Chris Hayes is a Partner in the HR Rely team based in Liverpool. He specialises in supporting SMEs and Owner Manages Businesses with day-to-day HR and Employment law advice.
Chris is an employment law specialist focused on advising SME and owner-managed businesses on day-to-day workplace issues and strategic people decisions. His practice is built around delivering commercially grounded advice that aligns with each organisation’s operational goals while clearly setting out legal risk and available options. He is known for adopting a strongly commercial and pragmatic approach, ensuring that business objectives are met wherever reasonably possible, with risk levels carefully assessed and explained at each stage.
He takes a solutions - focused and prevention led approach to employment law. His priority is early intervention by identifying and addressing workplace issues before they escalate into formal disputes or Employment Tribunal litigation. This reduces cost, management time, and reputational exposure for clients. Where claims do arise, he provides full tribunal defence support, offering continuity of service from initial advisory stages through to formal proceedings and resolution. This is often comforting for clients to ensure that the finer details of each matter are not lost in translation.
His experience includes complex disciplinary and grievance matters, senior exits, executive terminations, and negotiated settlements, including cases involving directors and shareholdings. He regularly advises at board level on restructuring exercises, growth strategy, and sensitive workforce change, translating legal exposure into practical commercial choices.
Chris is widely regarded by clients as calm, methodical, and measured, particularly when handling emotionally charged employee relations issues. He is collaborative in style, working closely with business leaders and HR professionals to understand each organisation’s structure, culture, and risk appetite before tailoring advice.
In addition to advisory and dispute work, Chris delivers in-person training for businesses, HR teams, and board-level stakeholders. His training covers core HR and employment law topics as well as current legal developments and regulatory updates, delivered in a practical, hands-on format designed for real-world application and decision-making.
He is also a strong advocate of legal technology and modern service delivery. He actively promotes the use of artificial intelligence and document automation to improve efficiency, consistency, and client experience, ensuring legal support is delivered in a contemporary and accessible format.
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Chris Hayes inspires confidence with his reassuring and personal communication methods.
Legal 500, 2025 -
Very informative has a knowledgeable and hands-on approach and keeps you updated at all times.
Legal 500, 2025
Experience and notable cases:
• Successfully resolved a complex and potentially significantly damaging Equal Pay dispute before it became litigated in the Employment tribunal. The matter involved a female alleging she was being paid less than a male colleague for work of equal value in a large and well-known professional services company. The potential for the matter to lead to multiple further grievances / claims internally was significant, along with the potential for significant reputational damage in the market. An excellent settlement was achieved with strict confidentiality clauses in place to ensure the company was protected. Chris then supported the Company from a strategic point of view to review its practices and take positive steps to mitigate future risk.
• Strategically guided a Company through a highly charged and emotive dismissal process of a senior Company Director and Shareholder, in a matter involving allegations of sexual harassment and bullying. Chris was able to navigate the matter expertly, ensuring that a fair process was followed. He then successfully defended a claim that was brought by the outgoing Director in the Employment Tribunal. Supporting the Company throughout the entire process and guiding them every step of the way, was invaluable to the client in terms of achieving a fair dismissal and successfully defending the claim that followed.
• Supported a large national company and their HR Business Partners with a series of linked grievance and claims regarding alleged underpayment of overtime as part of holiday pay. Chris helped the company to resolve the claims quickly and amicably and then provided strategic guidance on rectifying the core issue, going forward.