Can a soldier take the Army to an employment tribunal? Not for unfair dismissal: service personnel are outside that part of the law and must use the service complaints system instead. But a complaint of discrimination or harassment can go to the tribunal once a service complaint has been made, and the civilians who work alongside the forces, at the garrisons, Boscombe Down, Porton Down and the MOD's contractors, have the same rights as anyone else. Employment solicitors in Salisbury field both sorts of question, and the first job is usually working out which regime the client is in and how long they have left.
The city's other employers are more conventional. The hospital at Odstock, Wiltshire Council, the cathedral and its school, the care homes, the hotels and shops living off visitors and the farms and estates of the valleys bring dismissal, redundancy, sickness absence, flexible working and discrimination cases. Military spouses, who move every few years and often work part-time or on short contracts, have a particular set of problems with continuity of service, remote working and redundancy that a Salisbury solicitor sees more often than most.
Claims against Salisbury employers are listed at the Bristol or Southampton tribunal and increasingly heard by video. Acas early conciliation must be started within three months less one day of the dismissal or other act complained of, and a service complaint has a time limit of its own.
Settlement agreements are paid for by the employer in most cases, including the MOD's for its civilian staff. Expect a free or fixed-fee first meeting, fixed fees for contracts and agreements, and hourly or no-win, no-fee terms for claims; some firms offer a forces discount.
Employment solicitors serving Salisbury are listed below, verified firms first. Read what employment law is and the general guide to employment law solicitors; for employers there is the business law solicitors in Salisbury page, and how much an employment contract costs answers a common question.
