What are the employment law considerations for a new practice?
When setting up a new practice it is essential that the right people are recruited to ensure that your practice has the right culture and ethos. There are many different methods of recruitment that we shall consider which will ensure that the right candidates are recruited and retained by you.
Any business also needs to consider their business model and how the work will be carried out, whether this will be conducted by employees, workers or self-employed contractors – there are employment law implications attached to each status and these will be explored to ensure that any new practice is set up correctly.
We shall then look the documentation that would need to be provided to those individuals who will be embarking upon this journey with you, and what should and should not be included in an employment contract. Would you want to insert restrictive covenants to prohibit employees from poaching customers and employees, for example? If the recruitment process has been conducted with the requirements and the culture of the business in mind then those that have been recruited should remain with the business for the duration, however if an individual is not the right fit then it is important to think about probation periods and how long this probation period would be. A probation period would need to be included in the written particulars of employment, along with certain other requirements that will also be considered.
Finally, if there is a possibility of taking over a business rather than starting a practice from scratch, we will look at the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) and the legal obligations that are in place when taking over a business.