Need a good employment lawyer recommendation pls

meganyspoogle

Hi I have been going through a redundancy process with my employer and feel I have been right royally stitched up.

Without going into too many details I have two issues:

1 - I am the most suitably qualified person and have best track record yet have been unsuccessful in my application for the remaining role.

2- last october the company made a unilateral statement that is would not be making commission payments (I work in B2B sales and commission is in my contract). This was approx 6 weeks before it announced the restructure and I believe this was an attempt to aggravate as many people as possible into leaving before launching the process.

I would very much like to speak to a good employment lawyer and explore my options - has anyone any recommendations as I really want to speak to a specialist with a good track record?

Thanks!

Prothet_of_Doom

Can't help you there, but I can offer some observation based on experience.

Take 2 people, one resigned to being chosen for redundancy, and one determined to fight it through the tribunal system.

Person 1, sighs, rewrites their CV and gets on with the difficult task of getting a new job, and within a short while is fully employed and earning more than before in a job he now loves

Person 2, is angry and resentful, and sits waiting for his triubunal, and building evidence, and eventually he does win, but it's a hollow victory, and it's 18 months of stress and pain, and then it takes him another 6 months before he gets a job, person 1 rewrites person 2's CV before this happens.

4 years later Person 1, is glad that he just took the small amount of money and got on with it, whilst person 2 still bears a grudge, and struggles with trust issues (he doesn't trust his new boss one little bit) .

I'm not saying don't involve legal advice, just that you need to make it secondary to using this as a string board into something better.

meganyspoogle

In many ways I agree with you and I am not intending to stay with them under any circumstances however they currently owe me £12000 of commission and I have no intention of letting this lie.

Thankfully my reputation in the industry is very good (its a small industry and I am well known) I anticipate that I will find something as you say quickly and have been approached by a number of competitors already and have a number of interviews in process, all of which for better money.


I have been mistreated by a previous employer during a so called redundancy, brushed myself down and got on with it in the past and as I haven't wanted to make a fuss, and although I have moved on I am no less resentful 5 years on of how they as an employer felt they could treat people knowing that they were unlikely to be held to account.


As such I would rather make a stand and know that I have done everything in my power to be treated fairly.

MEM62

meganyspoogle wrote: »

In many ways I agree with you and I am not intending to stay with them under any circumstances however they currently owe me £12000 of commission and I have no intention of letting this lie.


Good, you are accepting the situation and moving on. If the commission is a contractual obligation then you can consider legal action to recover what is owed.

Thankfully my reputation in the industry is very good (its a small industry and I am well known) I anticipate that I will find something as you say quickly and have been approached by a number of competitors already and have a number of interviews in process, all of which for better money.


Remember that the object of the battle is to put yourself in the best possible position with the minimum of losses. OK, I allude in military terms but the point is, if you are in a close knit business community, don't let yourself look petty by allowing your actions to look as if your are just wishing to get back at your employer. Do not take anything personally and only do what you need to do to protect your interests. If the company are that bad in their dealings with people they will pay the price for that in the long term.


I have been mistreated by a previous employer during a so called redundancy, brushed myself down and got on with it in the past and as I haven't wanted to make a fuss, and although I have moved on I am no less resentful 5 years on of how they as an employer felt they could treat people knowing that they were unlikely to be held to account.


As such I would rather make a stand and know that I have done everything in my power to be treated fairly.

Don't worry about fair. Just make sure they honour their agreement with you and move on. Anything else is a waste of effort.

marybelle01

With regards to the £12000 that you say that they owe you. I think you'll find that they don't, I'm afraid. They changed their terms and conditions, taking away this commission in October. You knew that they had done it, and you knew you were not getting paid the commission. That's a contractual change. Which by doing nothing, you agreed to. And you are now out of time to make a claim to an employment tribunal about it, since you must make the complaint within three months less a day of the thing you are complaining about, which would be the date they told you that your contract was to be changed.

If you wanted to claim that this was a breach of contract, you needed to do it at the time, not after continuing to work for three months.

meganyspoogle

They didn't say they were not paying ever, but that they were not signing it off as yet. None of the sales team accepted this and we have all been regularly chasing sign off of these monies.

They have yesterday made a payment for the October figure which is around about right at £1900. I have now had verbal confirmation from the Uk head of sales that they will pay the remaining figure for the period todate which is hopeful. In which case I will be happy to walk away and say no more, and to chalk it up to experience
.watch this space!

meganyspoogle

Well a partial happy ending. Seems the CEO finally heard what had been going on she's intervened and is furious at the treatment of her staff, which totally contradicts the companies core values. They have been told to relook at the restructure and I at least, have had my position reinstated immediately, and approval that all commission due should be paid.

It's too late for many affected but it's wonderful to see someone with integrity is at the top.