This is a preliminary advice note and is not a substitute for taking detailed legal advice about your situation, which may be legally complicated.<\/p>\n
Settlement agreements are a relatively common way of ending an employment relationship. Under the terms of the agreement, the employee receives a lump sum payment and then agrees to accept the money in settlement of all claims past, present or future which the employee has or may possess against the employer or any group, company, officer or staff member.<\/p>\n
For an employee, it is important to obtain reliable advice if such an agreement is presented to you by your employer.<\/p>\n
The role of the legal adviser is not just to witness your signature but to provide detailed advice as to your legal position and whether you should accept the monetary offer made by the employer under the terms of the agreement, as well as to discuss other options available.<\/p>\n
The legal adviser will also consider amendments which should be made to the wording of the draft agreement. These agreements are usually drafted very It is not uncommon for the employer to offer a contribution towards the employee\u2019s legal costs under the terms of the agreement.<\/p>\n In my experience, such contribution is negotiable, and the amount is usually required to be increased. This is Some of the terms of draft agreements are very onerous, such as an obligation upon the employee to repay the whole of the Employees should be wary about legal advisers who do not suggest any amendments to the terms of the draft agreement and who are prepared to rely entirely upon the\u00a0contribution\u00a0paid by the employer.<\/p>\n Sometimes it is advisable for clients not to accept the monetary offer on the table.<\/p>\n It is in fact not uncommon for the amounts offered by employers under settlement\u00a0agreements to be inadequate.<\/p>\n One notable example comes from a client who was offered \u00a38,000 by an employer under a\u00a0settlement\u00a0agreement. The client was advised not to sign off on the agreement, and following the making of a tribunal claim, a settlement of \u00a325,000 was agreed to.<\/p>\n It is also not uncommon for employees to have the benefit of legal expense insurance cover in order to bring tribunal claims. This is a common add-on to home contents insurance policies. Alternatively, in cases where there However, upon the basis that the employee is willing to accept the money on the table, then it is necessary to run through with the employee each of the paragraphs of the compromise agreement, making amendments where necessary or instructed to do so.<\/p>\n Compromise agreements are generally extremely onerous, and in a perfect world, we would only recommend the employee to sign after implementing reasonable changes.<\/p>\n Legal costs will depend on the amount of work involved and whether the employee feels that they can live with the agreement in its amended state or whether they should push to secure further amendments.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When ending an employment relationship, it is important for an employee to seek the help of a legal adviser to reach the best settlement agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":7975,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[12345],"tags":[11036,10460,11032,10368,11033,11034,11035,10459,11037],"class_list":{"0":"post-4763","1":"articles","2":"type-articles","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-contracts-and-agreements","8":"tag-amendment","9":"tag-compromise-agreement","10":"tag-employees","11":"tag-employers","12":"tag-employment-relationship","13":"tag-legal-adviser","14":"tag-legal-expense-insurance","15":"tag-settlement-agreements","16":"tag-tribunal-claim"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n