Elissa Thursfield

Gamlins Law Ltd

Elissa Thursfield is a Director and Head of Employment at Gamlins Law Ltd. Elissa represents a range of employers from small business to PLC level corporates, advising on employment and data protection issues across the UK.

She has particular experience within the Care, Construction and Logistics sectors on both contentious and non-contentious matters. Elissa is especially passionate about working closely with internal HR teams and supporting employee engagement, relations and workforce change with skill in supporting businesses in periods of rapid growth.

Client’s particularly like Elissa’s ‘no nonsense and commercially focussed approach’, ‘cutting through legal jargon to provide advice that gets to the heart of the issues’.

Elissa speaks regularly at seminars and events on employment matters, as well as undertaking speaking engagements on the subject of leadership due to her role as a volunteer Helm with the RNLI.

Elissa is a contributor for the BBC and regularly provides commentary on Employment Law issues for BBC Radio Wales.

Elissa has been awarded the Law Society’s Junior Lawyer of the Year, Rising Star of the Year in the Welsh Legal Awards and was a finalist for Solicitor of the Year in the Law Society Excellence Awards in 2020.

In addition to her position with Gamlins Law Ltd, Elissa is Managing Director of HR Anchor Limited.

Practice Area

Employment

Panel

Welsh Panel

Qualified Year

2013

Experience

HR Anchor Limited (2019 - 2021)
Squire Patton Boggs (2010 - 2013)
JCBA Limited (2009 - 2010)
Hroes: The Virtual Workplace Co-Founder (2023 - Present)
Emplawya Ltd (2023 - Present)

Qualifications

LPC (2009)
LLB (2008)

Education

College of law, Chester (2009)
University of Cardiff (2008)
Withington Girls’ School (2005)

2 Contributions by Elissa Thursfield

PRACTICE NOTES

Welsh employment law differences from England: smoke-free rules, public sector socio-economic duty, apprenticeships, and agricultural workers’ minimum pay, overtime, leave, sick pay, accommodation and allowances

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: Agricultural Minimum Wage rates are ordinarily reviewed each year by the Agricultural Advisory Panel for Wales (the Panel). As the recruitment of a new Chair is still underway, the Panel has not been able to finalise an Agricultural Wages Order for 2026. Accordingly, from 1 April 2026 the rates set out in the Agricultural Wages (Wales) Order 2025, SI 2025/293, will continue to apply, except where superseded by changes to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) or National Living Wage (NLW). This Practice Note will be updated to reflect any amendments introduced by the Agricultural Wages Order for 2026 once it is made. FORTHCOMING CHANGE: Relevant provisions (not yet in force) of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 will create a new scheme of apprenticeships in Wales, replacing the current regime under Chapter 1 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (ASCLA 2009), from a date yet to be determined. This Practice Note is a guide to the key elements of employment law in Wales that differ from the corresponding legislation applying in England. It covers Welsh employment law relating to smoking in the workplace, the...

Employment

Q&As

Sickness During Parental Leave: Right to Cancel and Take Sick Leave?

Parental leave Parental leave (meaning unpaid parental leave, and not to be confused with Shared Parental Leave) is regulated by the Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999 (MAPLE Regs 1999), SI 1999/3312. The default position under the MAPLE Regs 1999, SI 1999/3312, Sch 2, requires employees to: give notice of their intention to take parental leave, specifying the dates the leave will begin and end; and give at least 21 days’ notice of the date on which the parental leave is to start. MAPLE Regs 1999, SI 1999/3312, Sch 2, also sets out that the minimum period of leave that can be taken at any one time is a week, and that leave must be taken in weekly blocks, not individual days (assuming the child in question is not disabled)...