SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT SOLICITOR LONDON W1 - EMPLOYMENT LAW - ANDREW VEITCH

  PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ANDREW VEITCH FOR AN INITIAL NO-OBLIGATION APPRAISAL OF YOUR EMPLOYMENT ISSUES AND ADVICE ON YOUR SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT (PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS A COMPROMISE AGREEMENT) WHETHER YOU ARE AN EMPLOYEE OR EMPLOYER

If you have been offered a  Settlement Agreement (Previously known as a Compromise Agreement) or a Redundancy Agreement by your employer you will need to obtain Independent Legal Advice before signing and entering into such a legally binding document with your employer. Andrew Veitch can normally offer immediate appointments to advise you on the terms of the settlement agreement with a view to also negotiating:-

Increased compensation payments and advice on the tax position of accepting a payment

Payment of outstanding bonus payments and holiday pay

Your employer paying the legal fees of the cost of advising on the ramifications of the Settlement Agreement

Agreed references for future employers

The extension of benefits after termination of your employment such as health insurance and gym membership

The removal of post employment termination restrictive  covenants with could prevent you from obtaining a new job

The inclusion of confidentiality and non-derogatory comments clause to obtain protection from your employer making complaints or derogatory comments  about you  in the future

Advice on whether or not you should reject the Settlement Agreement and issue a claim for unfair or wrongful or constructive dismissal and/or sexual or disability discrimination.

Settlement agreements  are legally binding agreements mainly used to settle disputes on the termination of employment. Once you have entered into a settlement/compromise agreement with your employer you will probably be prevented from successfully making a claim (either statutory or common law) against your employer in court or the Employment Tribunal. This is because settlement agreements generally contain "full and final settlement" clauses whereby you agree to accept financial compensation in return for giving up  claims you may have against your employer. 

Do I have to accept the offer of compensation made in the draft  settlement agreement or should I reject the offer contained in the Settlement Agreement and bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal ?

Andrew Veitch can advise you on the merits of accepting the offer or making a counter offer or issuing a claim for compensation in the courts or Employment Tribunal

Are payments made under the Settlement Agreement be paid free of tax ?

In general terms the first £30,000 of the settlement payment can be paid without deductions for tax or National Insurance Contributions. However, money owed to you under your contract of employment, such as wages/salary, holiday pay and bonus pay  will be subject to tax as if you were still working. 

In certain circumstances the position is more complex and  specialist legal advice should be obtained on the tax position.

What legal fees/solicitors costs will I have to pay?

In most cases your employer will agree to contribute   towards your legal fees of having to obtain legal advice on the meaning and effect of your settlement agreement. Thus employers often have a clause inserted into the Settlement Agreement limiting their contribution towards legal costs of somewhere between £250 to £500 plus VAT). If the Settlement Agreement is acceptable to you and you  enter into the Settlement Agreement this will mean that your employer is contractually bound to pay  all or most of your legal costs for the advice on the contents of the Settlement Agreement. If you instruct Andrew Veitch to to try and negotiate an increased level of compensation Andrew Veitch will try and negotiate and increase in the level of your employer's contribution towards your legal costs to cover the additional work and have a clause confirming the increased contribution inserted into the settlement agreement. 

 

Please feel free to telephone Andrew Veitch to discuss any Employment law matters or disputes or e-mail Andrew Veitch details of the advice you require or dispute you wish to be dealt with for a no obligation estimate of fees.

Tel: 020 7935 1095

E-mail: andrew@guyclapham.com

Blog: www.andrewveitchsolicitor.blogspot.com

Office: Guy Clapham & Co solicitors, 51-55 Weymouth Street, Marylebone, Westminster,  London W1G 8NH

This blog provides basic general legal information to help people understand their legal rights, but is not a substitute for personal legal advice from a solicitor. By the very nature of a blog the information published in blog posts on this site may be out of date. Therefore this blog is subject to our following disclaimer and conditions of use: Where no personal consultation has taken place with Andrew Veitch or the partners or employees of Guy Clapham & Co under no circumstances will Andrew Veitch or the partners of Guy Clapham & Co be responsible for (1) any information contained in, omitted or received from this site, (2) any persons reliance on any such information, whether or not the information is correct, current or complete, (3) the consequences of any action you or any other person takes or fails to take, whether or not based on information provided (4)

DO YOU STILL HAVE A REDUNDANCY CLAIM ? - EMPLOYMENT SOLICITOR ANDREW VEITCH LONDON W1

HAS THERE BEEN A CHANGE IN THE  SELECTION CRITERIA FOR REDUNDANCY?

Normally employers have been required to use "objective" selection criteria to ascertain which employees are selected for redundancy. This involved a selection criteria where scores or assessments were made against all the employees that potentially were subject to redundancy in order to select which employees were made redundant. However, in a recent judgement by Lord Neuberger (the country's most senior judge) this position may have changed. 

Lord Neuberger sitting in the Employment Appeal Tribunal decided in the case of Mitchells of Lancaster (Brewers) -v- Tattersall [2012] UKEAT/0605/11 that a "subjective criteria" could be used in certain circumstances. 

In this particular case, the decision related to a relatively small company in serious financial difficulties, where the board decided to make one redundancy out of 5 people in its management team. It was decided the selection criteria would be "whose post could be abolished with the minimum detrimental impact on the business". Clearly this is a subjective view that the directors would have to take rather than the traditional objective method where a scoring system based on a matrix or assessment is used. Lord Neuberger stated, "It is hard to see how it can be inappropriate for a relatively small company in serious financial difficulties.... to apply this criteria...". 

Only time will tell how this decision will be applied in due course, but it appears that a change in approach has occurred.

If you require any advice with regard to employment matters, employment contracts, redundancy, unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal or a compromise agreement please do not hesitate to contact Andrew Veitch who may be  willing to initially discuss (for free) whether or not he will be  to assist or advise you further. 

This blog provides basic general legal information to help people understand their legal rights, but is not a substitute for personal legal advice from a solicitor. By the very nature of a blog the information published in blog posts on this site may be out of date. Therefore this blog is subject to our following disclaimer and conditions of use: Where no personal consultation has taken place with Andrew Veitch or the partners or employees of Guy Clapham & Co under no circumstances will Andrew Veitch or the partners of Guy Clapham & Co be responsible for (1) any information contained in, omitted or received from this site, (2) any persons reliance on any such information, whether or not the information is correct, current or complete, (3) the consequences of any action you or any other person takes or fails to take, whether or not based on information provided (4)