Richard Thomas (Capital Law)

Richard Thomas

Partner
Employment & Immigration

Richard is a Partner in our Employment and Immigration team. He specialises in all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law, advising clients in the public and private sectors.

Richard provides strategic advice on collective employee consultation duties and obligations arising out of company restructures, acquisitions, mergers, collective redundancies and outsourcing. This work includes informing, consulting and negotiating with Trade Unions to avoid legal claims and industrial action, as well as the application of TUPE. He also advises on wrongful, constructive and unfair dismissal and, all aspects of discrimination.

Richard has extensive Employment Tribunal advocacy experience across the UK and has successfully undertaken judicial and commercial mediation cases.

He deals with all employment law aspects of Corporate Insolvency including acting for Administrators, Liquidators and Companies facing insolvency situations including Pre Pack Administration situations. Richard advises on all the individual and collective employment law obligations arising out of Insolvency situations and any subsequent restructures and/or business transfers including employee rights; the legal obligations concerning individual and collective consultation and the application of UK law relating to Collective Redundancies and the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations.

Richard undertakes a significant amount of training on all aspects of employment law and is the course tutor for the Diploma in Employment Law for HR Professionals, runs in conjunction with Cardiff University.

We use Richard Thomas for employment law advice and support because he is always responsive, reliable and give us sound advice. He understands our business and his guidance is always practical, commercial and clear. It’s refreshing to deal with a law firm that doesn’t hide behind jargon and isn’t afraid to give a pragmatic, definite view instead of just telling us what the law states.

Amanda Canterbury, Head of HR, Cardiff City Transport Services

  • Advising the BMA on the  legal process of balloting and calling industrial action encompassing all junior doctors working for NHS England. This substantial and complex piece of work involved significant legal complexities.
  • Assisting a major metropolitan bus transport company on industrial action called by their employees in relation to a pay dispute.
  • Advising the client on the industrial action process and dealing with issues as they arose. advising on all aspects of negotiations with the trade union. The matter was finally resolved via negotiations with ACAS.
  • Advising a major pharmaceutical company on a significant collective redundancy exercise involving over 100 staff.
  • Advising an International client on all employment law aspects of a Multijurisdictional Pan European Outsourcing Process affecting employees in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Netherlands including individual, collective and European Works Council consultation issues.
  • Advising on the setting up of an employee Consultation Body (in accordance with the information and consultation with Employee Regulations) including drafting a constitution for the Body and undertaking training for both management and elected employee representatives.
  • Acted for a Company which placed one of its trading businesses into administration due to a significant and irrecoverable overspend on a contract. Advised on the individual employment issues for those employees employed in the part of trading business being put into administration and the requirements for collective consultation with elected employee representatives under the UK legislation on Collective Redundancies together with the appropriate HR1 notification processes. As part of the administration a number of employees were transferred out of the trading business to another business and advice was provided on the legal aspects of this employee transfer to ensure compliance with the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations.
  • Collective disputes and industrial action
  • Contract and policy drafting
  • Contractual change programmes
  • Data protection
  • Disciplinary and grievance
  • Employment tribunals
  • Executive dismissals
  • Freedom of information
  • Post-termination restrictions
  • Redundancy programmes
  • Trade union and collective bargaining issues
  • TUPE
  • Employment law training

Career

  • Partner, Capital Law Limited (2007 – present)
  • Associate, Eversheds LLP (1999 – 2007)
  • In House Employment Counsel, GlaxoSmithKline (2006 – 2007 16-month secondment)
  • In House Employment Lawyer for NHS Wales, Welsh Health Legal Services (1996 – 1999)

Education

  • College of Law Guilford: CPE and Law Society Finals, Law (1991 – 1993)
  • The London School of Economics: BSc (1987 – 1990)

Memberships / Trustee Positions

  • The Law Society of England and Wales
  • Employment Lawyers’ Association