Niamh Diskin

Associate

Practice areas

• Employee share schemes
• Employment law
• Employment litigation and dispute resolution

Practice notes

Niamh is an associate in our Employment Law team.

She advises clients in both the public and private sectors on a wide range of issues affecting the employment relationship, from pre-employment matters through to termination of the employment relationship. Her advisory work includes drafting employment contracts, consultancy agreements, employment policies and termination agreements. Niamh also regularly provides on-the-spot advice in relation to day-to-day matters to include grievances and disciplinary matters, absence management and performance issues, whistleblowing, working time, payment of wages, equality/discrimination and the enforcement of restrictive covenants. She has handled contentious matters in all the statutory employment bodies, including the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and Labour Court and the civil courts. Niamh also has a wealth of experience in advising clients of the employment aspects of corporate transactions including their obligations to employees in a Transfer of Undertakings Regulations (TUPE) transfer and how to successfully manage the transition of new employees into the business post-transfer.

Niamh’s extensive experience includes;

• Advising a higher-level educational institute through a grievance process and defended the institution against a claim taken of discrimination on the grounds of age under Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2015 by a prospective scholarship applicant.

• Advising a statutory body on a claim taken under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015 by a former panel member and an FOI request made by that same individual.

• Advised a primary school on their interview process as well as the appropriate use of contracts of indefinite duration and fixed term contracts under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003, arising from the practice within the public sector of using successive fixed-term contracts.

• Advised a charitable organisation on its acquisition of another charitable organisation and the TUPE and employment issues which arose during the due diligence process.

• Advised a client on all elements of redundancy process including whether or not it would be considered a collective redundancy, selection matrix used, consultation obligations, severance packages and settlement agreements.

• Defended constructive dismissal proceedings and claim of discrimination on grounds of disability at the WRC arising from alleged failure to investigate allegations of bullying in a timely manner.

• Advised an insurance agency on a range of employment law matters, including TUPE implications of acquiring insurance companies and how to manage successful transition of employees into business.

• Advised a department store chain on updating their suite of employment contracts for staff at all levels including contracts of indefinite duration and fixed term contracts.

• Drafting a company retirement policy and advising on how to manage implementing a mandatory retirement age including retirement planning for a media companies employees.

• Assisted a customer experience company in establishing a base in Ireland by providing employment contracts, an employee handbook and general advises on employment law in Ireland.