Settlement agreement advice today

As an employee, you have many potential rights and claims where the law affords you protection.  Many of these claims are complex and, when your employment comes to an end, many of those claims crystallise and you have a relatively short window to pursue them.

It’s often difficult for individuals to fully appreciate and understand all the possible claims they may have and how to pursue or enforce them.

Therefore, to protect you, the law also provides that settlement agreements can only be effective if certain conditions are met.  This includes a requirement for you to take independent legal advice.  As such, the aim is to ensure that you benefit from such advice so you can appreciate and understand the claims you have and are settling by signing a settlement agreement.

Often, the employment relationship is seen as one where your employer has a position of strength.  To try and balance that, the law tries to ensure that you are protected, so has imposed this condition.

We often advise clients who are pleased to be leaving and who have secured a payoff.  They generally want to accept the offer that has been made (and quickly).

If you are in this position, it’s fantastic news and we can help today – just call us now:

0800 9157777

If you are in this situation, our view is that you should not be incurring any legal fees as terms are agreed. As such, we will agree to sign off your settlement agreement for the contribution from your employer.  This approach means there will be no fees for you to pay.  

Yes, this is quite common.  If your situation means there is a delay between notice being given and when you sign the first settlement agreement (i.e. now) and when your employment actually terminates then it’s common for you to sign two settlement agreements; one now (when notice is served) and a second agreement at the end of your notice period.

The reason for this is that additional claims can occur between notice being served and your employment terminating  By asking you to sign a second settlement agreement / reaffirmation letter or reaffirmation agreement shortly after your employment terminates means that any claims that may have arisen since signing the first settlement agreement will also be settled by virtue of you signing the second settlement agreement.

As such, this structure/approach is normal in certain situations and one we will be happy to explain further.

If this situation applies to you, then it’s vital you agree the terms of the reaffirmation letter/agreement / second settlement agreement before you sign the first settlement agreement.  When you sign the first settlement agreement, you become contractually bound to sign the second agreement so there will be no later opportunity for any further negotiation/changes.  Also, the payments and benefits you are due to receive are usually loaded into the second settlement agreement, so if you fail to sign that, you won’t get the financial terms/benefits you’re expecting.

Over the years we have dealt with thousands of settlement agreements.  It’s fair to say there is no standard size or type.  Some settlement agreements are reasonably short; others are very lengthy.  It really depends on your position/role, the size of your employer etc as to how you are treated and what your settlement agreement will look like.

Outplacement support is a common additional benefit of a settlement agreement especially for senior executives.  This usually involves your employer paying for an external provider to help and support you in looking for and finding a new job.

We regularly see employers engaging the services of large outplacement support providers and we received mixed feedback about them. Where outplacement support is offered, we suggest to our clients that they should, instead, secure the services of a provider of their choice, and we can help make recommendations, if needed.

Sometimes, clients want to retrain, and so we often negotiate with your employer to use this money to pay for retraining costs instead.