Laura McManus

Associate

Practice areas

• Discrimination law
• Employment law
• Employment litigation and dispute resolution
• Labor law and trade union issues
• Other
• Pensions

Practice notes

Laura is an associate within our employment and immigration team in our Belfast office.

She advises clients in both the public and private sectors on a wide range of issues covering the entire life-cycle of the employment relationship, from pre-employment considerations (including the unique fair employment requirements in Northern Ireland) through to the termination of the employment relationship.

Laura has particular experience in employment litigation have also undertaken commercial litigation matters in the early part of her career.

A large part of Laura’s role is helping businesses like yours comply with the nuanced Northern Ireland fair employment requirements, to resolve employment issues, including drafting contracts of employment, employment policies and compromise agreements which often includes ensuring that any UK-wide policies are compliant with employment laws in Northern Ireland. She also regularly provides advice in relation to day-to-day human resource matters including right to work matters, grievances and disciplinary matters, use of social media, absence management and performance issues, equal opportunities and fair employment monitoring requirements, discrimination and the impact of Brexit on frontier workers working on the island of Ireland.

On the contentious side, Laura advises in relation to all employment disputes including unfair dismissal, redundancy and discrimination claims at both the Industrial Tribunal and Fair Employment Tribunal, the County Court and the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal.

Laura has acted for a number of clients in both contentious and non-contentious matters, including:

• Acting for a large financial institution in defending claims of discrimination in the Fair Employment Tribunal;
• Acting for a large retail organisation in defending simultaneous claims of unlawful deduction of wages in the calculation of holiday pay and commission in the Industrial Tribunal and breach of contract in the County Court;
• Assisting a multinational corporation in amending their contracts of employment to ensure compatibility with Northern Irish legislation;
• Advising a local manufacturing company on their day to day HR requirements, including variations of terms and conditions of employment, dismissal procedures, and performance management.

She is also a committee member of the Employment Lawyers Group NI.

Laura has given a range of presentations and bespoke training, including:

• In-house training to a large scale English-based claims handling team on litigation practice and procedure in Northern Ireland;
• Training to a large financial institution’s in-house HR and legal team, based in England, on practice and procedure in the Northern Ireland Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal; and
• Presentations to the local professional groups on developments within employment law, such as IR35 and COVID-19 regulations.