To think settlements/compromise agreements can’t be THIS common…?!

[Uyyyy]

A friend I used to work with recently confided in me that she had an 80k settlement (she was a high earner) after she claimed her boss didn’t like her as she was a single mother to two children with separate fathers and that he used to actively set meetings she couldn’t attend due to school pick up. She said she never had to even go to court, she just caused one hell of a fuss, went off sick and then they paid up. It turns out another friend from an entirely different company got six months pay for basically not much at all other than a fall out with line manager (large accountancy practice). I have also read the thread on here earlier about someone trying to get a settlement after being threatened with a PIP and posters saying to go for it etc… I am amazed by this, surely most companies take a hard line and force you to go to a tribunal rather than handing out a few months pay without the case even being heard?!

Nope. I had one, and several friends also. Tribunals are expensive, look bad, and are not an assured outcome. Much easier to throw money to make the problem disappear.

@EveryKneeShallBow even when there’s no actual discrimination?! Or other cause of action? Surely it just encourages people to make claims that are unfounded

I work in executive search, it's so common. And usually there is a reason

Well who says there’s no discrimination? In my experience managers (especially the shit ones) have very little concept of appropriate handling of situations. Once they decide they dislike you they tend to start bullying and expect you to roll over and take it. More and more mid career women are not afraid to stand up for themselves. Which is often what causes the manager to take against them in the first place.

I’ve had one, and part of the deal was non disclosure, so not many people IRL know about it.
I was only a low earner, 13 years ago and was 6K in the end, probably wouldn’t have got masses more at tribunal and I was representing myself, very stressful so I accepted.

DH won a grievance against his director for B&H, she stayed and he was paid over a year's salary to go.

They are incredibly common. It often makes more financial sense for companies to get rid of someone via a settlement agreement than to fire them or make them redundant.

I've seen them paid even when there wasnt any wrong doing just because it's cheaper than lawyer costs /the organisation wanted to get rid of the person anyway

But if someone was paid a really high amount then the organisation almost certainly realised they would lose at tribunal . Whether they changed their practices afterwards (or even got rid of the awful staff) is a different question entirely

I see them every day, but I’m an employment lawyer 😆

Common enough but I've never seen anyone get one where it wasn't well deserved.

I had one and I was shocked when my union rep told me how common they were.

Hard to sack people in the public sector but you can get rid with 3 months pay and a NDA.

Paid for a lovely kitchen.

My husband is on his 4th one in 20 years. He’s had a case on every single one of them (constructive dismissal when the company has been taken over) but they pay out a ton of money and save everyone time and stress. It does make it easier to move onwards quickly.

Very common in my industry (FS). They're used to get rid of people without a fuss.

Nope. I had one, and several friends also. Tribunals are expensive, look bad, and are not an assured outcome. Much easier to throw money to make the problem disappear

This. Ive not actually seen people get money for no reason however. Usually someone's done something that looks stupid. Companies don't want dirty laundry aired.

I doubt they're usually as much as 80k but yep, common enough. As well as the examples listed, I'm aware of a couple at the lower end where the employee hadn't necessarily been great either but the employer had done something embarrassing, and it was easier all round to throw a few grand at the problem while everyone moved on gracefully.

Going to tribunal can be awful and stressful, for everyone involved. Even if the employee 'wins', it can feel very hollow. Legal bargaining positions mean that sometimes figures are thrown around which are never going to be realistic and even if the settled sum is significant it will be less than the threatened maximum and the successful employee can still feel hard done by.

And it takes such a long time.

Much better if there can be a quickly negotiated settlement with a NDA. Allows everyone to leave with their own version of a good story.

Happens a lot.

It was very very common at my previous employer. Everyone almost looked forward to getting one once they'd been there a certain amount of time and over a certain salary. And it was only a matter of when not if.

Very few people are be seen get them have deserved them. Usually they just earned too much.

Hopefully you get my meaning. In my company it was just used to trim people who earned too much.

It costs them £££££££ to defend all the way to conclusion if they are taken to tribunal. Even if the employee isn't in the right, it still makes commercial sense to settle. Plus avoids having name of company dragged through the mud.

The agreements are confidential so it's not like it's setting a public precedent. Your friend shouldn't have confided in you because that might put her in breach of the agreement which would mean she'd have to repay the money....

I had one about 20 years ago. New manager came in and we clashed massively. After a stand up argument one day in the open office, I was called in and offered 6 months pay plus holiday pay if I left immediately. My pen was on the paper before she'd even finished speaking!

I've also since worked in employment law and SAs are far more common than I realised (private sector).

Very common. They usually say you're not allowed to say what you got, or even that you agreed an NDA, so on the assumption that most people abide by that, then you'll only ever hear about the tip of the iceberg.

I work in HR, they are incredibly common. Often used as a quick and risk free way to exit a troublesome employee from the company. Disciplinary/performance management processes can take up a lot of management time and carry the risk of a Tribunal - even if the claim is very weak, the businesss will still incur substantial legal costs to defend the claim.

Im an employment lawyer. They are common but not at £80k. Typical payment is your notice period taxed) plus 3 months pay.

@Uyyyy it's often cheaper to settle a nonsense claim without an admission of guilt/liability and get NDA to shut them up than fight it in crt.
In cases where you've really screwed up its reputationaly better and cheaper to settle.
Otherwise you end up with headlines like nhs fife have.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/11/i-dont-have-to-tell-patients-im-trans-doctor-nhs-row/