This is a legal document that, once signed, waives any claims or rights of action you may have to sue your employer and any other parties named in the agreement like Group Companies or the employer’s officers or employees. In return for this waiver, the employer usually pays you (the employee) a sum of money or gives you some other benefit – like an agreed reference, letting you keep items of company property, or releasing you from certain contractual restrictions. The Agreement will often contain other terms to control the exit and protect the employer, like confidentiality clauses and specific warranties for you to sign. It should also specify a termination date, if it is envisaged that your employment is to come to an end.
As a Settlement Agreement waives your legal rights, there is a statutory obligation that it is counter signed by a solicitor or legal executive acting purely on your behalf. This is so that a solicitor / legal executive can explain exactly what you are agreeing to. You also then have the opportunity to take legal advice on whether what is being offered is appropriate and consider if you wish to negotiate any changes to the Agreement.
If you are interested in entering into a Settlement Agreement (whether on the terms that have been proposed or on different terms) you should make an appointment as soon as possible with our specialist employment law team to talk this through. We are happy to meet face to face or by telephone, Skype or video conference if that suits you better. It is best not to agree any deal until you have taken legal advice.
Please do let us know If there is a date that the Agreement is to be signed by. It is helpful also for us to see a copy of your contract of employment, if you have one.
You may be concerned about the costs of getting legal advice on the Settlement Agreement: your employer should pay a contribution to your legal costs to get the Agreement properly signed, given that this is a legal requirement for the document to be valid. Check the terms of the Agreement to see what contribution has been offered.
If you already know you don’t want to sign the Agreement or you decide after taking advice that you don’t wish to, there is absolutely no obligation for you to do so. Our specialist employment law team can help advise you on your best course of action and whether you have any claim against your employer that you may want to pursue. Do be aware that if a Settlement Agreement is not signed, your employer will not pay a contribution to your legal fees and you would need to pay them yourself. Do discuss this with our team if you have any concerns in this regard.
Chris Morse, a Legal Executive within the Employment Team talks through some of the key issues and what you should be considering on an agreed exit or Settlement Agreement in the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aWyNvmbt-c&index=14&list=PLswGrmy74-BQ2Gb_8LpnZR78k4SkL6xby
As general points, gather evidence or documents (while everything is fresh in your mind) that shows how your targets have changed (particularly if there is any evidence to suggest the new targets are unreasonable, unachievable or out of your control), or task lists/Job Descriptions showing the changes to responsibilities.
If you would like to exit your employment under a negotiated agreement, please refer to the specific FAQ on this.
If you feel unhappy with the way you are being treated by your employer, and want to raise this so it can be resolved, please refer to the specific FAQ on this.
As general points, gather evidence, names of witnesses, or documents (while everything is fresh in your mind) that shows how your boss has been discriminating against you.
Discrimination in employment is a complex area of the law, so we recommend taking advice at an early stage. The characteristics that are protected in our equality laws are:
There are also various different types of discrimination to consider including: direct, indirect, harassment, and victimisation, that need careful consideration in making any claim.
If you feel that your employer’s conduct is so serious as to leave you no choice but to resign, please refer to the specific FAQ on constructive dismissal. We recommend that you take advice from our specialist employment team before doing so. The employer’s conduct must be sufficiently serious to justify your resignation, not something minor. It must go to “the root of the contract of employment” so it is quite a high threshold to reach.
If you would like to exit your employment under a negotiated agreement, please refer to the specific FAQ on this.
If you feel unhappy with the way you are being treated by your employer, and want to raise this so it can be resolved, please refer to the specific FAQ on this. Your employer may have a section of their Grievance policy (or a separate policy) that covers how you should raise any complaint about a ‘Dignity at Work’ issue, which you should follow.
It’s important to realise you are not alone and that there is legal protection which can be sought.
Becoming a director of a limited company is a big responsibility, and there are a number of things you must do. As the South West’s number one corporate team for SMEs, Stephens Scown are here to assist you to understand and undertake those responsibilities. Do watch our video: https://tinyurl.com/ybperhls
Yes, anyone can ask for mediation at any time, although there is no legal right that the employer should arrange this if asked.
Mediation is usually helpful where there is a dispute between 2 colleagues or between you and the company, where there is still a desire to work out the problem and maintain good relationships. It is particularly useful in resolving issues to enable parties to carry on working together.
A trained mediator guides you through the process and helps you identify the real issues and come up with ideas to improve things. They do this mainly by asking questions but if you find it helpful they can use their experience to make suggestions. You will decide if you want to take up these ideas. A mediator won’t take sides or judge who is right or wrong. Because the aim is to repair working relationships, the mediator will help you focus on the future, not the past. Those involved will usually be given a written copy of anything that is agreed.
The cost of a mediator is usually paid by the employer, but with agreement it can be shared.
If you feel unhappy with the way you are being treated by your employer, please refer to the specific FAQ on this.
If you feel you are being bullied or harassed at work, please refer to the specific FAQ on this.
To some degree, the answer to this is, “it depends”. Anyone wanting to bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal must generally do so within three months of the date of dismissal/resignation or the act complained of (although there is some ability for that deadline to be extended in certain circumstances). Before you can submit a claim to the Employment Tribunal, you must contact ACAS and enter into Early Conciliation via th website form, which can then extend the deadline for submitting a claim. The standard Early Conciliation period, which can be used to see if your claim can be settled, lasts for one month and can be extended once by up to 14 days.
Once the Early Conciliation period has been completed, you can submit your claim. The Employment Tribunal will serve it on your employer and unless an extension of time is agreed, they then have 28 days to respond.
Thereafter, the timeline for your claim is subject to any case management orders which may be given. There are various stages to every claim including the exchanging of relevant documents, the preparation of a schedule of loss, the drafting of witness statements and, of course, the final hearing. A timetable will be set between the parties and in agreement with the Tribunal (usually at a preliminary hearing, which will often be by telephone) for each of these stages and penalties can be imposed for a failure to comply with the timetable. The listing of the final hearing will be subject to the workload of the Tribunal, the number and complexity of issues to be determined and the availability of witnesses but you could reasonably expect it to take six months to a year to get a hearing date. Judgment may be reserved following the hearing and may not be sent for another month or so, though it must be sent within a reasonable time.
We have a wealth of experience within the team of advising employees on claims and representing them in the Employment Tribunal. If you are contemplating bringing a claim against your employer, it is important that you get advice as early as possible in the process so you can prepare fully and be in the best possible position to be successful. We would be happy to explore the different funding options with you.
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