Laura Tracey

Recent work

• Laura provided support to an international food and drink group employing over 7,000 people on all day-to-day issues covering Head Office, Manufacturing and strategic projects across the business. For example, Laura supported the group on the phased closure and subsequent sale of a manufacturing facility over the period of three years, affecting over 200 employees. She worked with the Board to plan and deliver a communications plan to employees and recognised trade unions to do the “right thing” by staff, whilst also maintaining productivity over the long consultation period and complying with collective obligations. She worked with corporate advisers on the sale documentation and the subsequent transfer of employees to the new ownership under TUPE, together with transitional services arrangements under a ‘co-packing agreement’. The sale was concluded smoothly and according to the projected timescales, without sacrificing brand reputation or giving rise to any Employment Tribunal litigation.
• Laura provided day to day employment advice to a multinational drink and brewing company with over 17,000 employees worldwide. Laura took the time to understand the client, the sector in which it operated and its challenges to make sure her advice was always ‘right for the business’ not just technically correct. Laura also worked to improve efficiencies within the HR team by identifying skills gaps, creating and delivering tailored training and in doing so, helping to reduce legal spend year on year.
• Laura defended a constructive unfair dismissal, sex and disability discrimination claim against a drinks manufacturing company by a senior executive, following allegations of systemic bullying within the organisation. Laura’s pragmatic and early assessment of the prospects of the claim, together with her strong negotiation skills, achieved a favourable settlement for the employer at an early stage.

Recent Work 

• Advising the senior executive team of The Gym King Limited (a global sportswear brand) on the employment aspects of a multi-million pound investment by JD Sports (high street and online sportswear retailer).
• Successfully defending allegations against a luxury retail brand that they had failed in their duty to keep staff safe in the workplace by ignoring covid/lockdown restrictions, which threatened the company’s reputation.
• Advising a global technology company on a redundancy and restructuring programme which involved the outsourcing of a number of its operations to India.

• Laura advised fashion brand Self-Portrait on its acquisition of the iconic luxury dress brand “Roland Mouret”, including negotiating terms for the new Co-Creative Director.
• Laura provided advice to the world’s largest health and beauty retailer, covering everything from day-to-day employee relations matters to major change projects and Tribunal litigation.
• Laura advised a national retailer with a redundancy and change to terms and conditions project affecting almost every one of its 250 stores across the UK and Ireland. The business were looking to increase the flexibility of its workforce and reduce costs by removing a level of management in each store, whilst changing the responsibilities and hours-requirements of the remaining roles. Through careful planning and an understanding of the client’s paternalistic culture, Laura helped the client to achieve almost 100% consent to the changes, with the remaining employees choosing to either be redeployed or take voluntary redundancy. Not a single Employment Tribunal claim was lodged as a result of the programme, despite being the most significant project the HR team had ever undertaken.