Chris Kisby

Expertise

Chris specialises in providing employment law advice and assistance in relation to all human resource matters and all employment-related aspects of corporate and commercial transactions (including IPOs, mergers, acquisitions, insolvencies, as well as commercial insourcing and outsourcing arrangements). He also specialises in Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal litigation and advocacy.

Chris acts for national and international clients across a diverse range of sectors. He has acted for professional sports organisations, sport governing bodies, transport and logistics businesses, tech businesses, media and publishing companies, food and drink manufacturers, global retail brands, security service providers, investment banks, insolvency practitioners and other financial services organisations.

Chris has successfully represented household name businesses in high-profile cases concerning worker status issues and allegations of whistle blowing, discrimination, bullying and harassment. He is regularly instructed to carry out independent inquiries regarding such issues and to assist organisations with implementing appropriate policies and procedures to tackle such matters in the workplace.

Chris provides employment law support in High Court proceedings involving the enforcement of post-termination restrictive covenants, breaches of confidentiality, bonus issues, as well as director and shareholder disputes.

Chris spent part of his career on secondment within the in-house legal team of British Telecommunications Plc and was retained as General Counsel to Team England at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. He previously performed the role of the role of Secretariat to the Nominations, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee for Commonwealth Games England and is an accredited UKAD anti-doping adviser.

How do you help clients?

Clients don’t want to know the law; they want a solution. With that in mind, I always seek to provide commercial, solution-driven advice and support. It is imperative that I fully understand and appreciate a client’s approach to legal issues and the management of risk. I make it my business to get to know my client’s business. Strong and trusted relationships are vitally important, and I strive to develop long-standing relationships with all my clients and their key decision makers.

Experience

1. Successfully representing a household name listed business in response to a highly publicised Tribunal claim issued by individuals who had historically been engaged by the client to provide professional services to the client’s customer base on a self-employed basis. Following the Uber Supreme Court decision and other highly publicised cases regarding holiday pay and worker status issues, the Claimants alleged that they had been engaged as “workers” and were entitled to be compensated for historic worker entitlements that had accrued over a number of years throughout their engagement, including holiday pay, pension contributions and other alleged unlawful deductions from wages.
2. Providing strategic advice to the in-house HR and legal teams of a household name global business with strong connections in media, music and sport; including the global roll-out of an anti-bribery and corruption training programme, drafting appropriate anti-bribery and corruption policies together with associated resource materials, and providing employment advice in relation to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 and its application to the outsourcing of a sales function to an external organisation.
3. Providing legal advice and support to Commonwealth Games England in preparation for the Bahamas Youth Games and the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Subsequently being seconded to Team England as General Counsel during the 2018 Gold Coast Games.
4. Providing cross border employment law support to the buyer of a household name business with undertakings across six legal jurisdictions; assisting with the cross border due diligence exercise, advising upon the warranties and indemnities in the Business Purchase Agreement, the application of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, implementing redundancies post transfer, harmonising terms and conditions of employment post-completion, and assisting with all associated information disclosure and consultation processes.
5. Successfully defending a complex disability discrimination, sex discrimination, and constructive dismissal claim issued against a large household name international organisation and many individually named respondents.
6. Acting for an international business in relation to a multi-party £4 million class action claim relating to alleged failures to inform and consult with affected employees contrary to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 and alleged failures to collectively consult regarding subsequent redundancies contrary to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
7. Advising the appointed administrators on the employment aspects of the administration of an FCA regulated investment business managing £1.2 billion of assets for nearly 20,000 clients.