Any employment law solicitors on here?

[Februarygirls]

Hi, I signed a voluntary severance agreement in January and received a payout of about 4/5k over and above statutory redundancy. The company told me that if not enough people accepted VS then there may be compulsory redundancies and that I was in a part of the business more likely to be affected. I was told I couldn’t talk to anyone in the business about it and had 5 days to make a decision. I didn’t get any legal advice and they didn’t advise me to, but the agreement says I can’t bring any claims against them. I’ve been told this is invalid because I didn’t get legal advice. After leaving I found out they hadn’t offered the VS to many (if not any) other colleagues on my team and less than a week after I left they were advertising my job. Whilst I accept they may need to reduce headcount in the company (huge company) this was clearly personal as they are not reducing my team, in fact the job advert says to join ‘our ever growing team’. One of my children has had a lot of mental health problems and as a result I’ve had to take time off work, I suspect this is the real reason for them offering it to me. I would never have accepted the VS if I’d have known my actual job wasn’t at risk. I found another job straight away on the same salary but my benefits are significantly less so I have lost a lot financially. Do I have a case to take them to a tribunal? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Possibly, but you really need to take advice from a solicitor who specialises in employment law rather than from random people on the internet who may not be who they claim. If you have legal cover on your home insurance, they may be able to help.

Depends on what you signed. Some settlement/severance agreements you waive your right to take them to a tribunal.

I would move on rather than get enmeshed on a protracted and costly legal dispute. Many many businesses behave unreasonably.

You may possibly have grounds make a claim, but you’d need legal advice/support on the specifics of that.

given that you received an enhanced redundancy payment, and have already found a new role, any financial compensation that may be awarded could be limited.

I think you’d need to weigh up what would be a stressful and lengthy process and whether the outcome (even if in your favour) is actually going to be worth it?

Is the legal advice only required if accepting a compromise agreement? Not a voluntary redundancy agreement.

This sounds awful and I really feel for you, but I wouldn’t pursue action. You already received an enhanced package and you found another job straight away (albeit with less benefits). Going to court is a lengthy, hideous, and stressful process and as you already received an enhanced package you are unlikely to receive anything more. It can be hard to walk away when you feel unjustly treated but overall it is likely to be the preferred option. To help make your mind up, perhaps have a consultation with an employment lawyer who can look over your severance agreement and provide you with your options. I also suggest keeping screen grabs of the adverts so that you have evidence to back you up.

i wish you and your family the very best for your futures.

I am not a solicitor but work in Hr

for a settlement agreement to be binding you have to take advice, but you are out of time for a claim, got more than the statutory payment and got a new job straight away so compensation (even if you were allowed to bring a claim and won) would be very limited and you’re probably a year away from a hearing

your Probably best making your peace with it and moving on emotionally

I’ve been through ACAS early conciliation so still in time to make a claim. I’ve lost private medical insurance and need private as the NHS won’t treat my son until he’s 18. Because of his pre-existing conditions I’ve been quoted 11.5k per year for insurance. I’ve also lost enhanced holidays, length of service, income protection, life insurance and more. I’ve actually lost quite a lot.

It's tough to say definitively without knowing exactly what you signed. But as others have said, the fact that you didn't take legal advice (and they didn't tell you that you should have) is in your favour here.

However, I wouldn't say that it'd be at all cut and dry if it got to tribunal, purely based on what you've said.

Consider as well that it's a stressful and expensive process; presumably the company has more resources to throw at the process than you. You could go 'no win, no fee', but if you end up deciding that it's too much and back out, you'll owe them money.

Hi, thanks for your reply. What wouldn’t make it cut and dry? Are you a solicitor? Thanks again

Was it more than 3 months abd 1 day ago that you learned that they had not offered VS to others? Or that your job was advertised?
You only have 3 months and 1 day to put in a claimafter the date of the event.
You have to have professional advice (lawyer or union) and a certificate to say you've bad this ad ice otherwise agreement is void.

No it was the beginning of March so I’m still in time.

IAAL.

A settlement agreement is only legally binding if it meets certain legal formalities, including taking legal advice on it.

The exception is a COT3 brokered through ACAS, which has no legal advice requirement and is automatically binding on agreement.

Less likely - but some arbitration type agreements are also legally binding.

But if you received redundancy, notice, and an ex gratia payment, your claim won’t be worth much. You have no loss of earnings, only loss of benefits. You might be able to claim for those for a period of around 12 months (ballpark - this does vary!) but you’d have to show you’d mitigated your loss by continuing to job search for comparable terms.

You’ll be fast approaching limitation too, so you’ll have to decide if it’s worth it. And that’s assuming you win - because on the face of it, it sounds like you may have left voluntarily!

Thank you. I did leave voluntarily but only because I believed my job was at genuine risk of redundancy, but it wasn’t. I was completely misled so that’s my argument. It’s highly doubtful I would get another job with the same benefits. I work part time and could only find full time roles and none with the benefits I had. I’m now working for someone I’ve worked for previously and someone I trust, so with my current home situation as it is this is the best place for me. Even if they only awarded benefits for a year it’s well over 10k. I’d also read the tribunal can make a basic award if the real reason I lost my job wasn’t redundancy, which it wasn’t.
As long as there’s no risk to me in taking this to a tribunal I’m happy to go through the process.

You’d have to be aware that the basic award would be offset by the statutory redundancy pay you received, so in all likelihood you wouldn’t get awarded it, as it would be double recovery.

The only risk is a costs award (and that’s low, as costs are only awarded if you behaved unreasonably/vexatiously/abusively in pursuing the claim and/or it has no reasonable prospect of success).

The reality is that litigation is expensive, so more often than not I advise employer clients to consider settling if it’s less than the cost of their legal fees.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply again, this is really useful for me. This is what I’ve read below;

‘If you have been dismissed by reason of redundancy, the tribunal will reduce the basic award by the amount of any redundancy payment you have received or awarded by the tribunal as part of the compensation. If, however, your employer fails to satisfy the tribunal that the principal reason for dismissal was in fact redundancy, then no such reduction to the basic award will be made.’

I don’t know whether my situation would fall under this though as it wasn’t actually redundancy but voluntary severance. Although the only reason I accepted was because they told me there was a real risk of compulsory redundancy if I didn’t accept.

Thank you again, I really appreciate it.

Although the only reason I accepted was because they told me there was a real risk of compulsory redundancy if I didn’t accept.

OP do you have that in writing from them ?

Happy to help!

It is a boring technical legal point - but technically you are correct that if they cannot convince the ET the principle reason was redundancy, then the basic award itself won’t be reduced.

However, the ET can then still offset it against the compensatory award and potentially reduce it from that sum awarded instead, so the result is often fairly similar unless you’re over the statutory cap.

The reduction also wouldn’t apply if the dismissal was procedurally unfair, but substantively fair. That’s really common as really, employers have a lot of discretion about the definition of redundancy, but often mess up the process.

They potentially really did mess up without executing the SA though! I hope you have an eye on your limitation date?

Yes I’ve already logged it with the tribunal but just wanted some extra reassurance, which you’ve given me so thank you so much again. I realise now that any award might not be significant but if there’s very little risk to me then I’m willing to give it a go.
Are they allowed to just make one particular person redundant or does the job they do have to be redundant? Because in my case the job itself was never at risk and they’re actually hiring more people now.

Voluntary redundancy isn't redundancy - it is a mutually agreed severence. You were not dismissed - you and your employer agreed a deal for your mutual agreeing an end to your employment.

I've been to two tribunals and "won" them both. I am in a union and they paid all costs, I'm told it would have been about £20k each time. Each took over two years, during which time I was incredibly ill and stressed. I would not recommend unless you are looking at six figure payouts, which I don't think you are? My wins were to be given a written apology and offered my job back. Neither if which I wanted particularly.

It would have to meet the statutory definition of redundancy, which is a reduced need for employees to do work of a particular kind. If they are recruiting a replacement then that may go in your favour, as roles, not people, are redundant!

In your case it’s possible that the ET will find you left by mutual consent and it wasn’t a dismissal. It’s an unusual situation but I did win a claim previously for an employee on almost the same facts (pressure to leave under the guise of a settlement). The problem is it’s often down to who the ET thinks is more credible on the day!

Have you submitted your ET1?

Yes I have. I’ve claimed unfair dismissal and disability discrimination (by association), as I believe the real reason for wanting me gone was my sick leave. Well that and probably the fact that they paid me quite a lot in allowances due to a TUPE transfer. It’ll be cheaper for them to get someone new in.

I’ve not read every comment, but check your home insurance. If you’ve got the legal cover option this normally covers all types of legal help, I’ve used mine for employment matters. @Februarygirls

Thank you