We can help you with good honest employment law advice -
Evie , our Senior Solicitor
Who do we help?
We work for a wide range of employees, from young people working their first job at the supermarket, to tradies, professionals, and senior managers.
How can we help?
We give good employment law advice on your options, which may include:
how to resolve a personal grievance for:
unfair dismissal,
workplace bullying,
other unfair treatment at the workplace
how to respond to performance improvement plans and disciplinary processes
us negotiating your resignation on agreed terms, called an exit package, or
advising you to ‘move on’ …..
How much does it cost?
1. Fair and Reasonable Fees
We always ask your (former) employer to pay all your fees, and it’s very common that they agree – meaning in most cases you pay nothing!
Alot of people think that lawyer’s fees are just time recording, being the lawyer’s hourly rate multiplied by the time spent working on their matter, but that is not correct.
The Law Society requires all Lawyers to charge fees that are fair and reasonable. What is a fair and reasonable fee can be found in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008.
These factors include:
Outcome achieved - Whether we get you a great outcome, a modest outcome or you decide not to proceed, we will take this into account when we decide what your fees will be.
Skill and experience of the lawyer - We are specialised employment lawyers with more than 30 years combined experience
How complex your matter is - If your matter is very complex, then it will require more time and work.
Hourly rate - The hourly rate for our staff is: Paul (Partner) is $450 + GST per hour, and Evie (Senior Solicitor) $350 + GST per hour.
2. Fees paid by your (former) employer
We always ask your (former) employer to pay your fees, and it’s very common that they agree – meaning in most cases our clients pay us nothing! (presuming you have a good case). Your (former) employer often agrees to do this, not out of any concern for you, but because they want to settle, and we are unlikely to recommend a settlement to you, if your fees are not covered by your employer.
But – you are responsible for fees (as the client) so if the employer doesn’t agree to pay your fees as part of a settlement, or there is no settlement, you need to pay our fees.
We cannot force your (former) employer to pay your fees, but if they want a settlement, we will do our best to get your fees paid by your (former) employer.
3. Fees depend on Results
For General advice - We give general employment advice at our hourly rate, often over the phone or by email. This type of work is done on the hourly rate. Between us we have almost 30 years experience, and we think experience is needed to get the best possible result for you.
For Exit Packages - We always ask your (former) employer to pay your fees, and it’s very common that they agree – we will do our best to get your fees paid by your (former) employer.
If we get a good settlement offer for you, but your (former) employer won’t pay your fees (in full or in part) we will tell you what your fees will be before you accept the offer so you know exactly how much you will get out of any settlement. For exit packages, our fees vary depending on the outcome achieved for you, but will always be fair and reasonable (as above).
For Mediation - If we go to mediation, which generally takes half a day (plus some preparation time) then our average fee up to and including mediation is around $3,500 + GST. Sometimes it can be more or less depending on the work involved and the results obtained.
For the Employment Relations Authority or Employment Court - If you decide to go to the Employment Relations Authority we will discuss fees with you, which will be significantly more than the fee for a mediation.
If the matter is appealed from the Employment Relations Authority to the Employment Court, we will discuss fees with you at that time.
4. We don’t take a share of what you get
We don’t take a share of your settlement or winnings because we are required (by the Law Society) to make sure your fee is fair and reasonable (as above) for the work that was done for you. “No win no fee’ advocates will take a percentage of any compensation paid to you, which means they just want offers asap, so that they can get paid.
5. We don’t offer “no win, no fee”
We don’t offer “no win, no fee”. We do accept “no win, no fee” looks attractive if you have no money and no job, and there are plenty of employment advocates out there claiming to be hugely experienced, offering “no win, no fee”. But read the fine print….advocates offering “no win - no fee” will only get paid something for themselves, if you accept an offer, and the bigger the offer, the bigger their fee.
Our job is to get the best outcome for you, and we think “no win-no fee” advocates can be motivated by getting as big a fee as they can, as quickly as they can, rather than getting the best possible outcome for you.