Alec Colson
Partner - Head of Employment
Employment
About
I am a Partner and the Head of our Employment Department. I have specialised in employment law for over 20 years with a significant personal following providing day to day to advice to regular clients.
I advise employers across a range of sectors, including construction, engineering, recruitment, education establishments and charities on all employment law matters including:
- Dismissal, disciplinary and grievance procedures
- Redundancy – both individual and collective consultation
- Discrimination and equal opportunities
- Whistleblowing
- Managing employee absence
- Termination negotiations at director level
- Post-termination obligations
- Settlement Agreements
- TUPE
- Data Protection,
- Employment Tribunal representation
- HR training
I have particular expertise in discrimination law and act for both employers and employees in relation to discrimination claims.
I have been recognised for employment law in the Employment Law 500, which identifies the best law firms and lawyers in the UK. I also regularly contribute to the trade press on employment law development and I am a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.
Interests
Outside of work, I have supported Northampton Saints for many years through thick and thin. I also enjoy watching cricket and gardening and I have also just completed over 100 Park Runs.
Experience
- Advised a large company in relation to a reorganisation of their staffing arrangements which involved collective consultation and eventual redundancies.
- Advised and represented successfully a company in the manufacturing sector in relation to high value unlawful deduction of salary claim.
- Advised a company in the construction industry in relation to a sexual harassment case.
- Advised a manufacturing company on the TUPE implications of an out sourcing agreement.
- Advised and represented successfully a client in the recruitment sector in relation to a disability discrimination claim.
- Advised an international company in relation to succession planning of their senior management team leading to settlement agreements.
- Advise senior executives in connection with exit packages including share options and bonus payments.
- Provide HR training to clients in all aspects of employment law including subjects such as harassment in the workplace, disciplinary and grievance procedures and settlement agreements.
Joined Taylor Walton in 2007
What our clients say
“Alec Colson is clear, strategic and commercial”
“Alec Colson is extremely dedicated, exercises good judgement and approaches issues from the legal side and then takes into account the commercial stand point.”
"He is very easy to work to with and detailed, available within a reasonable amount of time and always covers the issues”
"Alec Colson is our long term partner supporting for all HR related topics. He is always available to give advice and guidance. We also used Alec to provide some in-house training to all our managers related to general HR-related legal considerations. Alec can also explain any issue in simple English." -Legal 500
Potential changes to flexible working legislation
At the beginning of December 2022 the Department for Business, Education and Industrial Strategy published its response to its 2021 consultation on flexible working. The media headlines gave the impression that employees will have the right to work from home from day one of their employment however, this is not the case. The initial consultation…
Hybrid Working
A recent BBC poll indicated that 70% of the people polled believed that workers would not return to the office full time after the coronavirus pandemic. The majority of workers said that they would prefer to work from home either full-time or at least some of the time. “Hybrid Working” where employees split their working…
Coronavirus Update for Employers – April 2021
A. Updates and reminders regarding the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) The Government extended the CJRS as part of the Spring Budget. New guidance has now been issued by the Government in respect of the extended CJRS for the period 1 May to 30 September 2021. Furthermore, a new Treasury Direction to cover this period…
TW Coronavirus Update – 23 December 2020
On 20 December 2020, a fourth tier of COVID-19 restrictions (Tier 4: Stay at Home) came into effect in England. London and much of the South East of England have been placed into Tier 4. It is expected that other areas of England will become subject to Tier 4 restrictions in the New Year. For…
Taylor Walton Coronavirus Update 11 November 2020 – Further Guidance on the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been published – Updated 17 November 2020
As promised, the Government issued further guidance on the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) on 10 November 2020. Our previous note on the extended CJRS can be viewed here. On 13 November 2020, the Government updated some aspects of the guidance and also issued a new Treasury Direction which sets out the legal framework of…
Taylor Walton Coronavirus Update 11 November 2020 – Further Guidance on the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been published
As promised, the Government issued further guidance on the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) on 10 November 2020. Our previous note on the extended CJRS can be viewed here. There are 10 new or updated guidance notes on the extended CJRS for employers. We have set out below links to the relevant guidance for employers. …
Taylor Walton Coronavirus Update – 10 November 2020
Lockdown Regulations The Government has introduced a set of new Regulations (The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020) for England to deal with the second lockdown from 5 November until 2 December in order to provide clarity as to what activity is allowed and not allowed during lockdown. As part of the…
Taylor Walton Coronavirus Update – Furlough Scheme extended again until 31 March 2021
Following the announcement last weekend that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“the Scheme”) would be extended until December (full details of which can be viewed here), further announcements yesterday confirmed that there will now be a further extension until 31 March 2021. This applies across the UK. Other business support measures have also been announced or…
Taylor Walton Coronavirus Update – November 2020
1. Extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“furlough”) As you will be aware, over the weekend, the Prime Minister announced a second national lockdown which will commence on Thursday 5 November 2020 and is expected to last until 2 December 2020. This means that many businesses will be forced to close. Other businesses may experience…
Taylor Walton Coronavirus Update – October 2020
Taylor Walton Coronavirus Update October 2020 – New Guidance issued on the Job Support Scheme for open and closed businesses On 22 October 2020, the Government announced changes to the new Job Support Scheme for open businesses (JSS – open) and it also issued new guidance on the JSS- open and the Job Support Scheme…