In 1968 the women who sewed seat covers at Ford's Dagenham plant walked out over being graded as unskilled, and the Equal Pay Act followed two years later. Equal pay is still law, and still argued over, but the problems that reach employment solicitors in Barking and Dagenham today are mostly humbler: agency workers at the logistics parks around Dagenham Dock sent home without pay, care workers whose travel time between visits is never paid, warehouse staff along the A13 dismissed by text message, and zero-hours contracts that have quietly become full-time jobs without the rights that go with them.
The engine plant remains strongly unionised, and its redundancy rounds and pension questions are handled with union involvement. The council, the schools and the care homes bring the ordinary run of grievance, sickness and discrimination cases, and the construction sites at Barking Riverside and the Gascoigne estate add disputes about self-employed status and unpaid subcontractors. Barking and Dagenham has changed faster than almost any borough in the country, and race discrimination, pregnancy dismissals and the exploitation of recent arrivals in cleaning, security and food processing are a steady part of the local caseload.
Claims go to the London East employment tribunal in Poplar, and the tribunal clock is short: the date of dismissal plus three months, less one day, is the last day on which Acas early conciliation can be started. Settlement agreements need independent advice, paid for by the employer.
Few residents can pay City rates, and most local firms offer a free first assessment, no-win, no-fee funding for strong claims and fixed fees for settlement agreements. Employers in Dagenham and Barking use the same firms for contracts and disciplinary procedures.
Employment firms serving Barking and Dagenham are listed below, verified firms first. The general employment law solicitors page and the explainer on employment law cover the basics; see also the capital-wide employment law solicitors in London listing and, for business owners, business law solicitors in Barking and Dagenham.
Verified