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Portrait ofCatriona Aldridge

Catriona Aldridge

Partner

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Saltire Court
20 Castle Terrace
Edinburgh
EH1 2EN
United Kingdom
Languages English, French

Catriona is a partner in our UK employment team. Described as “first class”, she provides employment law support on both contentious and non-contentious matters to UK-wide and international clients across a range of sectors, including construction, hotels & leisure, financial services and energy.  

Catriona works with employers to advise on all aspects of the employment lifecycle and is recognised for her ability to give clear, practical advice on both day-to-day (for example industrial relations, disciplinary and grievance issues, redundancy) and more niche employment law matters (for example positive action and clash of rights). She works closely with clients on all aspects of business change, including both UK and international restructures and regularly advises on TUPE. This breadth of experience means she is adept at advising clients of all sizes, from large multi-national clients to start-up clients through the CMS equIP programme. 

She is a versatile litigator, noted by the Legal 500 for her experience in representing clients at the employment tribunal. She has defended employment tribunal claims covering topics from discrimination (including disability, sex, religion & belief), whistleblowing and breach of contract and ranging from high value claims brought by senior individuals to union-backed mass claims for equal pay and holiday pay.

Catriona has a particular interest in the ESG agenda from a people perspective and speaks and writes regularly on topics such as diversity & inclusion. 

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"Catriona Aldridge is another key member of the team; she deals with both contentious and non-contentious work and frequently acts for hotel and leisure alongside food and drink sector clients."

Legal 500, 2022

"Rising star"

Legal 500, 2022

Relevant experience

  • Managing the account of a UK-wide financial planning, investment management and advisory company, co-ordinating the employment team which supports the client on all aspects of employment related work, including disciplinary, grievance, senior exits, restrictive covenants, SMCR and IR35. Catriona has also supported this client after a number of mergers with exercises involving harmonisation of terms and policies. 
  • Successfully defending an equal pay claim raised by three social care workers against a local authority, including carrying out the advocacy in a 18 day hearing, involving 11 witnesses and resulting in the Tribunal supporting the Council’s approach to job evaluation.
  • Providing a full employment law service to a key Scottish visitor attraction for close to 15 years, including advising on putting in place a furlough collective agreement, changing rota patterns and terms and conditions, complex disciplinary situations, capability processes and defending disability discrimination claims. Catriona also worked with this client to resolve a dispute with one of its unions which had been ongoing over several years.
  • Providing advice on changes to the off-payroll working rules to a number of construction industry clients, including a UK-wide infrastructure services company, a civil engineering company and in respect of a range of FM contractors.
  • Advising on the TUPE and other employment issues arising from the sale by a UK- wide asset manager of its life & pensions and wealth businesses.
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Education

  • 2005 – Diploma in Legal Practice, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
  • 2004 – LL.B (Distinction), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
  • 2002 – BA (Hons), History with French, University of Durham, Durham
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Feed

04/12/2023
Environmental whistleblowing
In­tro­duc­tion Cli­mate change poses risks to businesses, stakeholders and individuals alike. Many individuals are becoming increasingly concerned with the climate crisis and want to work, and do business...
04/10/2023
Climate change
Businesses across all sectors are making strategic and operational changes to become more environmentally sustainable; setting net zero targets, reconfiguring products and services, changing production processes and reviewing the carbon footprint of premises…the list goes on. As part of any green agenda it is vital that organisations thoroughly consider the impact of these changes on their people. The ideal is for the workforce to be aligned to the organisation’s approach to climate change and to understand to rationale for any associated changes in workplace policy or practice. However there can be cultural and contractual impacts, which in turn can affect loyalty and job satisfaction and ultimately result in grievances or claims. Clashing priorities will inevitably arise and it is key that employers turn their minds to how they will navigate these workforce challenges to ensure they succeed in their quest of achieving a greener future. 
18/09/2023
Climate activism and protected beliefs
Climate activism is not a new issue. But for some employers it is becoming a new workplace is­sue. Em­ploy­ers, like politicians, would prefer to bring people with them on their climate change journey...
21/07/2023
Changes to flexible working on the horizon after Employment Relations (Flexible...
The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. The Bill was introduced to Parliament in June 2022 as a Private Member’s Bill and received government backing...
22/06/2023
Workforce reporting
Reporting on workforce data is one way of measuring the social aspect of ESG. Gender pay gap reporting is probably the most popular method but there are other ways that an organisation can publish workforce data to enhance their ESG credentials.  Apart from gender pay and some aspects of corporate governance, workforce reporting is a largely unregulated area of the law. Employers currently have a choice about what information they publish. We believe that will change in time. The direction of travel is towards greater transparency and more data, as the EU has shown in adopting the Pay Transparency Directive. Although this Directive will not apply to the UK when it is implemented in three years’ time, we envisage it will have an impact in the EU with multinationals who operate across the EU and the UK.
20/06/2023
Tip-top: new legislation on tipping
The new Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act (the Act) will make it unlawful for employers to withhold tips and service charges from staff.There is no immediate date scheduled for implementation, although...
19/04/2023
Voluntary ethnicity pay reporting
The government has published voluntary guidance for employers on Ethnicity Pay Reporting (the Guidance).The Guidance acknowledges that while there are similarities with gender pay gap reporting, ethnicity...
27/03/2023
Sustainable Tourism
Sustainable tourism is vital for our economy, having been identified in the Scottish Government’s Scotland's Economic Strategy (2015) as a growth sector where the country can build on existing comparative advantage as well as increase productivity.
15/03/2023
Mental health and wellbeing
Mental health and wellbeing is seen as a critical aspect of the Social pillar of ESG, which focuses on how employers behave towards their staff. Sup­port­ing employees’ mental health and wellbeing is not only the right thing to do as a socially responsible employer, but there are also business benefits to be gained.
13/03/2023
Neurodiversity in the workplace
13 – 19 March 2023 is Neurodiversity Celebration Week, a worldwide initiative aiming to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological dif­fer­ences.Neurodi­versity Celebration Week is a great...
21/02/2023
ESG: Strengthening governance through better workforce reporting
In the final part of our ESG series looking at employment law and ESG, we consider what employers can do to strengthen their workforce reporting as part of good gov­ernance.Work­force reporting means publishing...
25/10/2022
Gender
What will the transition to net zero mean for women’s labour market equality?