GLA’s Team Members are regularly instructed by Clients to provide assistance to them on a broad range of employment law matters.
There are four broad areas where we assist our clients, traversing the entire length of a typical employment relationship i.e. from the time of engagement to the time of exit.
1. Employment Relationships: Our clients engage us to help them structure different kinds of employment relationships, such as full-time Employment Agreements for various levels (from CXO-level employees to entry-level employees), and Consultancy Agreements (where individuals provide services to organizations as independent contractors).
Where Clients engage temporary staff for their operations, we advise on the structuring of Staffing Services Agreements and Secondment Agreements. We work closely with trusted chartered accountants and taxation advisors, to provide holistic advice to Clients on their employment relationships.
2. Employee Incentive Programs: In a highly competitive and globalized economy, organizations understand that well-structured employee incentive and equity participation programs are key elements in nurturing and retaining high-performing, talented employees. Getting the legal and compliance strategy right is an essential part of this process. We help clients structure Employee Stock Option Plans and Sweat Equity issuances within the framework prescribed by applicable Indian laws.
3. Workplace Policies: Companies doing business in India need a trusted counsel to help them navigate a maze of central and local labour legislations on a host of issues, including those pertaining to
(a) Benefits (such as provident fund contributions, employee state insurance contributions, payment of statutory bonuses, gratuity etc.);
(b) Workplace Safety;
(c) Prevention of Sexual Harassment at workplaces;
(d) Leave and Holidays; and
(e) Severance Policies.
We help our Clients structure Workplace Policies that are in compliance with applicable central and local legislations.
4. Severance and Termination: We are regularly approached by Clients to advise them on the laws governing any of the following situations i.e. employee(s) resigning from their employment, termination of employment contracts on grounds of misconduct, implementation of lay-offs/retrenchments, severance payments to be made in any of the aforementioned situations, and enforceability of post-termination restrictions.Our attorneys have presented on various employment law issues to industry bodies such as The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Our attorneys have also addressed startups at accelerators, incubators and co-working spaces across India on employment law issues faced by organizations in India.
Representative Experience
- Represented India’s leading legal search and consulting firm and on the structuring of various secondment and flexible staffing services arrangements.
- Advising India’s leading impact consulting firm on all its employment law assignments for more than 8 years. We have helped structure employment agreements, ESOPs and other employee benefits policies, and workplace policies for this Client.
- Represented an AI-powered customer support platform as its sole employment counsel in relation to its acquisition by a leading global crytocurrency platform. Our role was to review all documentation pertaining to the Indian entity’s employees and advice the Client on structuring a smooth transition of its employees to the India entity of the purchaser.