Jane Fielding

Partner, Gowling WLG

Jane is Head of the Employment, Labour & Equalities at Gowling WLG (formerly Wragge Lawrence Graham) and has over 20 years' experience advising international and UK clients on the full spectrum of employment law. She has particular specialisms in business re-organisations, industrial relations issues and equal pay and discrimination taking various claims to the EAT and Court of Appeal, including successfully resisting one of the very few claims on interim relief for dismissal for trade union activities and securing EAT guidance on the test to be applied in considering granting relief from sanctions following a strike out. Jane advises clients in the automotive, wider manufacturing and engineering sectors at all levels of the supply chain, local authorities and other public sector bodies such as NDPBs and Regulators, construction and logistics companies and financial services organisations. Whatever the issue, Jane's creative and open-minded approach allows her to help clients find commercial solutions to workforce issues, not always purely legal. As head of her team, Jane has direct experience of managing people at a range of levels, meaning she can see things as an employer, as well as a lawyer. She understands the practical difficulties that can happen when translating advice into practice, and can draw on first-hand experience when advising.

Contributed to

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Flowchart—suggested timetable for business reorganisation process

Practice notes

This chart outlines a suggested timetable for the employment aspects of a business reorganisation process and is designed to be sent to a client. It sets out the steps to be taken by the employer on a day-by-day basis, from the preparatory phase to initial announcements, then the information and consultation (collective and individual) process, culminating in the conclusion of the process, eg a TUPE transfer.

Employment

Implementing a business reorganisation—employment issues

Practice notes

This Practice Note examines the employment law and practical issues that may arise when an employer reorganises the structure of its business and how to manage the interaction between those issues. It explains the initial considerations, how to approach redundancy dismissals, dismissals for some other substantial reason (SOSR). It also considers how to defend the claims and the impact of collective redundancy consultation, as well as the impact of TUPE 2006 where a relevant transfer takes place as part of the reorganisation. It also explains how to deal with the overlap between redundancy and TUPE consultation obligations

Employment

Pre-transfer collective redundancy consultation agreement

Precedents

This Precedent is co-operation agreement between a transferor and transferee providing for pre-transfer collective redundancy consultation to be carried out in relation to proposed redundancies of certain transferring employees, where those redundancies are to be effected post-transfer by the transferee. The agreement reflects the provisions of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, SI 2006/246 (TUPE 2006) and the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULR(C)A 1992 as amended in January 2014

Employment

Other work

Checklist—implementing a business reorganisation

This Checklist examines the employment law issues that arise when implementing a business reorganisation. Covers: initial considerations, redundancy situation, ‘some other substantial reason (SOSR), how the employer will defend claims relating to the dismissals, whether collective consultation obligations are triggered, changes to terms and conditions of employment and whether there is a TUPE transfer. This checklist assumes that the business continues to exist at the same location and that, accordingly, no ‘place of work’ redundancy situation exists.

Employment