An airport whose fortunes rise and fall with its airlines, a hospital, a council, a seafront that hires in April and lets go in October, and a railway full of people whose employers are in London: the employment solicitors of Southend-on-Sea see a more varied caseload than the size of the city suggests.
Commuters come first. A dismissal by a bank in Canary Wharf or a firm in the City is heard by a London tribunal, since a claim is listed where the job was, but a Southend solicitor can prepare the case, deal with Acas and attend video hearings without the client losing a day to travel. Settlement agreements, which London employers hand out freely when a role disappears, need an independent adviser's signature, usually at the employer's expense.
The seafront is second. Hospitality, arcades and attractions run on seasonal and zero-hours contracts, and the questions that follow are about holiday pay that was never worked out properly, the sharing of tips, contracts that end without notice and whether a job that ran for three summers was really permanent. Care homes along the estuary generate disputes about sleep-in shifts, travel time and the minimum wage.
Southend University Hospital, Southend-on-Sea City Council and London Southend Airport are the large employers, with formal procedures and the discrimination, whistleblowing and sickness-absence cases that go with them. Redundancies and transfers between contractors at the airport have been a recurring theme.
The Acas early conciliation notification must go in within three months less a day of the act complained of; the tribunal claim follows. Many firms in Southend-on-Sea offer a free first call, fixed fees for settlement agreements and hourly or staged fees for claims.
The employment solicitors serving Southend-on-Sea are listed below, verified firms first. The general employment law solicitors guide explains the basics, as does what employment law covers; employers have their own business law solicitors in Southend-on-Sea page, and commuters may want employment law solicitors in London.
