The Sunday paper is set to cease publishing from this weekend, following allegations of phone hacking.
Philip Henson, partner, and head of employment law at City law firm Bargate Murray, said: "East London Employment Tribunal (close to Wapping), and many City law firms, may see potential litigants queuing round the corner if the hundreds of journalists from the News of the World decide to sue.
"Whistleblowing claims may be the order of the day as there is no financial cap on compensation and no minimum period of service requirement for such claims.
"News International [which owns The News of the World] may take a commercial view and attempt to settle employment related claims; especially when they recall the bullying and discrimination claims brought by Matt Driscoll in East London Employment Tribunal. With my cynical hat on I suspect that bespoke compromise agreements are being churned out in Wapping at this very moment.
"In view of the many tentacles of News Corporation, of which News International is a subsidiary, it is likely that there will be efforts to find suitable alternative employment for NOTW staff elsewhere. Perhaps Journalists will transfer to a new-fangled, News International, owned Sunday title, or be rebranded on line?
"I hope that the National Union of Journalists will now show its teeth, and come out fighting for its members."
And Richard Smith, HR expert at consultancy Croner, added: "If it is true that many News of the World employees will lose their jobs by this action, Croner believes that it will be a case study of how not to handle redundancy. On the face of it, this is an appalling situation for the paper's employees.
"Although we are not yet aware of the full facts, the News of the World situation may present a number of issues from an employment law perspective.
"A firm cannot make hundreds of people redundant without consultation; there appears to be a clear breach of the provisions of the relevant legislation in this situation.
"There is a great danger of claims for unfair dismissal unless alternative work is being offered within the company.
"If, as is rumoured, a new Sunday newspaper will take the place of the News of the World from News International, there is a possibility that this may be subject to a TUPE transfer and will therefore give staff rights to transfer.
"Leaving aside the law, the process of informing employees of the closure has, in Croner's view, been brutal and lacked best practice. It also brings into play other aspects of corporate governance covered by UK legislation.
"If it proves to be true that News of the World journalists have paid bribes to obtain information, good financial management of a company should have made it difficult to conduct business in this way. Supervision of such activity is required under the Bribery Act and, if there is no proper system in place, senior managers can be liable for criminal offences. Employers should ensure that proper standards are known and enforced in any business by communication, training and dealing with transgressors."
