Job Summary

•  This role would be a 2 year direct contractual role.  To advise on and manage employment law matters arising for the Global Business Services (“GBS”) network, with scope to also advise the Bank in matters in India and Malaysia and to help mitigate reputational, financial, and regulatory-related risks arising from people issues.
•    To support Group-wide projects which have an employment law element. 

Business

Advisory
•    Advising on and managing employment issues, including investigations, accountability reviews, material disciplinary and grievance matters, performance management, redundancies, restructures and contentious exits  
•    Managing relevant stakeholders and providing accurate and timely updates regarding the status of disputes or issues
•    Advice and best practice guidance on regulatory issues affecting staff, particularly relating to remuneration and assisting with drafting and/or reviewing of contentious regulated references
•    Advising on employment law aspects of Human Resources (HR) policy or strategy projects, and co-ordinating advice from other members of the Employment Law team or external counsel
•    Advising on and participating in consultation on internal policies and procedures 
•    Advising on Group-wide diversity and inclusion initiatives and/or comms 
•    Supporting the HR, Employee Relations (ER) team and other relevant stakeholders through legal and best practice updates
•    Occasional support for M&A integration, including advice on staff consultation obligations and restructuring 

Key Responsibilities

Processes

•    Providing relevant stakeholders with accurate and timely information regarding the status of HR disputes and ER issues
•    Reviewing internal policies and procedures 
•    Advising on employment contracts and maintaining global templates
•    Advising and best practice guidance on regulatory issues affecting staff, particularly relating to remuneration
•    Participating in HR projects 
•    Providing occasional support for M&A integration, including advice on staff consultation obligations and restructuring
•    Reviewing external counsel/supplier quotes and costs and ensure payment of invoices 

Litigation/disputes
•    Advising on and managing employment litigation/disputes 
•    Liaising with external legal counsel regarding the strategic approach to employment law disputes, critically assessing advice received and tailoring this to the business/organisation 
•    Co-ordinating disclosure process during employment litigation, liaising with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that disclosure obligations are complied with
•    Co-ordinating witness statement aspect of employment litigation, ensuring statements are tailored to the business/organisation
•    Collaborating with the corporate communications team to manage reputational risk
•    Identifying and analysing opportunities for settlement and advising HR, ER and/or business stakeholders on settlement strategy
•    Preparing and negotiating settlement terms

Regulatory & Business Conduct

•    Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group’s Values and Code of Conduct. 
•    Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.
•    Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.

Key stakeholders

•    Human Resources
•    Employee Relations
•    Shared Investigative Services
•    eDiscovery & Data Advisory 
•    Resourcing
•    Performance, Reward & Benefits
•    Business and Function Stakeholders
•    External Legal Advisors
 

Skills and Experience

Other Responsibilities
Embed Here for good and Group’s brand and values; Perform other responsibilities assigned under Group, Country, Business or Functional policies and procedures.

Requirements
•    Good organisational skills in order to manage multiple matters and stakeholders at the same time. Being able to pivot as priorities change is essential.
•    Strong analytical skills to review background facts and identify the key legal issues raised by the employment dispute or issue. You will often be advising in real time as matters are unfolding so must be comfortable with ambiguity and confident taking a pragmatic approach as more information becomes available. 
•    Excellent communication skills and succinct written style, with the ability to match your tone and level of detail to your audience.
•    Strategic mindset, recognising the wider organisational, commercial or regulatory impact that a matter may have beyond the immediate set of facts.
•    Disciplined approach towards timelines and tracking all steps required in order to manage matters and implement a strategic approach while keeping stakeholders updated
 

Qualifications

• University degree in law or other university degree plus law conversion from an accredited law school
• Relevant practising certificate
• Ideally at least 3+ years PQE with specialist employment experience in private practice or in-house
• Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Teams proficient 
• Experience in:
• advising on employee relations issues such as disciplinaries, grievances, redundancy/restructure and termination of employment
• drafting and advising on employment contracts and policies
• employment litigation
• employee data privacy issues (preferred)
• regulatory issues affecting staff, particularly remuneration (preferred)
• Knowledge of domestic and international laws governing employment, and the ability to interpret and take action on aspects of employment laws that impact the business.     Advanced
• Litigation
• Knowledge of domestic laws, regulations and court rulings; ability to use tools, techniques and processes to take action on aspects of litigation that impact the business.    Advanced
• Knowledge, insight, and understanding of business concepts, tools, and processes that are needed for making sound decisions in the context of the company's business; ability to apply this knowledge appropriately to diverse situations.  
• Regulatory Framework and Requirements (SIF)
• Awareness and understanding of the regulatory framework in which the firms operates and the regulatory requirements and expectations relevant to role    Core
   

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.