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Chris Bracebridge

Chris Bracebridge specialises in advising multinational employers on international employment and global mobility matters, including complex transactional issues and senior employee retention and termination arrangements. He co-heads a Global Workforce Solutions team providing the employment, benefits, tax and immigration advice required in these complex situations. A keen advocate for increasing the diversity of the legal profession, Chris also leads the London office’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

Chris’ UK domestic practice comprises contentious, commercial and advisory employment experience. He advises on the HR aspects of company and business acquisitions and disposals, and outsourcing transactions, represents major employers in dismissal, discrimination, and whistle-blowing cases, and advises corporate clients on the full range of day-to-day employment issues (in particular, listed company executive departures), as well as data privacy and pensions matters.

Covington’s Employment team was shortlisted for three UK national awards in 2014/2015. Mr. Bracebridge was shortlisted for Assistant Solicitor of the Year 2009 by The Lawyer magazine. He has gained valuable in-house experience whilst on secondment to two global financial institutions - a major U.S. investment bank and a leading UK bank.

Chris regularly trains and presents to clients and external organizations and writes articles for both the legal press and client publications. He has spoken at events and conferences in the UK, U.S., and Europe on a range of issues such as global mobility, executive departures, redundancy, gender pay gap reporting, data protection and transfers of undertakings.

On December 18, 2025, the UK Government passed the Employment Rights Bill, which will now be referred to as the Employment Rights Act 2025 (the “Act“). This represents the “biggest upgrade in employment rights for a generation” and introduces a wide-ranging suite of reforms to be

Continue Reading UK Employment Rights Act Finally Becomes Law

The Employment Rights Bill (“ERB”), first introduced in October 2024 as part of the new Labour government’s “Make Work Pay” initiative (see our previous article on this here), is edging closer to becoming law. Once passed, the ERB will implement radical changes affecting all UK employers for many years to

Continue Reading New UK Employment Rights Bill

On 4 September 2025, the Minister of Employment and Labour published the new Code of Good Practice: Dismissal under the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”). The Code is now in force and represents the most significant reform to South African dismissal laws in nearly three decades.

The Code consolidates and replaces both the Schedule 8: Code of Good Practice on Dismissal (which had guided dismissals since the inception of the LRA) and the Code of Good Practice on Dismissal Based on Operational Requirements. For the first time, dismissals for misconduct, incapacity, and operational requirements are dealt with under a single framework.

This reform is not merely a consolidation exercise. It reflects developments in case law since 1995, incorporates evolving understandings of workplace fairness, and introduces new concepts and processes aimed at both improving legal clarity and acknowledging business realities.Continue Reading South Africa’s New Employment Law Framework for Dismissals: What Employers Need to Know

From as soon as 1 January 2024, the UK Government is implementing a wide range of new employment law that will affect organizations with UK operations. Below is a handy table summarizing key changes and start dates.

Some critical issues for employers include: (i) stronger workplace protections against sexual harassment; (ii) increased employee flexible working rights; (iii) new holiday pay rules; (iv) new employee rights to request predictable working terms; (v) rights for agency workers to request jobs at client companies; and (vi) changes to TUPE. Continue Reading Eight Imminent Key Changes to UK Employment Law