About the Opportunity

Job Description

Title:              Legal Counsel - Employment Legal 

Department:        Group Employment Legal Services & Policy

Location:             UK

Reports To:         Head of Group Employment Legal, Conduct and Privacy

About Fidelity International

We’re proud to have been helping our clients build better financial futures for over 50 years. How have we achieved this? By working together - and supporting each other - all over the world. So, join our team and feel like you’re part of something bigger.

Department Description

The Employment Legal Services and Policy team is a integral part of the Group Employment Legal, Conduct and Privacy function which sits within the General Counsel area.

The Head of Group Employment Legal, Conduct and Privacy heads up the Employment Legal Services team and is based in Hong Kong.  In addition to this role, Employment Legal comprises an Employment Legal Counsel who is also based in Hong Kong and is responsible for supporting the business across the APAC region, and an Employment Legal process and policy role based out of the UK. The India Legal team covers employee related matters in that region with a dotted reporting line to the Head of Group Employment Legal on key issues.

The primary objective of this team is to provide legal advice on employment related matters to the global HR and business functions, delivering pragmatic solutions and managing legal risk across the range of employment legal issues from employee impacted regulatory change, data protection compliance as well as individual ER matters.

Specifically, the Employment Legal Services team plays a critical role in managing and investigating employee conduct concerns and whistleblowing issues, ensuring consistency of treatment at a global level working closely with the Internal Investigations team and the Employee Relation team. 

In addition, Employment Legal Services partners closely with the Employee Experience team in designing and implementing new and progressive policies to enhance diversity and inclusion as well as employee wellbeing and experience.

Purpose of the Role

The primary objective of the Employment Legal Counsel is to provide expert employment legal advice to the various HR teams and the business across the UK and Ireland. The successful candidate will need to be able to work effectively across this region as well as collaborating with colleagues across the global Fidelity footprint.

This role has a broad spectrum of responsibilities and will be required to advise on legal issues in a commercial and pragmatic way such that legal risk is minimised whilst achieving optimum outcomes for both the business and the individual which is in line with the Fidelity values and behaviours. 

The successful candidate will work closely with the HR Business Partner community as well as the Reward team, the Internal Investigation team and the Employee Experience teams.  Good interpersonal skills are key.

Key Responsibilities

·       Working closely with the Employee Relations team and directly with the HR Business Partners (where appropriate) to provide legal advice on challenging and sensitive grievances, disciplinaries, data protection matters, potential litigation issues, changes to terms and conditions, whistle blowing, restructure initiatives, redundancy programmes and performance issues.  

·       Conducting and managing litigious matters, including attendance at mediations, and liaising with senior management to ensure they are kept informed at strategic points in the process.  Managing negotiations and engaging with external counsel where necessary.

·       Providing legal support to the Employment Legal process and policy lead in reviewing and drafting amendments to local country Employee Handbooks to reflect changes in the law and FIL policy, updating employment contract templates and refining local ER processes

·       Working with Corporate and Commercial Legal on outsourcing and corporate transactions.

·       Providing legal advice to the Global Data Privacy teams on employee related privacy concerns.

·       Providing regular updates to the HR Generalists on developments in employment law relevant to their jurisdiction.

·       Facilitate the provisions of Respect in the Workplace awareness training to managers.

·       Managing relationships with external law firms.

·       Assisting in the compiling and provision of data for Board reports and conduct dashboards.

·       Contributing to the overall strategy and goal agenda for the Employment Legal Services team.

Experience and Qualifications Required

·       Qualified lawyer with strong technical knowledge and experience of advising on employment law and data protection issues across UK & Ireland. 

·       The ability to deliver legal advice that is both tactical and strategic, expressing complex legal concepts in an easily understood way. Negotiates well, listens actively and challenges appropriately. 

·       A self-starter who is able to think laterally and handle a wide portfolio of matters at any one time, prioritising under pressure and managing client expectations.  Can work autonomously but escalates when appropriate.

·       A credible personal presence with the ability to instil confidence.

·       Able to build strong relationships with peers and business counterparts and enjoys working collaboratively within a team.

·       Demonstrates ability to take tasks on using initiative, providing practical ideas and suggestions.

·       Experience of working in a global matrixed organisation is preferable

·       A keen interest in exploring and working with new AI tools to support with legal advice and work efficiency.

·       Good knowledge of Microsoft tools, particularly Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint