Almost two-thirds of in-house lawyers within UK companies class employment disputes as being medium-high risks in the next three years. Disputes with employees account for 14% of all conflicts. The majority of disputes occur with customers (45%), with suppliers accounting for 9%. Only commercial and contractual disputes, and products liability cases are seen as a greater business risk than employment disputes.
When it comes to deciding whether to contest or settle an employment dispute, damage to company reputation is what concerns organisations most. This is followed closely by the financial cost of losing and the impact on customers. But lawyers say they feel ill-equipped to deal with managing multinational disputes.
"While in-house lawyers are relatively comfortable with managing disputes in their own countries, there is great concern regarding the unknowns that they may encounter when faced with disputes in different markets,” says Lawson Caisley, Lovells' dispute resolution partner.
