Elaine is a highly sought-after Employment Solicitor who has over 30 years’ experience of supporting Businesses, Organisations and Professionals through their growth and employment journeys including through complex employment disputes.
Elaine’s Clients
Elaine advises Employers, Employees, and HR Professionals. Advising companies and individuals, Elaine provides detailed advice ensuring clients know what options they have and what could be achieved for them. Elaine utilises her excellent communication skills and proactive approach, ensuring that her clients are reassured at all times and are not left ‘waiting to hear’.
Elaine has a loyal following of business owners and HR Professionals across all sectors, including:
Professional Services – including a number of eminent accountancy firms, IFA firms, and solicitors’ practices
Hospitality Industry – bars, restaurants, accommodation
Built environment – including building contractors, environmental landscapers, highways maintenance, and architects
Property management companies
Care sector – care homes and nursing homes
Charity sector including educational establishments
Elaine is also sought-out by professionals, particularly those in regulated sectors, including:
Teachers
Nurses
Accountants
Elaine is a key member of the Firm’s GatekeeperHR service – a comprehensive HR and employment law retainer package that provides full support for business owners and HR Managers. As part of this service she carries out thorough audits to identify areas of improvement and priorities for change and assists businesses with implementation.
Experience and Approach
Elaine prides herself on taking an analytical but human approach towards her clients. She understands their objectives from the start, is highly responsive and gives clear, considered, and solution-focused advice in some of the most challenging of cases. Elaine originally worked in the NHS before turning to law. After qualifying at an eminent London firm, Elaine moved to work in specialist employment rights organisations including Protect and Maternity Action. This gives Elaine unique expertise and insight, in disputes involving whistleblowing, pregnancy discrimination and the various family-friendly rights.
Clients regularly commend Elaine for being proactive, for fearlessly fighting their corner, and for achieving outcomes that keep their business or profession on track.
In addition to this, Elaine is also a fluent French speaker.
Areas of Expertise
Elaine’s expertise spans the full range of employment law and includes:-
Directors Duties
Whistleblowing
All forms of discrimination, harassment and victimisation
Redundancies, reorganisations and restructuring
Health and safety
Workplace Bullying
Sexual harassment in the workplace
Misconduct – including with safeguarding elements
Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE)
Negotiation of severance
Settlement Agreements
Family-friendly rights
All aspects of Pregnancy and Maternity Leave
Regulatory work – including before the Teaching Regulation Authority, Nursing & Midwifery Council, and Health & Care Professions Council
Employment Tribunal claims and advocacy
Preparation of employment contracts, Handbooks, policies and procedures
Complex Disciplinary and Grievance matters
Managing absence: Short- and Long-Term absences
GDPR issues in the workplace
Industrial relations
“Rix & Kay regularly provides operational and strategic employment advice to corporate clients and SMEs, offering support for M&A transactions and advising directors and senior managers on settlement agreements. Elaine Abbs is regarded as very knowledgeable and able to provide information and guidance and is always helpful and supportive”.
“Elaine Abbs has been our main point of contact; she developed a training programme for Line Managers and delivered the training in house. This has helped tremendously in diffusing potential difficult situations”.
“Elaine Abbs is very knowledgeable and able to provide information and guidance and is always helpful and supportive. She instils confidence. She responds quickly and has a very approachable and friendly manner as well as professional”.
Elaine helped me through a very difficult time. I had every confidence that she was giving me the best advice, from the time that we made contact to the end of our ase. She set out all of the options, but also gave pragmatic views, which was very valuable especially as I was very emotional. I feel that she gave excellent technical advice but with a lot of empathy and consideration of my personal needs, as well as the legal position.
S. Goodliffe, Client Satisfaction Survey, February 2025
Elaine Abbs was my solicitor for the duration of my disability discrimination case lasting more than a year. Her professionalism, compassion and quick responses to emails ensured I managed this very stressful situation well and was able to keep on top of all the correspondence.
Elaine worked relentlessly and patiently on my case, advising and guiding me on employment law throughout in language that I could understand. Her vast experience as an employment solicitor and background in healthcare meant that she had the skills to deal with fragile and emotionally charged situations in a supportive and kind manner. Whilst she remained consistently supportive to me as her client, when the situation required Elaine showed the firmness and steel required to progress my case, asking tough questions and taking my employer to task when required. In a situation where I felt I was taking on a whole institution on my own, Elaine’s own integrity and values resonated with mine such that she never undermined my beliefs or made them out to be alien and this was the encouragement I needed to keep going. Her attention to detail and excellent memory helped me piece together the events to provide the proof and evidence needed to support statements made. Despite dealing with several cases at the same time Elaine always managed to make applications on time and never let me down.
Elaine went above and beyond her role throughout the whole process and I will always be grateful to have had such a professional and hard working solicitor represent me. Her wisdom and advise led to an out of court settlement and helped me avoid further stress and deterioration to my health. I found Elaine’s work ethics, sincerity, and love of her role truly inspirational. Anyone who is lucky enough to be represented by Elaine will be in completely professional and safe hands. People like Elaine help us restore our faith in the best of humanity especially if you suddenly find yourself facing unusual and unethical employers. It was one of the greatest pleasures of my working life to have been a client of Elaine’s and in that respect my employment found a happy ending.
Employment Rights Bill The media has been closely covering the government’s newly published Employment Rights Bill 2024 (‘the Bill’). Amongst all the reports, discussions and…
Employment Reference Guidance for Businesses It remains increasingly common for businesses to take up references for employees who they are proposing to employ. For prospective…
On Wednesday, 8 July 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced his Summer Statement (or ‘mini budget’) in Parliament in order to assist the UK’s recovery from…
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on 10 May 2020, the Government published eight separate sector-specific guidelines referred to as the “Covid-19 Secure guidelines”, to assist…
A new update to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was provided on 12 June. Click here for the latest update The Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention…
Covid-19 is presenting numerous challenges to Employers and the guidance is changing daily. We thought it would be useful to provide answers to the Top…
Tuesday 30 July 2019 is the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. The United Nations established this day to raise awareness of human trafficking and…
In February 2017, Scottish brewer Brewdog announced the introduction of ‘Pawternity Leave’ – a scheme whereby employees can take one week’s paid leave, in addition…
The Supreme Court has unanimously held that a ‘self-employed’ plumber was a ‘worker’ and as such he was entitled to certain employment rights, including holiday,…
From 25 May 2018, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be implemented, which aims to harmonise data protection laws across the EU. There will be…
As of 4 April 2018, all companies in Great Britain with 250 or more employees became subject to an obligation to publish statutory calculations, showing…
The European Court of Human Rights (EctHR) has held that, in certain circumstances, covert surveillance in the workplace breaches an individuals right to privacy. A…
Following the Supreme Court finding, in July 2017, which concluded that the payment of Employment Tribunal fees was unlawful, the Government has finally provided details…
Just when you thought employment law couldn’t get any stranger, a little gem (excuse the pun…) like this comes along. In December 2013, Benyam Kenbata…
Since the Employment Tribunal delivered its ruling on 28 October 2016, we’ve heard from a number of clients asking what the judgment actually means and…
Rix & Kay has strengthened its community engagement by donating a wide range of IT equipment – including keyboards, monitors, and desktop monitor stands –…
A career in law offers an exciting and dynamic path, but choosing a specialisation can be overwhelming. Understanding the day-to-day requirements and responsibilities of a…
Three of Rix & Kay’s lawyers have recently been appointed into formal Law Society posts. Angela Arnold, Partner and Head of the firm’s Residential Property…
April marks the third anniversary of one of the biggest shake-ups in family law in recent years, the introduction of ‘no-fault’ divorce. Before this, separating couples…
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. ACCEPT Cookie settings
Cookie Settings
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_gat
1 minute
This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_ga
2 years
The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gat_gtag_UA_*
1 minute
Google Analytics sets this cookie to store a unique user ID.
_gid
1 day
Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
CONSENT
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
5 months 27 days
A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSC
session
YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devices
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-id
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.