Job Under Threat But Concerned About Fees - You May Not Need To Be
In Employment Tribunals even if you win your claim the other side is unlikely to be ordered to pay your legal costs.
However there are other ways to fund legal advice in relation to an employment dispute, even if you can not afford the legal costs yourself. Some of these are listed below:
Contingency Fee Agreement (No win, no fee)
In some cases we will agree to fund your claim on this basis. This means that if you win your claim and are awarded damages or you settle your claim for a sum of money, we will take a percentage of that amount as payment for our services. If you lose your claim you will not have to pay any of the legal fees incurred on your behalf.
You will be liable to pay for any disbursements incurred in relation to your claim, but we will discuss this with you prior to incurring any cost.
If we agree to fund your claim on this basis, we reserve the right to withdraw the funding at any stage and if you have complied with our Contingency Fee Agreement you will not be liable to pay any of the legal fees incurred until that point.
To assess whether we would be willing to fund your claim on this basis there will normally be an initial fixed fee, for us to meet you and obtain the necessary information.
Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI)
LEI may be attached to another insurance policy you have purchased and you may not even know you have it. You should therefore check all of your policies.
If you do have LEI cover you are entitled to instruct a solicitor of your choice. Often your insurer will try to persuade you to instruct one of the solicitors on its panel, but you should not let yourself be swayed by this.
LEI will normally cover any employment claims which can be brought in an employment tribunal and will pay for your legal fees up to a maximum amount, normally £25,000.00 or £50,000.00. The insurer will be primarily responsible for paying your legal fees and they will pay us directly.
Your insurer will also place certain conditions on the provision of the funding eg. that your claim has more than a 50% prospect of success.
Trade Unions
If you are a member of a Trade Union you may be entitled to the provision of funding from it, to enable you to instruct a solicitor of your choice. Your union handbook is likely to contain further information with regard to this.
Fixed Fees
If none of the above is a viable option for you, we will seek to ensure that your legal fees are kept at a manageable level. Where possible we will provide you with a fixed fee for the work you have instructed us to complete, thereby avoiding any surprises and allowing you to fully plan for the payment of your fees.
For further information please contact:
Employment Department on 0845 620 9525