensive experience in restrictive covenants, discrimination cases, unfair dismissals and TUPE matters”.

― Legal 500

Latest news

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26th February 2021

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2nd November 2020

Six Pump Court ranked Band 1 Set and barristers receive 47 rankings across twelve practice areas in 2021 Chambers UK Bar Guide

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1st October 2020

Six Pump Court barristers recommended in eleven areas of law in the Legal 500 2021

Six Pump Court has been recommended in eleven areas of law in the Legal 500 2021 with 65 individual recommendations.

26th May 2020

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12th May 2020

New Employment Law Update blog

Members of Six Pump Court’s Employment team provide the latest employment law news stories and legal analysis, concentrating on the issues that arise in the workplace due to the Covid-19 public emergency.

11th October 2019

Six Pump Court ranked Band 1 Set and barristers ranked in eleven practice areas in 2020 Chambers UK Bar Guide

Six Pump Court Chambers is delighted to be ranked as a Band 1 Set with Set rankings in Crime, Consumer Law Environment, Health & Safety and Planning.

27th September 2019

Six Pump Court barristers recommended in eleven areas of law in the Legal 500 2020

Six Pump Court has been recommended in eleven areas of law in the Legal 500 2020 with 59 individual recommendations.

2nd November 2018

Six Pump Court ranked Band 1 Set and barristers ranked in twelve practice areas in 2019 Chambers UK Bar Guide

Six Pump Court Chambers is delighted to be ranked as a Band 1 Set with Set rankings in Crime, Consumer Law Environment, Health & Safety and Planning in the new 2019 Chambers UK Bar Guide.

30th October 2018

Six Pump Court barristers recommended in twelve areas of law in the Legal 500 2019

Six Pump Court has been recommended in twelve areas of law in the Legal 500 2018 with 59 individual recommendations.

8th October 2018

Grace Cullen and Ian Rees Phillips present Employment Law Update sessions during October

Central Law Training continue to deliver a number of employment law training courses across the country during 2018.

18th July 2018

Employment Law Conference – Review of the Year 2018

On 5 October 2018, Mukhtiar Singh will be joining other employment law experts and teaming up with MBL at this now well-established event.

6th April 2018

Hiring & Firing Senior Executives – Conference – 21 September 2018

Mukhtiar Singh has teamed up with MBL seminars and leading employment practitioners to provide a conference examining the legal issues surrounding the effective hiring of senior executives and those relating to the termination of their employment.

13th March 2018

Employment Law Update

Following high demand in 2017, Mukhtiar Singh and Ian Rees Phillips, together with Central Law Training, will deliver a number of courses across the country in 2018.

3rd November 2017

Six Pump Court ranked Band 1 Set and barristers ranked in twelve practice areas in 2018 Chambers UK Bar Guide

Six Pump Court Chambers is delighted to be ranked as a Band 1 Set with Set rankings in Crime, Consumer Law Environment, Health & Safety and Planning

Our employment team