Employment Contract Disputes

At the heart of every employment relationship lies a contract, a framework of mutual obligation, trust, and commercial expectation. But even the best-drafted agreements can fracture.

Departing staff may test their restrictions. Senior hires may arrive with hidden obligations. Disputes over notice, pay, or confidentiality can swiftly move from inconvenience to commercial threat.

Watershed works exclusively with employers to navigate these moments. We bring clarity to contractual disputes and secure outcomes that protect business continuity, reputation and leadership integrity.

Our work spans the breadth of contractual risk, including:

Breach of contract

We advise where employees have disregarded post-termination restrictions, misused confidential information, or removed company property. Our focus is on swift action, measured response, and enforceable remedy.

Notice obligations

From contested resignations to garden leave disputes, we clarify legal positions and advise on tactical next steps – whether the priority is handover, morale, or legal insulation.

Senior hire disputes

We support employers caught between onboarding urgency and post-hire revelations – restrictive covenants, misrepresentation, or conflicting obligations. We help you navigate a route that protects your business without triggering avoidable risk.

Enforceability

Not all clauses are created equal. We provide clear-headed assessments of restriction strength, and negotiate undertakings where enforcement is uncertain but exposure is real.

Sensitive exits

Where contract breaches intersect with reputational, regulatory or leadership concerns, we help employers exit individuals with discretion and strategic control – often behind the scenes and always with an eye on what matters most.

Our approach

Contractual disputes are rarely just about the contract. They touch on morale, momentum, leadership credibility, and future precedent. We approach these cases accordingly:

• Rapid triage
  
We identify commercial risks and priorities fast, so that internal decision-making is proportionate, confident, and joined-up.

• Measured correspondence
  We handle direct communication with current or former employees, and where necessary, with competitors, setting out obligations, securing undertakings, and forestalling escalation.
• Pragmatic escalation

  We advise when to pursue formal enforcement and when a negotiated outcome better serves the business. If litigation is necessary, we work seamlessly with external litigators to align strategic and legal positioning.

Why clients choose Watershed

Employer-only focus

We represent employers, never employees. That clarity avoids conflicts and ensures our advice is always commercially aligned.

Deep experience

We regularly advise on disputes involving senior executives, post-termination restrictions, and sensitive exits. These cases are not outliers; they are our daily work.

Board-level insight

As a firm closely linked with Collinson Grant’s management consultancy practice, we understand how contractual disputes intersect with leadership dynamics, brand protection and organisational risk.

Solution-led strategy

We offer neither knee-jerk aggression nor undue caution. We give employers the advice we would want ourselves: practical, direct, and based on real-world outcomes.

Recent matters

• Enforced contractual restrictions against a former employee who joined a direct competitor, securing enforceable undertakings without litigation.
• Navigated onboarding of a critical hire with restrictive covenants, negotiating agreement with their former employer to de-risk the hire and preserve trust.
• Advised on wrongful dismissal claims, notice pay disputes and pay in lieu of notice, achieving commercially sound settlements with minimal disruption.