When expanding into the UK, US institutions need to be aware of differences in employment law, as well as culture.
It has been said that England and the US are “two countries separated by a common language”. As US private equity (PE) and banks continue their rapid expansion into the UK, what are some of the challenges of integrating US and UK operations from an employment perspective?
It is widely known that because of a combination of EU law, which has been implemented into English law pre-Brexit, and of English law rights, UK employees have greater employment protection and access to benefits than their US counterparts. The focus historically has been on the difference between termination at will, which has no UK counterpart, and on holiday rights and other benefits.
For example, after a month-long employment, UK bankers will be entitled to notice of termination. The norm in the sector is one month, but in fact there is a statutory floor of one week per year of service – so that bankers with 12 or more years of employment will be entitled to 12 weeks’ notice. After two years’ employment, a banker can only be dismissed for a prescribed reason – the main ones being redundancy, incapacity and misconduct – and only after a fair procedure has been followed, which requires consultation with the individual prior to taking a decision to dismiss.
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