Employment & Workplace

Fiona’s immense experience of all types and levels of employment and workplace situations, delivers very substantial value to the parties and their representatives in any dispute. With Fiona’s substantial corporate background, many cases involve Board level or senior employees in Banking, ICT, Professional Services and FTSE and global companies. Fiona is particularly commended in the Chambers Directory 2014 for her work in employment and workplace disputes and for her abilities in dealing with especially ‘challenging and tense disputes’.

Parties give consistently positive feedback on Fiona’s professionalism, sensitivity, good humour, tenacity and patience in dealing with complex situations, often involving emotional and challenging individuals. She is very flexible and pragmatic in her mediation practice; adapting the process appropriately in certain instances with the parties’ agreement, by using a combination of her mediation, coaching and arbitration skills. Fiona has a warm rapport with people.

Fiona is also experienced in mediating with vulnerable individuals with mental health conditions, for example, claimants suffering from stress and depression. She has also worked with individuals with autism, bi polar, Asperger’s syndrome and a number of conditions and disabilities.

See also Emotional and Tense cases, Neutral Interventions and Coaching

Board Level

Mediated senior and high profile Board level executive fall outs, termination arrangements and compromise/settlement agreements, including mediation on breakdown of Directors’ service contracts, incorporating pensions, pay, remuneration, bonus, and shares.
Exit arrangements for several Chief Executives between £3-5 million.
Company Chairman and dismissed Chief Executive and a prolonged dispute over a disability claim, damaged working relationship and corporate governance issues.
Chair and Chief Executive dispute in public domain over alleged sex discrimination and unfair dismissal.
Dispute on accountabilities and targets manifesting in behavioural difficulties between three peer Directors. One exited through a compromise agreement.
Complex remuneration negotiations on Board Directors’ and Chief Executives’ service contracts.
Major claim from outgoing Chairman regarding shareholding, corporate governance and pension issues.

Disciplinary / Performance, Grievance, Pre and Post Tribunal

Mediation of dispute in a dysfunctional department re capability issues, teaching schedules re-integration after longstanding absence and mental breakdown of a senior academic.
Multiple claims and allegations on all types of performance and discrimination issues; often including mixed disciplinary and grievance matters; at all, but particularly at the final stages of organisations’ procedures, and/or at the start of employment tribunal proceedings.
Mediated internal Grievances at all stages of procedure settled through settlement agreements (or COT3s) with individuals, remaining in or terminating employment.
Age related grievance at an engineering company, following contractual changes from final salary to defined benefit pension scheme of employee with over 20 years’ service.
Grievance against top-level civil servant for bullying a senior subordinate about performance, alleging sex discrimination and whistle blowing.
Multi-party and collective grievance involving team of local authority traffic wardens, resolved with framework of new working practices.
Mediations with individuals regarding post-employment tribunals, or post grievance re-integrations into teams and the workplace; resulting in reconciliation frameworks and/or retraining and agreed redeployments, with on-going post mediation support and coaching.

Discrimination, Race, Sex and Disability, Harassment and Bullying, Whistleblowing

Very litigious case of race, sex discrimination, whistle blowing and constructive dismissal of a civil servant in central government settled avoiding a 25 day trial.
Sex and race discrimination case with £1 million claim in Professional Services involving a female returner to work following maternity leave settled.
Complicated and long running sex and race dispute of a lay official of a national regulatory body settled, following several lengthy independent investigations.
Senior female banking executive’s £1.2 million claim for constructive dismissal and sex discrimination settled after return from maternity leave.
Sex discrimination case, involving a serious sexual incident and harassment, between a male and a female senior director post-Christmas party. Reconciliation and agreed framework within compromise agreement and working relationship re-established and sustained.
Protracted dispute on bullying, disability and sex discrimination involving senior academics in a University, who had not met for six months settled.
Race discrimination within a NHS Teaching Trust’s neurosciences department leading to a settlement and revised management operating framework at Consultant level.
Race discrimination case from a GP against his local Primary Care Trust resulting in positive working relationship being resumed.
Race discrimination and whistle blowing claim within a professional organisation and similar case within a charity settled.
Two day mediation in a major bank settled, following very protracted grievance on race discrimination and lengthy period of stress related absence.
Complex disability and constructive dismissal claim of £½ million from a dyslexic sales manager in a bank settled.
Disability claim of £400k from long service employee in car industry settled.
Disability claim after a period of prolonged stress and sickness in banking sector settled.
Female subordinate ‘stalking’ male boss case, within a major partnership between senior professionals.
Religious discrimination, victimisation and bullying dispute involving a group of individuals within a religious institution settled.
Whistleblowing complaint in the Construction industry of senior employee with 10 years service who had resigned.

Unfair and Constructive dismissal, Redundancy and TUPE

Dispute regarding disagreement of application of TUPE to decommissioned employees resulting in savings of £100,000 per annum settled.
Multi – party collective redundancy and TUPE case, following business outsourcing in ICT sector settled.
Redundancy discrimination against older workers’ (age discrimination)– one involving a banker with considerable service settled.
Unfair dismissal of female banking executive over alleged poor performance.
Unfair dismissal, race and disability discrimination claim where employee argued that stress and organisational behaviour had led to on-going illness and disability settled.
Redundancy claims involving long service executives with complicated pension arrangements following organisational restructuring, particularly in Financial, Pharmaceutical, Telecoms and IT sectors settled.
Range of termination, redundancy, and discrimination and performance management cases with all disciplines of senior professionals in the NHS settled.
Wrongful dismissal claim of individual whose employment had been terminated.

Workplace interpersonal relationships

Fiona has resolved peer to peer matters, relationship breakdowns, re-integrations following suspensions, periods of absence or reinstatements and team dynamics on working relationships, at all organisational levels in all sectors (corporate, public sector, education, charities, within partnerships etc. and professional disciplines). Fiona uses facilitation, coaching, assistance with difficult conversations, problem solving and engaging individuals in more effective working frameworks to improve interpersonal relationships.

Boss / subordinate relationship disputes, particularly at senior management level and where performance management issues have resulted in grievances. Usually settled with frameworks for effective working, or if unworkable, dignified exits through compromise/settlement agreements.
Agreements on work practice and behavioural changes, redeployment, operating frameworks, apologies in all sectors etc.
Transgender employee sensitively re-integrated into a work team.
Team- working conflict within a Teaching Trust’s neurosciences department leading to a settlement and revised management operating framework at consultant level.
Dispute on behaviours and work practices between two NHS senior medical consultants resolved by agreed framework.
Conflict within highly skilled team of surgeons with regard to clinical competence, and capability and team working of one member of the team.
Disagreements between senior executives in Banking, Financial Services, and ICT sectors involving individuals with high performing autism and subordinates with bi polar disorder.