Employment Legal Counsel

About The Role

The Employment Legal Counsel will act as Atlas’ specialist employment law advisor, providing strategic,
commercial and pragmatic legal support across the business. Working closely with HR, operational leaders
and senior stakeholders, the role will help manage legal risk, support organisational change and enable legally
compliant, people-focused decision making.

The role combines contentious and non-contentious employment law work and will require a highly
responsive, commercially minded individual who is equally comfortable advising on complex employee
relations matters, managing Employment Tribunal litigation and supporting large-scale TUPE transfers,
acquisitions, restructures and business transformation projects. The Employment Legal Counsel will be a
trusted advisor, ensuring legal risks are identified, mitigated and managed while supporting the organisation's
purpose, values and commercial objectives.

Although this position is based in Datchet, there is flexibility for the successful candidate to work on a hybrid basis, with the opportunity to work from home on certain days.

• Act as a trusted advisor to HR and business leaders, providing pragmatic, commercially focused and legally robust employment law advice.
• Advise on complex and high-risk employment matters including disciplinary, grievance, whistleblowing,discrimination, harassment, restructures, redundancy, business change, TUPE, settlement agreements,restrictive covenants and senior exits.
• Identify legal risks and provide practical solutions that balance compliance requirements with operational and commercial objectives.
• Support the development of legally compliant people strategies across Atlas.
• Monitor legislative developments, case law and regulatory changes, assessing business impact and driving implementation of required changes.

• Manage or oversee Employment Tribunal litigation and pre-claim disputes, including ACAS Early Conciliation matters.
• Develop litigation strategy for employment disputes, conduct internal investigations, review pleadings,prepare Grounds of Resistance and other tribunal submissions, draft witness statements, manage disclosure and bundle preparation, and represent or support the organisation through pre-hearing proceedings, final hearings, and settlement negotiations.
• Instruct and manage external legal advisers and control legal spend where applicable.
• Support HR and managers through complex litigation, investigations and dispute resolution activity.
• Analyse litigation trends and provide recommendations to mitigate future risk and improve organisational practice.

• Provide specialist legal support on TUPE transfers, outsourcing, in sourcing, harmonisation exercises,acquisitions, contract mobilisation and organisational change programmes.
• Review and negotiate contractual employment provisions and TUPE-related obligations within commercial contracts.
• Support bid, tender and commercial activity by identifying workforce and employment law risks.
• Partner with HR and operational teams to ensure legally compliant consultation and employee engagement processes.
• Advise on collective consultation obligations and trade union considerations arising from business change programmes.

• Draft, review and update employment contracts, policies, procedures, guidance notes and template documentation.
• Support the development of people policies that reflect legal requirements, best practice and organisational values.
• Contribute to governance reporting by identifying trends, emerging risks and mitigation strategies.
• Maintain accurate legal documentation and support audit and compliance activities across the People function.
• Provide legal support to HR in responding to employee data rights requests, including Subject Access Requests (SARs), requests for rectification, erasure, and other applicable data protection rights including liaising with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) where required.

• Build trusted relationships with…