Disputes, discrimination and severance

A.S.H.S. is a well-known English fashion house. We have provided strategic advice to the luxury brand on a number of high level employment issues.

Since Renault Group's cross-border acquisition of Lotus F1 in December 2015, our employment team have provided continual support to the Renault Sport F1 Team. This work has included: advice in relation to a TUPE transfer of employees; drafting and negotiating employment contracts/consultancy agreements with senior employees and key contractors - many with cross-border elements; advising on the disciplining and/or exit of employees; and advising on arrangements with contractors and the termination of such arrangements.

When director and CEO of the Co-op Bank Plc Barry Tootell stepped down in difficult and controversial circumstances, we demonstrated our in-depth knowledge of difficult situations to advise and negotiate his exit. Futhermore, our team continued to support him on arising issues and enquiries related to his time at the Co-op, after his exit.

When Harriet Green stood down as CEO of Thomas Cook, she turned to Withers' experienced team to help her develop and implement an exit strategy. The situation became more complicated while she was on garden leave, and had to deal with an onslaught of negative press coverage around her alleged handling of the death of two children in Corfu (six years before she joined Thomas Cook). We developed a clear strategy and we closed the matter down to our client's satisfaction.

Acting for SSAFA over several decades. We were on hand to advise when the charity went through a redundancy exercise and TUPE transfer in Germany. We successfully negotiated when two senior executive roles were terminated, alongside more junior members of staff, one of whom brought a disability discrimination claim. We also advised an Employment Tribunal in the UK over whether the charity could be held liable for an allegedly discriminatory decision taken by the MOD, securing a ruling in our client's favour.