"One of the prime employment teams" who are "recognised for its expertise in employment" is how two leading legal and client directories regard the Bond Pearce education and employment team.

The team, one of the largest nationally with five partners and some 25 lawyers, advises on all aspects of employment law including redundancy, transfers of undertakings, reorganisations, severance agreements, employment status, employee relations, employment terms and conditions, discrimination, pensions and new legislation.

As an experienced and large employment practice, they monitor all new employment legislation throughout its passage in Parliament as well as relevant international developments, publishing a weekly employment update dealing with the most recent statutory or regulatory changes and/or interesting case law developments. Education clients also benefit from employment reviews.

Our experience in the education sector has included dealing with the following specialist issues:

• Discipline, suspension and grievance
• Recruitment
• Remuneration
• Severance/redundancy/dismissal
• Employment Tribunal and court claims
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Equal opportunities
• Human rights
• Alternative dispute resolution - employment mediation and the defence of complex litigation
• Pensions
• TUPE
• Employment relations
• Clinical contracts
• Employment taxation

Discipline, suspension and grievance

We frequently advise the HE and FE sector on the issue of discipline, suspension and grievances. We are well aware of internal university procedures and the need to ensure that because of public law issues, these are properly and fully followed. In addition, we run a number of training courses, specifically in the HE sector including "making discipline work", "effective performance reviews", "getting the performance you are after", and "handling the poor performer".

Recruitment

Our team offers specialist training and consultancy services around recruitment and selection in the HE sector. We have provided advice on

• procedures relating to recruitment and recruitment policies
• the documentation to be used in recruitment
• interviewing
• contractual terms and conditions including drafting contracts of employment.
• equal opportunities monitoring at the time of recruitment - we have advised regularly on issues relating to discrimination in recruitment.

Remuneration

We have advised on a variety of issues relating to remuneration in the education sector. Our experience includes:

• advising on major changes of terms and conditions in the FE and HE sector as a result of changes in national policy
• conducting equal pay audits
• drafting remuneration schemes
• conducting a major claim in respect of equal pay which ultimately was concluded in the Court of Appeal
• advising on taxation issues
• advising on the applicability of the working time directive and national minimum wage legislation to certain members of a university.

Severance/redundancy/dismissal

Our experience includes:

• dealing with many collective redundancy situations including advising on the closure of both UK and overseas campuses
• dealing with many areas of major internal restructuring and we have negotiated many severance packages for senior academic staff and senior post holders
• advising on the dismissal of senior postholders, via special committees etc.

Employment Tribunal and court claims

Our experience includes:

• the whole variety of employment related employment tribunal claims in the HE and FE sector, including redundancy, conduct, capability, other substantial reasons, public interest disclosure and all types of discrimination
• major race discrimination claims in the education sector with staff claiming failure to promote has been down to racial discrimination. These cases have involved numerous hearings, thousands of documents spreading over many years, and have all been concluded on terms which the institutions concerned considered favourable to them
• Trade Union-backed High Court litigation, challenging the legality of internal proceedings
• employment related defamation proceedings
• complex internal disciplinary matters including arranging separate independent advice for governors or disciplinary committees
• the defence of complex race and sex discrimination claims
• the defence of employment tribunal claims by part-time academic and non-academic members of staff in connection with pension equality.

Intellectual Property Rights

We understand the issues in respect of intellectual property rights and the balance between the rights of staff and students and the rights of the HE institution. We have experience of dealing with the contractual terms to clarify this situation and with being involved in disputes as to ownership.

For example, we dealt with a complex case involving a student who was also a part-time member of the staff of a university in connection with claims around intellectual property rights which involved applications for injunctions, complaints to the university's visitor, and subsequently applications to bar the individual making further claims on the grounds of vexatious litigation.

Equal opportunities

As well as experience in sex and race discrimination, we also advise on other aspects of equal opportunities including sexual orientation, age discrimination, religion and belief. Bond Pearce is regarded as one of the country's leading experts in disability discrimination advising a number of universities on the new positive duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity between disabled and other persons. This includes the provision of training to governing bodies and senior management teams, audits of policies, procedure and practices and advice on the preparation of disability equality schemes.

Examples of our experience include:

• advising a range of HE clients on their new duties under the DDA
• giving advice on age discrimination
• the defence of complex race and sex discrimination claims
• the defence of an equal pay action, which ultimately went to the Court of Appeal
• the defence of Employment Tribunal claims by part time academic and non-academic members of staff in connection with pension equality.

Human rights

We are used to dealing with issues around human rights and in particular those concerning human rights and their inter relationship with data protection, freedom of information and the freedom of expression.

We have also dealt with issues where employees have claimed human rights violations. All of these claims have been successfully defeated. Our EU and competition practice has a range of experience of dealing with human rights legislation, both for public authorities and in the private sector.

Alternative dispute resolution

We have one of the largest contentious practices in the country. Several of our partners are accredited mediators in their own rights. One of the guiding principles under which we conduct all litigation is that we are great believers in the use of alternative dispute resolution and in particular mediation. We have experience of dealing with the employment mediation schemes.

Pensions

We have extensive experience of advising on a range of contentious and non-contentious pension issues. Examples include:

• we advise the Trustees of a university pension scheme
• we are currently advising HE and FE clients on the impact of the European Court's decision on the issue of part-time pensioners' rights in relation to both academic and non-academic members of staff. In that connection we are dealing with a whole range of employment tribunal applications in connection with the public and private sector
• we are defending a range of employment tribunal claims by part-time academic and non-academic members of staff in connection with pension equality.

TUPE

We are used to advising on issues of acquisition of colleges and higher education colleges by universities. We explain the details of this later under corporate governance but all of those have given rise to major issues of TUPE and pensions.

Employment relations

Both in the public and private sector we have had experience of dealing with complex negotiations with Trade Unions, the threats of or actual strike action and proceedings taken against Trade Unions to restrain unions taking industrial action.

Clinical contracts

We have had much experience with other universities with medical schools in dealing with contracts relating to both the university concerned and the NHS Trust. There are major difficulties as to how these two contracts overlap in disciplinary issues particularly when employees have been suspended and are waiting the outcome of disciplinary proceedings.

Employment taxation

We have a dedicated tax team. The team's experience in the education sector includes advising in connection with:

• taxation on termination of employment
• taxation of employee benefits
• PAYE issues

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