Nicola Whiteley

Partner

London


Read full biography at www.orrick.com
Nicola is head of the London Employment Team and has more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law, with a particular focus on complex and/or cross border issues for multinational clients and on the Technology and Finance sectors.

Leading a "straightforward and solutions-focused" team in London, Nicola is listed and noted for her "business-oriented approach" in Who's Who Legal and recognised by Legal 500 as a "very responsive, thoughtful, and pragmatic consummate professional", with clients praising her "excellent judgment and knowledge." 

She is a member of the International Committee of the Employment Lawyer's Association.

Posts by: Nicola Whiteley

Employers Beware: Post-termination Whistleblowing

Whistle

In the recent case of Onyango v. Berkeley Solicitors, the UK Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that an employee was allowed to bring a ‘whistleblowing’ claim relating to a protected disclosure that was made after the termination of his employment.

Under UK law, workers are protected from receiving detrimental treatment as a result of raising a concern about certain types of wrongdoing occurring in the workplace. In Onyango, the Claimant (Mr. Onyango) brought a claim in the Employment Tribunal alleging that as a result of making a protected disclosure, he was accused of forgery and dishonesty which ultimately led to him being investigated by the regulatory body for solicitors in the UK, the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The Employment Tribunal held that it did not have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Onyango’s claim because he had made the protected disclosure after the termination of his employment and that it could only hear the case where such disclosure was made during the course of his employment. Mr Onyango appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. READ MORE

Ending It All

Map and Compass

In the recent case of Geys v. Société Générale, Mr. Geys, who was employed as managing director was given a letter in November 2007 by Société Générale stating: “I am writing to notify you that Société Générale, London has decided to terminate your employment with immediate effect”. Mr. Geys was then escorted from the building and never returned to it. Despite this, the Supreme Court has ruled that his contract of employment was not terminated. READ MORE

Freedom of Speech in Social Media – UK Employee Unlawfully Demoted for Christian Gay Marriage Facebook Posts

Email

In the recent UK case of Smith v. Trafford, the Claimant was awarded just £98 (approx. $150) by the English High Court for a successful breach of contract claim against his housing trust employer (the “Trust”). The Claimant, Mr. Smith, had posted two comments on his Facebook wall expressing his views on gay marriage. One comment stated “equality too far” and the other comment elaborated on his reasons for opposing gay marriage. In the Trust’s view, Mr. Smith’s comments amounted to a serious breach of its Code of Conduct and Equal Opportunities Policy. He had a significant number of colleagues as his Facebook friends and the Trust was concerned that his personal views would be interpreted as its own. Consequently, the Trust found Mr. Smith guilty of gross misconduct but rather than dismissing him, demoted Mr. Smith to a non-managerial position with a resulting 40 percent reduction in his pay. READ MORE

UK Government Encourages Employees to Relinquish Rights for Shares

Blue Globe

The UK Chancellor announced at the Conservative Party conference this week an outline plan to enable a new category of “employee owners” to receive shares in exchange for zero capital gains tax and a significant reduction in employment rights (the press release is here). Whether this will be a sufficiently attractive carrot to justify diversion from the well-trodden path for emerging companies of granting simple and highly flexible Enterprise Management Incentive (“EMI”) options and/or to entice employees away from their statutory employment protections remains to be seen, as does much of the fine detail of the proposal. READ MORE