Compromise Agreement - help needed

[cymrumam]

A friend has been offered a compromise agreement which they want to take however it only arrived Saturday morning with the cut off for return being this friday. It needs to be signed off by a legal advisor or CAB but due to location it can take several weeks to get an appointment with CAB and as they only recieve ESA they aren't in a position to pay for a solicitor. Does anyone have any suggestions.

Thanks

In sure employer pays solicitors fees. I'm not in hr but I'm a governor at a school and we had a member of staff leave with one and the school paid the solicitors fees. Also it dragged on for weeks while it was being agreeb by them. The only deadline i was aware if is that it had to be done in 14 days once agreed.
Contact union if she's a member or cab. She must have the opportunity for legal advice.
I'm sure a hr expert will be along later to give better advice.

Her employer should pay reasonable fees for her to get it checked by a solicitor. She should ask them to confirm this in writing then go and see a solicitor. If they refuse she should not sign.

The solicitors letter that came with the agreement said that they would not cover there solicitors costs due to economic climate, time scale and amount offered.

The agreement won't hold up unless your friend has it signed off by a legal adviser and if they are the ones wanting her to sign it they should fund that.

What are the circumstances of the comp agreement do you know?

It's really important to use an employment lawyer after a case that found a lawyer had a duty not only to check the agreement was legal but was also in the best interests of the client.

It is worth bearing in mind that there is specific training a Union Rep or CAB advisor has to have completed to be able to check a compromise agreement so it's very likely the local CAB does not have anyone suitable.

It is usual practice for the employer/former employer to pay the solicitor fees because without advice the contract is not legally binding. £300-500 is not unusual for a straightforward case but it could be as much as £1000.

Someone I know refused to sign until the employer agreed to pay the additional legal costs incurred after the employer drafted such a poor agreement and refused to deal with the client, only the solicitor, which was obviously hugely expensive at £200 + VAT per hour. I think getting the legal fees increased (even if the wrangling cost as much as the additional money) was a bigger win for her than the settlement! Not that I am advising bloody mindedness of course.

I think she should point out that the compromise agreement cannot be enforced against her unless she has proper legal advice and that it is therefore in her employer's interests to ensure that she receives such advice. Tell them that if they refuse to pay her reasonable legal fees she will be unable to get the agreement countersigned and it will therefore not be valid.

That solicitor's letter with the agreement is so dreadfully bad that it is almost amusing. I cannot believe any competent employment lawyer would draft such a thing. Imagine if the employee took the payout and then made a tribunal claim any way? Or breached the confidentiality clause and told everyone?! The whole point of a compromise agreement would be redundant.

On the upside, if they can't afford to pay the legal costs of one compromise agreement I doubt they can pay for a tribunal hearing. I'm assuming some sort of disability claim is a possibility if the employee is on ESA??

This originally came about as they asked for outstanding holiday pay has been sick for the last two years and initially the employer said that they were not entitled to ask for anything - they asked about holiday when they first went sick and then the employer had a go about paying SSP and the cost - my friend didnt know that they were recovering it. He only asked verbally though. New ruling says that they have to ask each year and ignorance is not an excuse otherwise it is lost. Employer is looking to pay that and nothing else. They have said they wont accept the compromise agreement without it being signed off by competent person. Letter also says it is sent recorded and it wasn't came by normal post so wondering if they can buy time by saying that they havent recieved it. 1st solicitors letter that they sent acknowledging his request ended up with a neighbour.

Your friend doesn't need to 'buy time'. He or she needs to write back, acknowledging the agreement, saying he/she is pleased to note employer is aware that the agreement must be checked by a competent legal adviser in order to be valid, and as such he/she will not be in a position to consider signing it unless and until employer agrees to pay reasonable legal fees in order to enable such a check to be carried out.

Ball back in their court.