BVA Adds Free Legal Advice For Employers To Its Range Of Services
11 years ago
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7th June, 2013 15h48
To balance the extended legal support service offered to employee members, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) has developed an enhanced employment law and HR service for employer members.
Following a trial period the comprehensive employment law service for employer members is now being added to the membership package alongside BVA's other legal support services. All member enquiries start with a call to BVA's legal advice line. Previously additional support beyond the phone-based service was only available for employee members of BVA. Under the new service, an employer member's case can now be referred on to expert legal advisers offering unlimited advice and assistance on employment law and related human resources issues. The service is provided separately to the employee representation services.
The service is provided on a case-by-case basis and will normally cover issues that follow staged processes such as disciplinary, grievance, capability and redundancy. With unlimited telephone and email support, the employment law team will work closely with the member to ensure accurate documentation is produced and all actions comply with current employment law.
BVA President Peter Jones said:
“Since launching our extended legal services for employee members in 2010 we have been looking at the best ways to provide support for employer members. The need for additional support was also strongly highlighted in our member research project last year.
“The new service will help employer members to deal with some of the more difficult legal and HR aspects of running a practice and will work alongside existing BVA workplace publications, disciplinary videos, and CPD courses. Together they provide a robust framework for dealing with employment issues. Creating a professional and supportive workplace is vital to a successful practice."
Paul Beevers is the solicitor heading up the team of legal advisors for this new service. He said:
“Disciplinary procedures should be designed to help and encourage all individuals to achieve and maintain satisfactory standards of conduct, attendance and job performance and to ensure consistent and fair treatment for all. An unfair approach can result in a disciplinary sanction that will not stand up to scrutiny.
“Typical examples of the types of situations that BVA employer members needed assistance with during the trial of the service were problems relating to employee attitudes, defamation of senior management, refusal to carry out instructions, breaches of health and safety legislation, setting up competing businesses, bullying, and falsification of records.
“In any case several factors may need to be considered which the legal team can talk through with BVA members. It is critical to call at the earliest opportunity to ensure that the procedures followed are fair and to ensure the matter is investigated and dealt with correctly. The legal team will help to safeguard the employer’s approach to a whole host of issues that can lead to disciplinary procedures. We will provide assistance with convening and drafting invitations to disciplinary hearings, drafting outcomes of formal meetings, managing rights of appeal, and appeals procedures. We will provide guidance on appropriate and fair sanctions and on the impact of dismissals upon contractual notice periods and accrued holiday pay."
The free BVA legal advice line is available to all BVA members 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Cases that require further in-depth attention will be referred to the appropriate legal service.
The extended legal advice service is provided by Legal Assistance Direct. Further details about the new service are available at http://www.bva.co.uk/become_member/3421.aspxAll legal services for BVA members are listed at www.bva.co.uk/legalMore from
