Employment Law
Employment law has undergone rapid change as businesses and work patterns continue to evolve. Our highly experienced team of employment law experts advises at the cutting edge of these changes.
We provide strategic advice to Irish and multinational companies in diverse sectors including education, retail, state bodies and other public sector organisations, credit unions, airlines and insurance.
We understand the dynamics of the employer-employee relationship and the demands it places on you and your business in a fast paced environment. The Hayes employment law team has the experience to provide practical commerical advice to both employers and employees on all types of contentious and non-contentious employment issues and situations. We guide our clients through the maze of employment legislation and regulation and provide support through pragmatic and flexible solutions.
Hayes has recognised expertise in many of the key specialist legal and regulatory areas that help shape employment law. These include Transfer Regulations (TUPE), outsourcing and restructuring, equality, health and safety, pensions, administrative and regulatory law, and industrial relations.
We have significant expertise and experience in administrative law and regulatory matters for the professions, and continue to develop our reputation in the area. Our international work includes advising on the differences between Ireland and the UK in employment and industrial relations and advice to US and European multinationals and their executives on Irish employment law issues.
Speed of response and accessibility are hallmarks of our service. We provide ongoing advices for daily queries, strategic advices on medium and long-term goals, best practice on procedures and representation in litigation.
Services
Our services cover:
- Agency workers
- Alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration and mediation
- Contracts, updating employment contracts, staff handbooks and employment permits
- Data protection, the obligations, responses to requests, and drafting policies
- Complaints, advising employers on bullying, harassment and work-related stress complaints
- Equality compliance from interviews to employment, and including litigation
- Fixed-term workers, drafting contracts, advising on renewals, obligations and disputes
- Freedom of information, advising on obligations and procedures
- Health and Safety, advising on all aspects, risk assessments, prosecutions and investigations
- Industrial relations, advising on strategies for change, negotiations and industrial action
- Information and consultation, EROs, REAs and Joint Labour Committees
- Investigations, advising on their conduct and fair procedures for positive outcome
- Leave, advising on maternity, adoptive, parental, carers, force-majeure and career breaks
- Outsourcing, advising on contractual implications for staff, fixed-term, agency, part-time and temporary workers
- Performance, advising on performance, managing absence, misconduct and professional difficulties towards preferred outcome
- Procedures, drafting and updating policies and procedures for workplace complaints including disciplinary, grievance, bullying and harassment, sexual harassment, internet and social media
- Record keeping, advising on Garda vetting and references
- Restructuring and Redundancy, advising on all aspects including claims
- Retirement, advising on issues in relation to age, pension, redundancy schemes
- Whistleblowing, drafting policies, advising on criminal prosecutions, claims and investigations.
Experience
Our employment law team is highly active in providing on-the-spot advice, case handling, dispute resolution and employment policy services to employers and employees across a wide range of sectors. Some examples of our work include:
- Advising on employment issues on the sale or transfer of a business. Advices in relation to Transfer Regulations including cross-border transfers
- Advising foreign companies establishing in Ireland or with an existing presence in relation to Irish HR issues
- Advising a large multinational in relation to removal of CEO/Director/Shareholder and other senior management team members
- Advising on company re-structuring and associated issues
- Representing parties in Court in relation to complex bullying and harassment/equality cases
- Representing senior management and employees in relation to exiting employment including attending mediation where appropriate.
What clients say: Employment Law
"Each member of the team provides excellent support and advice. Their response times are always excellent."
‘Breda O’Malley and her colleagues are very professional, friendly and approachable. They always explain things in a way that the layperson can understand and can always turn a problem into a solution.’
‘Anne Lyne has excellent in-depth knowledge of Irish employment law. Excellent strategic advisor when it comes to casework and managing potential outcomes. She provides great access, and a very collaborative work style with straightforward and timely communications, and is a very reassuring professional.’
‘Breda O’Malley without fail always offer timely, sensible and practical solutions that are proportionate and workable within the company. Breda O’Malley is extremely approachable, is excellent in her field and without fail has always been able to quickly assess the best way forward in any given situation taking into account the business needs and context.’
"Breda O'Malley provides quick, practical and commercial advice and is very client-centric. She is a top-class employment lawyer"
"Breda provides unrivalled responsiveness. She goes the extra mile to deliver for her clients while protecting their best interests, and she is commercially astute"
"Her advice is always solid and brings a great balance of both commercial and legal points of view. She supports our team in navigating some very complex matters and is a definite go-to for all legal matters and advice"
"Anne Lyne provides clear information and is open to discussions to support decision-making"
"Anne is an exceptional solicitor and adviser. Her level of expertise across all realms of employment law is astounding, and her ability to convey this information in a clear and reasoned manner at every opportunity is very helpful"
"Anne is very measured in her approach to complex employment matters and provides incredibly sound advice"
"Niamh can quickly understand the issue being put to her and so can provide faster and more applicable advice"
"Niamh provides great service in complex employment law cases with company exposure risks"
‘The Hayes employment team led by Breda O’Malley bring outstanding employment law understanding, practical commercial advice and a focus on reaching outcomes in the client’s best interests. You always feel like they have your back in challenging employment law situations. They never feel like a hired gun but rather as a partner invested in getting the best outcome for their client.’