Business Restructuring and M&A

If you are considering restructuring your organisation, merging or acquiring a business, dealing with your liabilities to employees is key. Starting off on a strong footing is crucial to future success and having the backing of an expert employment solicitor will ensure that you meet your obligations.

We have experience of dealing with employment issues during business changes across all sectors. We regularly advise on multi-national acquisitions and restructures, including in respect of TUPE regulations and collective consultations.

Employment legislation is complex, particularly during a merger or acquisition, and we will ensure that our advice to you is clear and comprehensive. As well as outstanding legal expertise, we are known for our meticulous attention to detail, meaning we ensure that your employee obligations are dealt with accurately and efficiently.

Our Head of Employment is a recognised employment law expert who makes regular appearances on the Vanessa Feltz TV show where she discusses employment matters. You will also see our team represented in social media and in magazines and newspapers as authorities on employment issues.

Help with TUPE

If you are acquiring or merging with another business, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 or TUPE will apply. The rules also apply to circumstances where you are outsourcing services or bringing services in-house. TUPE protects employees and sets out how employment liabilities will be dealt with following merger, acquisition or change in service provision.

Failure to fully comply with TUPE could mean substantial penalties, statutory offences and employee claims against your business. So, it is crucial to deal properly with employee transfers.

There is a substantial amount of preparation  prior to a merger or acquisition and we can work with you to ensure that all necessary information is provided to employees and their representatives.

Where consultation is necessary, we will work with you and ensure that the correct procedure is followed. If you will be taking on employees, we will put together details of any proposed changes for their previous employer.

We will advise you on the liabilities that you will be taking on to ensure that you are fully aware of these and any associated costs, such as redundancy payments.

Redundancies

If you are taking on a new enterprise, you have a legal duty to minimise or prevent redundancies wherever possible. If you need to make one or more redundancies, we can advise you to ensure that you have a fair reason to reduce the risk of allegations of unfair dismissal.

If there are 20 or more affected employees you must follow the legal process of collective consultation. We will guide you through the steps, including advising the former employer, giving the correct notice, informing and consulting, creating a fair selection pool of potential candidates for redundancy, applying selection criteria, notifying employees of redundancy and working out redundancy pay.

Where difficulties arise, our employment solicitors have the depth of experience to manage these promptly and effectively.