Posted: Friday 11 February, 2011

In a time when people are losing their jobs at an alarming rate and unemployment figures have risen by 46,000 to 2.5 million, 36 Bedford Row, the Chambers of Frances Oldham Q.C, is opening up the usually cloistered world of law, and evolving the traditional legal landscape by utilising the accessibility of mobile phone applications to give quick and free employment law guidance. 

 

Designed as a user friendly tool to help workers identify employment rights, The Work Rights App offers an accurate consultation to those who feel they may have been unfairly made redundant, dismissed or suffered harassment or discrimination in the workplace. 

 

The app takes the user through a simple questionnaire, with a tick box to process answers.  It breaks down in a practical way the types of legal issues, or heads of claim, that may arise in a specific case and throughout explains the terminology, so the user can be clear on their position.  At the end of the questionnaire, depending on the input, the app should help identify whether or not there is a claim and if so set out all the key information that identifies the key components of that claim.  The information provided should help workers fill out a claim form without the need of assistance at a Citizens Advice Bureau.  

 

Available from January 2011 as an iPhone application, The Works Right App, is the first of its kind in the UK and provides an easily accessible avenue to receiving a legal consultation without having to pay the expense of instructing a barrister - which can be up to £500.00 an hour.

 

Richard O’Dair, a member of 36 Bedford Row and specialist in employment and discrimination law, commented: “The Work Rights App was launched as a private means of empowering the consumer by levelling the playing field and providing a free guidance where money doesn’t talk. All too often do we find those unfortunate enough to have suffered some sort of discrimination or harassment in the workplace, or, who have been made redundant all together, left in a position of helplessness. This is a situation especially evident in those who are in, or have come from a large, blue-chip corporation where in many cases they think ‘what’s the point of even trying to take them on’."

 

By answering a few simple questions the app will determine the strength of each case individually and whether it has the potential to stand up should it go to tribunal. Intended purely for the consumer, The Works Right App is void of all legal and technical jargon yet remains completely accurate in its diagnosis and takes between 10 and 15 minutes to complete.

 

Richard continued: “Employment law can be a minefield of information which as a result causes many people with a potentially strong case to cut their losses, move on and dismiss any chance of receiving compensation. We want to eradicate this mentality and if there’s a case to be had, it will be made prominent by the application.”  

 

This is an interactive tool that is aimed at informing employees about their work rights.  If you simply want to be more informed about your rights, this app will do that.