Employment Law

David Rommer (pictured) joined BLS in 2006 as its Supervising Solicitor as well as providing specialist casework and representation in Employment Law matters. David has a particular interest in cases involving the most vulnerable workers. These include those such as domestic servants and people working in the retail, services and care sectors who may be poorly paid and obliged to work very long hours with adequate holidays or breaks. He also has significant experience in and knowledge of discrimination law.

The majority of cases David deals with are for unfair dismissal, (including unfair selection for redundancy), breach of contract (holiday pay, sick pay or notice pay), or discrimination, but clients may also present with problems such as harassment at work or illegal deductions from wages.

 

Helen Usborne is a qualified solicitor who works at BLS on cases of dismissal from employment, discrimination on grounds of what are called "protected characteristics" which are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief and sex or where employers are breaching employment law. These cases almost invariably involve low-paid workers, most from minority ethnic backgrounds, many who are economic migrant workers and some who are domestic servants.

 

Julian Becker is a law graduate who first came to BLS as a volunteer and is now employed in several capacities including that of Employment Law caseworker (part-time). Julian works on cases with David Rommer, including representing clients at Employment Tribunals.

Nisa Tanin also came to BLS as a volunteer and is now also working part-time in the Employment Law department as a paralegal. Nisa speaks fluent Farsi, which is extremely useful as Barnet has a large Farsi- speaking population, some of whom are referred to BLS for help with their legal problems.

BLS undertakes cases involving:

• Unfair and Constructive Dismissal claims
• Redundancy cases
• Cases involving working hours, wages, holidays, breaks, sick pay
• Contractual disputes
• Discrimination claims (including sex, pregnancy, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief)
• Harassment Cases
• Compromise Agreements

BLS does not undertake cases involving:

• Representation of businesses or organisations
• Pension disputes
• Trade union disputes