Negotiating exit from work

[Lostwifehelp]

Can anyone share their experience of going through this? DH is about to go through this as a project winds down and he has nothing else in the pipeline. He has a long notice period (6 months) but I’m guessing they will try to negotiate it down so he will probably get paid for a few months? Any insights appreciated/

I understand. It sounds like he has considered alternatives already.

The perennial problem, which is the one me and many of my other colleagues faced when wanting to leave fee-earning, is that very few roles pay as well as law. I can only think of Tech or Finance. He needs to clear his head first.

Sorry to be pedantic but just on the tax free point - PILON or anything that can be linked to PILON must be taxable which would include his notice period. It's only a redundancy or ex gratia payment that the £30k tax free applies to.

Thanks. Fine was perhaps slightly different as it involved a discretionary bonus. It was rigorously checked by company accountant and external employment lawyer so I am reasonably confident.

@blueshoes Yeah that’s definitely the problem. His skill set is definitely more in management, strategy and being the public face of a company rather than a traditional lawyer role but finding a senior role where his experience will count and he is paid a decent salary is the challenge.

Once the company put any offer in writing he will be advised to consult a lawyer. They can advise but if his job is to bring in work and he hasn't he should take what he's offered, or try and negotiate for slightly more but if they put him on gardening leave for 6m he can't get another job during that time anyway as he's still "employed", so I'd cut and run! And avoid disciplinary routes.

Well this is true, but unless he is fired for gross misconduct they still have to pay him for his notice period

Unless he joins a start up (that could be an option but obviously risky if the start up fails), his best way of getting into a senior role within a big organisation is via the legal route. Once he is in the company, he can make connections and be on the look out for sideways moves into management. If he likes management and strategy, there is much scope for that inhouse but he needs the sector experience and commercial first.

Might take a few steps to get there since it is a career change.

He could try doing an MBA but I am not sure of the value of that v. trying to get into the organisation first. The opportunity cost will be huge unless it is a pt MBA. But that is hard with young children and if his MH is not good, not the best hurdle to climb.

Is he interested in management consultancy? Again, if we knew what his practice area or skill set is, it will be easier to come up with ideas.

@blueshoes Makes sense. His practice area is arbitration so not really the right background for an in-house role from what I understand.

Yes, arbitration is not the easiest segue into inhouse. The case that he has been working for years, is that in a particular sector. If that sector is say, oil & gas, he can try to look for inhouse roles in that sector.

Alternatively there are companies that have big inhouse legal teams managing their litigation. His arbitration/contentious work experience will put him in good stead there. GC roles, at least within law firms, often involve handling the company's litigation. Look for a firm/organisation that is always being sued.

I am not sure whether he has spoken to a recruiter (or two) but this requires more exploration and putting his CV out there and speaking to contacts. Appreciate his head may not be in that space yet.

If his mental health really is this bad, I think that needs to be addressed asap. Because a partner in a law firm who thinks that he won't get his 6 months is either in an extreme mental health crisis and can't see the wood for the trees or, unfortunately, is lying to you about what's really happening.

As MPs have said, law firms have good employee assistance programmes and he should be accessing it. And if he refuses, you should - most of these programmes cover immediate family as well as the actual employee. I'm not sure what, if anything, they can do to help if he isn't doing it, but it's worth a shot.

He's a lawyer and your asking on here for legal advice on his behalf?!

@blueshoes Thanks. He has experience in a couple of sectors. Will ask him to look at in house roles again. I think he felt that because his experience is in arbitration and not general commercial litigation that he’s not a good fit. He has spoken to a number of recruiters but nothing has come from those conversations. Maybe once his case is over he can double down on the job hunt. I am worried about how he will make such a huge transition at this stage in his career but I’ve always been a bit of a pessimist and right now I feel I really cannot be one.

@SavBlancTonight I’m getting the support I need through this. One of the sad realities I’ve had to accept is that if someone refuses to get help there really isn’t anything you can do for them, unless they are behaving in ways that requires sectioning (which he is not).

I’m confused he’s a lawyer by occupation but doesn’t seem to u set stand the basics of employment law and an employee contract.

https://www.lawcare.org.uk/

Might be worth looking at if you are worried re his mental health.

@Dixiechickonhols Thank you. There’s so much support available but getting him to take the first step is just impossible right now :(

Could he look to move into a professional support role (at a new firm)?

I’d also be concerned he might not be telling you full story. Has he been happy to take decent chunks of annual leave without logging on i.e he’s not worried about colleagues seeing his files or stuff coming out of woodwork in his absence.
There are in house roles - local authority commercial struggles to recruit as it pays peanuts compared to private practice but if you can take financial hit and he’s looking to work somewhere with a supportive ethos then it might be worth a look.

No he can't.

PILON cannot be tax free as its contractual. Any Ex gratia payment up to 30k is tax free. I would be vary wary of how they have done it @Sirius3030 if that is the case. There is a very good chance that HMRC will come after you, plus that coupled with your settlement agreement wording would mean you were liable for the tax.

Anyway to the OP, if he has 6 months contractual notice then they can't get away with paying him less. When he said it was the start of a without prejudice agreement, what does he mean exactly? Were the terms without prejudice said?
If they put him on a PIP why would he fail? The thing with a PIP is that if it is set up to fail, you do have recourse (if that's the way you would wish to go).

He’s not willing to consider a pay drop. We still have a decent sized mortgage and school fees. Luckily we have significant savings so we could handle a period of unemployment but in the long run can’t afford for him to be on a lower salary, unless we make lifestyle changes (and he will not entertain that, at least not right now).

Whops, I have missed three pages...

Another job !

And when does it want it ?

In about six months time

No I appreciate that. Not sure if they would speak to you to see what help is available.
There’s also
https://www.thesolicitorscharity.org/

If he's in project work this is par for the course. Sounds like he's got loads of time to find another job in the same field of he's not in a position to be TUPE'd.

This is where LinkedIn and networking like mad comes in play.