Nicholas Siddall QC

Nicholas has significant experience of employment based contractual litigation in the High Court. Nicholas is regularly instructed to appear in both the Queen’s Bench Division and the Chancery Division of the High Court in breach of employment contract and business competition cases (particularly in relation to applications for injunctive relief). In particular he has experience in relation to: Confidential Information, Springboard Relief, Restrictive Covenants, Database Rights, Team Moves, diversion of business opportunities and bonus claims.

Recent cases in this area include:

• Representing a national events agency in defending claims of unlawfully securing the custom of a multi-national telecommunications business through an alleged misuse of confidential information.
• Representing the former COO of an international brand loyalty conglomerate as regards an injunction seeking to restrain his employment with a competitor and addressing the potential enforceability of his post-termination restrictions under Delaware Law.
• Representing an international Technology Company in securing non- solicitation/dealing injunctions to prevent the unlawful competitive activities of its head of UK Sales on his move to its direct competitor.
• Securing injunctions to prevent the Sales Manager of an international IT recycling provider from misusing its key confidential information whilst employed by its main competitor alongside affidavit evidence and wide-ranging forensic imaging.
• Securing injunctions to protect the confidential information of a manufacturer engaged in the provision of bespoke braking systems to various Formula 1 teams and NASCAR.
• Acting for the Defendants (led by Naomi Ellenbogen QC) in a case that was listed for an 8 day hearing for springboard relief and damages as regards an alleged team move involving 4 providers of independent price verification services to international financial institutions where the Claimants sought significant undisclosed damages.
• Representing an international promotional agency in seeking injunctions to restrain the unlawful post-employment activities of its former UK MD;
• Representing a former partner in an international talent agency in seeking to secure her release from her post-termination restrictions as a result of the pre-termination harassment she faced.

Nicholas acts on behalf of claimants and respondents in heavy weight matters encompassing all facets of unlawful discrimination. He is acutely aware of the sensitivity required in addressing such claims and adopts a collaborative and strategic approach in either prosecuting or defending the same. Recent cases of interest in this area include:

• Acting for a leading academic who secured an award of £3.3 million against his former employer university.
• A 10 day claim on behalf an International Account Manager of Barclays Bank asserting widespread disability discrimination with a pleaded value of in excess of £1 million.
• A 10 day claim of disability discrimination on behalf of a former deputy head teacher of an Academy Trust seeking a remedy in excess of £450,000.
• A 7 day claim on behalf of a former analyst at Societe Generale who contended that his redundancy was a sham to remove him by reason of his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. The value of the remedy sought was in excess of £2 million.
• A 13 day hearing defending an equal value claim alongside allegations of gender discrimination/harassment/victimisation brought by a female Operations Director of an international retail technology consultancy seeking damages in excess of £600,000;
• An 8 day hearing defending claims of race and age discrimination/harassment brought against the Embassy of the State of Qatar involving issues of diplomatic immunity and the effect of such a plea on potential liability of the Embassy under the Equality Act.

Nicholas has particular experience and interest in whistleblowing litigation. He undertakes work on behalf of both claimants and respondents in this field and recognises the complicated issues posed by such claims.

Instructions of note in the recent past include:

• Appearing on behalf of an international oil exploitation company in defence of a 10 day claim where the Claimant asserted protected disclosure arising from the bribery of senior government officials of the state of Niger. The Claimant sought damages in excess of £30 million.
• Appearing in the Court of Appeal on behalf of Health Education England in defence of a test case to address whether the extended worker provisions in s43K of the Employment Rights Act can apply to doctors in training and permit them a cause of action against HEE (led by David Reade QC).
• Utilising the whistleblowing provisions on the Isle of Man as a means of circumventing the absence of equality provision on the Island to advance a £300,000 claim on behalf of a disabled financial services provider.
• Appearing in defence of a 15 day claim of equal pay, gender and disability discrimination, whistleblowing and constructive dismissal involving an architect in a property development business seeking a remedy in excess of £1 million.
• Appearing in a 10 day hearing on behalf of the former CEO of an Isle of Man and UK Group of Companies asserting whistleblowing detriment/dismissal. The remedy sought was in excess of £2 million.
• Appearing in defence of an 8 day claim for whistleblowing dismissal on behalf of an international financial institution. The Claimant seeks damages of £2.3 million reflecting a career long loss.

Nicholas has significant experience in the area of TUPE litigation.  He was successful in his representation of the GMB before the EAT in securing a judgment that the TUPE Regulations and the Acquired Rights Directive are of trans-national effect and can apply outside the territorial scope of the European Union. He also appeared in an appeal addressing whether TUPE applies to the MOD’s decision to award a military support contract in the Falkland Islands to a Dutch company. The decision of the EAT addressed the application of the Service Provision Change definition contained within TUPE 2006 for the first time in an international context. He regularly appears for and advises both employers and employees as to the likely application of TUPE

Examples of recent instructions of interest are:

• Acting on behalf of a South East based trains company (led by David Reade QC) in defence of a collective TUPE consultation claim brought by 599 of its employees.
• Defending a collective unfair dismissal/redundancy consultation claim over 8 days brought by 21 baggage handlers at Manchester Airport who contend that they were unfairly dismissed following a relevant transfer. The value of the remedy sought was in excess of £2 million. The matter was successfully appealed to the EAT.
• Appearing for a prominent Children’s charity in defence of allegations that its assumption of certain elements of the functions of a separate insolvent charity had the effect of transferring the employment of the former charity’s Head of Finance to it;
• Appearing for the transferee in a Regulation 12 TUPE claim and seeking to claim as a remedy damages for a fine imposed by the Low Pay Unit for historic underpayment of the transferred employees and reputational damages for the naming and shaming of the transferee.
• Appearing for the transferee in pursuing a regulation 11 TUPE claim seeking a remedy of £1.2 million as regards the provision of inadequate ELI in a cleaning contract transfer.
• Appearing for the English Institute for Sport in defence of an 8-day claim brought by a physiotherapist as regards the alleged transfer of the provision of services to GB Taekwondo.

Nicholas undertakes work across all facets of statutory employment law. He receives instructions on behalf of individuals, unions and employers. He was regularly instructed by UNITE, the UDM and Nautilus. He receives instructions from employers ranging from SMEs to blue chip conglomerates.

Examples of the matters in which recently he has been involved are:

• Appearing (led by David Reade QC) in defence of a claim brought by multiple delivery drivers against an international logistics company seeking holiday pay and the National Minimum Wage.
• Advising a series of national businesses, an international maritime company and an international airline as to the compliance of their systems of pay with the National Minimum Wage.
• Appearing in an appeal to the EAT on whether a voluntary season ticket deferred purchase scheme operated by a Championship Football club breaches the National Minimum Wage Act.
• Appearing in an appeal to the EAT as to the effect of an offer of a contract of employment to a worker on the principle set out in King-v-Sash Windows as regards holiday pay.
• Securing a reference to the CJEU (led by John Bowers QC) on the question of the proper application of the derogation provided by Regulation 21 of the Working Time Regulations and its compliance with EU law.
• Appearing in the first Employment Tribunal decision addressing the lawfulness of the implementation of the “Swedish derogation” in the Agency Workers Regulations.
• Appearing in a test case supported by the BMA as to whether payments to consultants for Waiting List Initiative work are to be included in the proper calculation of holiday pay.
• Appearing (led by David Reade QC) in an appeal to the Court of Appeal to determine the precise interaction of the concepts of affirmation and the ‘last straw’ doctrine in the context of claim for constructive dismissal;
• Advising an international maritime haulage company as to the lawfulness of amending the contracts of 39 of its employees at a specific location or whether the same amounts to an unlawful inducement to their giving up collective bargaining.
• Advising a Magic Circle firm as to the correct manner to amend its internal policies to address holiday pay in the context of Permanent Health Insurance.

Nicholas regularly applies his expertise in statutory discrimination law to claims in the education and goods and services sector in the civil courts. He is acutely aware of the similarities and, crucially the differences between, litigation of discrimination claims in the County Court as distinct from the Employment Tribunal. Examples of recent instructions of interest are:

• Appearing on behalf of a University in defence of multiple claims of disability discrimination and reasonable adjustments advanced by a former student. The claim involved multiple allegations and the claimant contended that as a result he had lost a successful career at the bar. Damages of £10 million were sought.
• Representing the York Barbican theatre in defence of a claim of a failure to make reasonable adjustments as regards the application of its charging policy regarding carers of disabled persons.
• Appearing on behalf of the MEN Arena in defence of claims of discrimination and a failure to make reasonable adjustments brought by a disabled person as regards adequate provision of toilet facilities.
• Advising a national retail chain as regards the access issues raised by the format of its premises and as regards a threatened claim of a failure to make reasonable adjustments.
• Advising a North East based Local Authority as to the gender/religion and belief, and gender reassignment discrimination issues arising from its operation of a historic Turkish Baths.
• Advising an international hotel chain as regards its obligations regarding the provision of television access across its estate in order to meet the needs of hearing-impaired persons.

Nicholas is a member of Littleton’s disciplinary and regulatory team and he accepts instructions in a variety of disciplinary and regulatory environments.

Many of Nicholas’ cases have been in a healthcare setting which has given him a detailed understanding in respect of internal disciplinary procedures (personal and professional conduct cases) and the developing jurisprudence concerning the court’s jurisdiction to grant injunctions to restrain either the dismissal or suspension of medical or allied professionals.

Recent examples of matters on which Nicholas has been instructed include:

• Representing (led by Damian Brown QC) a prominent consultant plastic surgeon in seeking an injunction to restrain his unlawful suspension from his private practice.
• Successfully appearing as an advocate on behalf of Health Education England in response to an internal appeal lodged by a GP trainee against the removal of his National Training Number.
• Advising a prominent consultant surgeon as to the availability of injunctive relief to prevent the termination of his training engagement on the basis of alleged whistleblowing disclosures.
• Representing an East Anglian based NHS Trust in defence of applications for interim relief and declarations brought by its Head of Children’s Services.
• Appearing on behalf of a training provider in an internal appeal against the decision of the National Plant Operators Registration Scheme to remove the provider’s training registration;
• Securing an injunction to allow the return to work of a prominent diabetologist wrongly excluded from his NHS practice on the Isle of Man.

Nicholas has also considerable experience of acting as an independent investigating officer and has experience of investigating diverse grievance and disciplinary matters, often involving detailed allegations and a wide range of witnesses. In this work, Nicholas has been instructed by a wide-range of medical professionals and organisations, including medical defence unions, law firms, academic institutions, charities and private companies across various industries.

Recent examples are:

• Wide-ranging grievances raised by a legal assistant in a law firm asserting discrimination and unfair treatment by one of the partners of the same.
• A disciplinary investigation in an international mining company arising from grievances raised by the environmental team as regards a Development Director in the context of a mining project which would affect an international heritage site.
• A month long investigation into wide-ranging alleged bullying and harassment within an international financial institution.

Nicholas was also recently instructed to sit as a disciplinary panel chair in disciplinary hearing conducted by an FSA regulated entity operating on the Isle of Man against its Head of Compliance.

Nicholas is a member of Littleton’s sports law team and accepts instructions from individuals and organisations in the ordinary courts and the relevant tribunals. Nicholas is an appointed panel member for Sports Resolutions who are the leading sports appeals/arbitration service. He is also a regular contributor of articles to LawinSport.

The Legal 500 2021 records “Other key names include Nicholas Siddall QC, who focuses on anti-doping cases,– ‘His unfailing availability and collaborative nature make him a delight to work with.’

Recent instructions include:

• Appearing on behalf of a Championship Football Club in an appeal against the decision of the Player Related Dispute Commission as regards deductions from the wages of a player.
• Appearing for a Super League Rugby League Club in defence of a claim of tort/breach of contract brought by a former international player asserting that he was dismissed and sustained loss as a result of misleading advice given as to the lawfulness of a supplement by the club’s conditioning coach.
• Appearing on behalf of the English Institute for Sport in defence of a TUPE claim brought by a physiotherapist permanently allocated to provide services to GB Taekwondo.
• Appearing for a Championship Football Club in defence of National Minimum Wage claims brought on the basis of its provision of credit as regards the purchase of season tickets by its staff.
• Acting for the groundsmen of Hull City FC and Hull FC in their claims of unfair dismissal against the KCOM Stadium management company.
• Acting as an independent legal advisor to British Shooting in its selection of athletes for the Cyprus World Cup event.
• Advising a prominent cyclist as regards the defence of doping claims raised by UKAD.
• Advising a prominent cyclist as regards his appeal against the decision of British Cycling not to select him for the Rio Olympics.
• Appearing for the former Defence Coach of a Premiership Rugby team in his claim for wrongful dismissal.
• Appearing for a former Championship football club manager in his claim for unfair and wrongful dismissal.
• Advising a Championship Football club as to their rights to compensation as a result of the signing of one of their youth development players by a Serie A club.