When a start-up in Shoreditch runs out of money, the redundancies arrive without the consultation the law requires, the last salaries are paid late or not at all, and the share options that made the job worth taking turn out to lapse the day employment ends. Employment solicitors in Hackney see that pattern in every downturn, and its mirror image in every boom, when senior staff are poached and chased with restrictive covenants. Status is the recurring question along the tech corridor and in Hackney Wick: whether a designer paid through a limited company, a bar worker on a zero-hours contract or a delivery rider counts as a worker with rights to holiday pay and the minimum wage.
Away from Shoreditch, the borough's larger employers are the ones found everywhere: Homerton Hospital, the council, the schools and the supermarkets. Claims from them run to discrimination, disability and sickness absence, whistleblowing and unfair dismissal. Stamford Hill's Haredi community adds requests for working patterns that fit the Sabbath and festivals, which a well-advised employer accommodates.
Claims from Hackney workplaces are heard by the London Central or London East tribunals, and the clock stops three months less one day after the dismissal or the discriminatory act, by which time Acas early conciliation must already have been started. Settlement agreements are common in Shoreditch, and the employer normally pays for the independent advice the law requires before one is signed.
Most Hackney employment solicitors offer a free first assessment, and some take strong claims on a no-win, no-fee basis. Employers use the same firms for option schemes, contractor agreements, handbooks and TUPE when a contract changes hands.
Employment firms serving Hackney are listed below, verified firms first. Read what employment law covers, the general employment law solicitors guide, what an employment contract costs and, for the company side, business law solicitors in Hackney.
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