Employment

We represent employers and employees in relation to a wide range of claims, primarily before the Employment Tribunal. This includes claims for unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, race discrimination, disability discrimination, whistleblowing, equal pay and breach of contract.

These cases can involve a large amount of preparatory work both before and after starting proceedings. Often in our view it would not be cost-effective for clients to instruct solicitors on a ‘pay as you go’ basis at the normal rates that solicitors charge for this work. Because of our familiarity with work of this nature and the experience of our staff, we are able offer ‘no win no fee’ agreements for many of the cases that we undertake, which enables our clients to obtain legal representation which otherwise would not be affordable.

We also provide advice to employers and employees regarding compromise agreements / settlement agreements. We are also able to assist with other issues relating to employment such as terms and conditions of employment, restrictive covenants, restraint of trade clauses etc.

We are always willing to provide a free initial discussion about your case.

Costs

You may have insurance cover for your legal costs in which case we can help you to activate the policy for you.

If you agree to fund legal representation privately, the costs of representation could range from a few hundred pounds to potentially a five figure sum and in most employment law disputes you cannot claim your costs from the other side at the end of the case. We will discuss with you at the outset whether it makes financial sense to pay privately for legal representation.

If you fund your legal costs privately the hourly rates chargeable for our work depend on the level of each member of staff working for you. We charge for time spent communicating with you and others in relation to your case, and considering and working on documents relevant to your case.

The basic hourly rates for our work are as follows:

- Partners £205 exc VAT

- Senior qualified solicitors £175 exc VAT

- Solicitors with less than 4 years of qualification £146 exc VAT

- Other staff £111 exc VAT

If you instruct us we will give you our full terms and conditions at the outset which will provide further information as to any specific hourly charging rates that will apply to the work we undertake for you. We will also agree with you who will be working on your case. Our bills always provide details of the time spent on your case by each member of staff so that you can see how your charges have been calculated.

In some cases we are able to offer you a 'damages based agreement'. This means that we limit our fees including VAT (but excluding charges made should you also engage a barrister on your case) to an agreed percentage (not exceeding 35%) of any sum of compensation that you are awarded by the Employment Tribunal or that you accept by way of a settlement. If we offer you a damages based agreement we will explain all of the terms to you before you sign it. If you stop the claim against our advice, you can become liable for our fees for the work on the case up to that point.

In other cases you may be able to rely on Legal Expense Insurance to cover your costs.

It is not possible to provide a fixed quote for the total cost of legal representation in any given case because if you are paying for legal representation on an hourly rate, the total cost will depend upon the amount of work undertaken. If on the other hand you have entered into a damages-based agreement, the total cost will depend upon the amount of damages that you recover at the end of the case.

If you enter into a damages-based agreement and then fail to provide instructions to Enigma so that Enigma can bring your case to a successful conclusion you may become liable for Enigma’s fees for abortive work on the case. Likewise, if you enter a damages-based agreement and do not follow Enigma’s advice you may become liable for Enigma’s fees for work undertaken on the case up to that point.

All of the above fees represent fees for all work from the start to the conclusion of any employment tribunal claim. This includes taking initial information from you, submitting a claim to the employment tribunal, considering any response to the claim from your opponent, attending any preliminary hearing, assisting you to comply with any orders made by the employment tribunal as to the steps that the parties must take to prepare the case for trial, and representing you at trial.

The range of possible legal costs that you may incur in relation to an employment tribunal claim, if you are professionally represented by Enigma, might be in the region of anything from approximately £1,000 excluding VAT to £10,000 excluding VAT depending on the factors identified above.