Employment Law Update

Date: Thursday 7th May 2026

Time: 8:30AM – 10:00AM

Venue: Online

Laura D’Arcy

Laura is a Legal Director in Eversheds Sutherland’s Employment, Labour, and Pensions Group. Laura has extensive experience of advising on every aspect of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious, and works closely with companies of all sizes across a number of sectors including retail, healthcare, hospitality and manufacturing.

As well as providing day to day advice on a range of workplace issues including executive terminations, disciplinary and grievance proceedings, capability and conduct concerns and contractual disputes, Laura also advises businesses on collective consultation obligations, redundancy and re-structuring, protection of business interests through effective use of covenants and confidentiality provisions and support on transactional work.

Laura’s practice also includes assisting companies to defend employment tribunal proceedings including unfair and wrongful dismissal, wages claims, discrimination, whistleblowing, protective awards, holiday pay and breach of contract claims.

Laura speaks regularly on employment law and in the past this has included speaking on Radio 5 Live and the business section on BBC Breakfast.  Laura also co-chairs a group for HR personnel who work in retail and they regularly discuss the employment topics that affect their business which provides Laura with great insight to the sector.

Paul Sands

Paul is a Senior Associate in the Eversheds Sutherland Employment, labor and pensions practice group. He specialises in employment tribunal litigation and advises clients on a range of complex employment issues including whistleblowing, discrimination, TUPE, restrictive covenants and unlawful deduction from wages. Paul conducts most of his own advocacy and has appeared in numerous employment tribunals across England.

His recent experience includes – successfully defending a charity against a multi-faceted employment tribunal claim involving issues of direct and indirect disability discrimination, failure to make reasonable adjustments, whistleblowing, data protection and unfair dismissal. The claims were considered by a tribunal over the course of a 4-week trial at which the Respondent successfully defended all claims; advising a recruitment business on the enforceability of its restrictive covenants against a recently exited employee who had set up a competing business and corresponding with the ex-employee in order to bring the matter to an amicable resolution; and defending a global logistics company against claims of whistleblowing detriment relating to disclosures of poor health and safety.

Paul is a regular speaker for HR training sessions and employment law updates and is also a member of Employment Lawyers Association (ELA).

Date: Thursday 20th November 2025

Time: 8:30am – 10:00am

Venue: Online

Key Focuses of the Session:

• Case law update
• Employment Rights Bill – practical updates
• Legal updates

Rebecca Mathew

Rebecca is a Senior Associate specialising in both contentious and non-contentious employment law. She delivers pragmatic advice to employers across a broad spectrum of workplace issues and supports clients through all stages of the Employment Tribunal process. An experienced advocate, she has successfully represented clients in multi-day final hearings, achieving not only favourable verdicts but also multiple strike-out judgments, costs awards, and judicial mediation settlements, often involving complex employee relations matters.

On the non-contentious side, Rebecca has advised on large-scale contractual change projects impacting entire workforces in both the public and private sectors. Her expertise covers company policies, settlement agreements, investigations, capability, disciplinary and grievance matters, redundancy and restructuring programmes, and TUPE transfers. Recent work includes advising an FMCG logistics client on the employment aspects of a major acquisition, resulting in the creation of a £2.2bn turnover business.

Rebecca also advises on cross-border employment matters, coordinating multi-jurisdictional advice on both stand-alone issues and large-scale international projects. She regularly delivers tailored client training, both in-house and on public courses, focusing on legislative updates, case law developments, and strategies to minimise litigation risk.

Jennifer Pinder

Jennifer is a Principal Associate in the Employment, Labor and Pensions team, specialising in complex HR matters, organisational restructures, and TUPE transfers.

She has extensive experience advising on large-scale and cross-border restructures, redundancies, contractual changes, and TUPE-related matters. Jennifer frequently negotiates with employee representatives and trade unions in these contexts and supports clients with drafting and negotiating employment provisions in connection with business sales and acquisitions.

Jennifer provides day-to-day advice to a diverse client base on issues such as disciplinary and grievance procedures, performance and absence management, settlement negotiations, and senior exits. She has a particular focus on the Health and Life Sciences sector, as well as the consumer sector.

In addition, Jennifer represents and advises employers in defending Employment Tribunal claims across the full spectrum of employment law, including unfair dismissal, discrimination, and whistleblowing cases.