To think she’s lying? Or do companies really do this?

[BlazingSunsh]

A friend I have got closer to over recent months told me that she fell out with her employer, a law firm, and was paid 70k if she agreed to leave without further fuss. She was on 90k at the time. The dispute was over her workload/what she had been given and how she felt she had been blocked to progress. The company disagreed but wanted her to leave so apparently offered this? I find this totally unbelievable?! 70k with no tax? Do these things happen?! If so I want to try it as that’s basically two years of my entire income after tax!

And of course all these 'pay offs' and 'settlements' for male bullshit eventually does trickle down to increased costs for the little people at the bottom.

Here's an idea; what about trying to eradicate the emulation of existing of patriachies as being the 'gatekeepers' of women's progression with a better share of all 'caring responsibilities' between the gender roles?

All fairy dust until women stop shitting on other women in order to get ahead.

My sister is the person that does these pay offs where she works. I have offered to go and work for them then get paid off to leave after I balls it all up.

Our council paid a director £200k to leave. It’s outrageous.

It’s a simple way for companies to avoid a long and protracted HR process. Compromise agreements avoid a long, boring grievances, performance improvement plans etc.

I’ve just dealt with an employee grievance. It’s taken hours and hours of work over the past 6 weeks. The allegations are nearly all horseshit, intended to get a pay off I think. I’m determined the person won’t get a penny though 😂

It’s doubtful you’d get 2 year’s salary. 3 months’ ex-gratia (up to 30k is tax free), possibly a portion of bonus, plus pay in lieu of notice (taxed) isn’t unusual for a settlement.

I knew someone who was a lawyer too, and got paid out her wages for the rest of her working life. No idea how she managed it. But she did, it was millions. Employment law was her area so she obviously knew what to say.

you dont make a fuss, you just fight for your life if you are being made redundant and your household income is being reduced by 2/3rds.

You sound fairly naive tbh @BlazingSunsh

Yes it does happen more often than you think, companies 'buy off' people to get rid of them, make them go quietly without a fuss usually signing NDAs as part of the settlement.

Sadly yes, its a compromise agreement and you are basically agreeing to leave without kicking off and waiving your right to taking any legal action. Without it, they may have no legal reason to get rid of you (so you could sue for wrongful dismissal etc) or you might bring a case against them and even to defend a case when you win, it can cost thousands and isn't good for your reputation. It all depends on how desperate they are to get rid of you, how long you have been there and what your salary is.

I got much less when they pushed me out for being pregnant 🥲. Depends on the company.

Is it not better that the working conditions of all workers improve rather than a very few people taking a great pay-offinstead?

Moreso if it's the local taxpayer funding super-wimpy person's early retirement, in-btween job sojourn, etc.

Law firms do this ALL THE TIME, like all the time. The first 30 k will have been tax free. Can’t believe she was that loose lipped about it! Although I do hope she has told her colleagues how much she got….so they know how much to go for! 🤭

Not just private companies who do it either. But in government they will often do it if they have cocked up and know a tribunal will be forthcoming (another reason to be in a union as they support the process).

but unlike a pp people with poor attendance due to illness will go through capability rather than be paid off. Unless they discriminate of course.

Yep this is entirely real

Flip side - over my career so far I've been paid a total of £70k over there separate occasions to stay with the company (retention bonuses). I don't even think my bonuses were that high compared to some.

It's amazing what big numbers are bounced about.

Try what? They wanted to sack her because she complained. That’s illegal so they had to pay her off.

it is common in law firms to treat staff badly, ignore employment rights and have to pay staff off. She got less than a year’s salary and it Will damage her employment prospects and career

The company next door to mine has a specific budget amount set aside for this.

That doesn’t ring true. It’s extremely rare to get an award like that from a tribunal and no law firm would settle at that level.

Not if you’re on garden leave. The point of that is to stop you working elsewhere and taking clients etc.

some you call your friend was forced out of their job. That’s happened to me and it’s incredibly traumatic even if you put a brave face on it. Maybe try to have some empathy

What a horrible thing to say. She lost her job because she complained about her working conditions. Wow -not a great friend are you

It’s not always if the company has done something wrong. The costs of a tribunal, whether you’re found to have done something wrong or not, are high. It’s often a lot cheaper to just pay someone off rather than go to the cost and bother of a tribunal even if you’re confident you can win. Because there are rarely costs orders in the tribunal, the defendant will be thousands of pounds out of pocket even if they win, so it’s often a commercial decision to settle rather than spend those costs and the time on legal proceedings.

Yes. I technically got a settlement agreement once in lieu of voluntary redundancy pay. They couldn't make me redundant because I was pregnant and that was against their policy, in case I said later that it was discrimination. Even if I wanted to resign and asked for the redundancy. To get around it they paid me a sum, and I signed to say that I will never come back to them with a tribunal or defame them for any reason, or they can ask for some of the money back.

What an odd thing to be jealous about!

Similar happened to me. You can’t just make it up though! Your employer will only pay out if they consider they will potentially be liable in an employment tribunal.

Oh FFS - do you think it has only happened twice?