Employment

Associate BTO Solicitors LLP (2007 - present)

Senior Associate

Douglas specialises in employment law, providing advice to both employers and employees on a range of contentious and non-contentious matters.

He has considerable experience in representing both Claimants and Respondents at Employment Tribunals all over Scotland and England, dealing with such subjects as unfair or constructive dismissal, redundancy, breach of contract, discrimination and harassment cases, employee status, retirement age, and unlawful deductions from wages. He has also represented clients before the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

Douglas is often called upon to draft and revise employment contracts, policies and procedures, and to advise a wide range of clients on many topics including disciplinary hearings and misconduct dismissals, redundancy dismissals, handling long-term sickness absences, altering terms of employment and the departures of senior executives. He advises many of the firm’s social housing clients and is very familiar with the particular rules and regulatory regime operating in this area.

He is heavily involved in providing support to BTO’s corporate and commercial departments in relation to the employment law aspects of the corporate transactions being carried out by these teams. He has a particular interest in the TUPE Regulations, advising in relation to the applicability of the Regulations at the time of the potential transfer, as well as handling numerous employment tribunal cases relating to the applicability of the Regulations, and a successful appearance at the Employment Appeal Tribunal in relation to the interpretation of the Regulations.

Douglas is an active participant in our Employment Law seminar programme.