I have been very lucky in my legal career. I have undertaken many kinds of legal work which I hope gives me a broad view of the legal market. I was once even an employment lawyer, and following an Employment Appeal Tribunal case, I even got into the law reports. I succeeded in arguing before a high court judge that an employer could not just use his subjective opinion of employees to decide which members of his workforce should be chosen for redundancy. Mr Shaw said in his evidence ‘that he had used his innate skills and judgement to decide who should leave and who should stay’. The judge agreed with me that objective criteria had to apply in the redundancy process to demonstrate that there had not been unfair bias.

For many of us in business, recent budgets have brought in new headaches to do with apprenticeship levies, pensions, living wages and increases in minimum salaries. It is no exaggeration to say that for many who have set up a new business, providing the service to the customers is the easy bit. The more difficult part comes when you approach the minefield of employing staff. More people in employment leads to more challenges for the employer.

There was one potential saving grace for employers. The cost of going to an Employment Tribunal was prohibitive and that had reduced the number of tribunal cases by more than 70%. Whether that was fair is quite another issue.

In a landmark case last week, the Supreme Court has ruled that Tribunal Fees as applied by the Government were unconstitutional. Fees have been abolished and 32 million pounds in Employment tribunal Fees paid since July 2013 when they were introduced now have to be repaid. Employers therefore can expect a surge in Tribunal claims now that this artificial barrier has been removed.

There is so much law involved in regulating the relationship between employer and employee. Our employee handbook runs to over 100 pages and then refers to other policies and documents. Anti-discrimination, disability rights, the Bribery Act, Money Laundering, Health and Safety, Data Protection, IT, E mail and Social Media policies are just some of the many topics covered. That is before you get to the subject of drafting a comprehensive Contract of Employment and setting out disciplinary and grievance procedures, never mind a whistle blowing policy. It is pretty mind boggling for the uninitiated.

Jackson Lees’ boast of making a difference through the practice of law is pertinent to the headaches of being an employer. For a small monthly sum (which depends on the number of employees), we offer a package of services from precedents for contracts and other necessary documents to advise on day to day issues which arise in any business. Unlike some of the big boys, we will not tie you up in long term contracts (more than 12 months) which you wish you could escape from because of poor service.

If you would like further information on employer support services, contact our Employment Law team and we would be happy to help. Being happy at work should apply as much to the boss as to the employee. Having an expert shoulder to lean on from a reactive and helpful legal team maybe just what you need to help you wake up with a smile every work day morning.