Latest News

Martin & Co recently won a claim for unfair dismissal against the Royal Bank of Scotland acting for an employee who had been dismissed for allegedly having a fight with a customer on the street outside the bank.

The RBS claimed that they were satisfied that gross misconduct had taken place, but we managed to persuade the employment tribunal in Manchester that the allegation had been insufficiently investigated, and if it had been properly investigated, no reasonable employer would have found the allegations to be substantiated.

The employment tribunal were very critical of the RBS despite the fact that their lawyers had said that they were very confident of their case.

Our client recovered a five figure sum of compensation and the decision has enabled him to get his life back on track.

Martin & Co recently secured £80,000 for a man of 60 who was made redundant. We managed to show that he was selected for redundancy because of his age, which amounts to age discrimination.

Our client, a Manchester  man, had cover under his home insurance policy to pay his legal fees, but the insurance company initially insisted that he use their nominated solicitor in Hampshire. However, he lost faith in them when they recommended that he accept an offer of  £10,000. At that stage he insisted that they appoint Martin & Co, which he was entitled to do under European law, and the rest is history.

The important message is that people who benefit from legal expenses insurance, can stand up to the insurance company, and insist on the lawyer of their choice.

Martin & Co has recently secured a six figure award for a client who was a manager in a well known bus company based in Manchester. The claim was heard over four days at the Manchester employment tribunal and she succeeded in her claims for sex discimination, unfair dismissal and breach of contract.

Our client was particularly pleased, as before instructing Martin & Co, she had been advised by other lawyers not to pursue the sex discrimination claim, which made up a substantial part of the award. Not only that, but her legal fees were paid by an insurance company under her home insurance policy, which means that she pocketed all of the compensation. This was one of the highest awards to be made in Manchester for some time.

Martin & Co is renowned for its work in the education sector throughout the north west. Currently, we act for five further education colleges, three schools and one city academy, dealing with all of their employment law issues.

Whilst employment law is employment law, regardless of the sector, there are certain nuances within the education sector, and having a lot of experience in this field gives us an edge.

The sector is heavily unionised, which means that employees are more likely to know their rights, which generally leads to plenty of issues for the HR team. At Martin & Co, we tend to be seen as just an extension of that team, which means that our education clients are usually very loyal to us.

We have successfully advised on many claims in the Manchester tribunal for sex discrimination, race discrimination and disability discrimination, and in respect of unfair dismissal. We have also advised on redundancy programmes and restructuring exercises.

Martin & Co has advised on upwards of 50 compromise agreements in the last few months alone. A compromise agreement is when an employer offers the employee a sum of compensation in return for the employee agreeing to give up his or her right to make a claim in the employment tribunal for unfair dismissal, breach of contract, discrimination etc.

Such an agreement must be set out in a prescribed form, and this is known as a compromise agreement. Crucially, for the agreement to be effective, the employee must take advice from a solicitor, who must sign a certificate to confirm that they have advised the employee.

The employer will generally pay the employee’s legal costs which tend to be in the region of £250 – £500 plus vat.

Martin & Co is so well known for its work on compromise agreements in the north west, that we advised the majority of employees who were recently made redundant by a large multinational oil company from their offices in Manchester.