Settlements

[IceandIndigo]

I am in a very unhappy situation at work and have been told HR may be amenable to a settlement. Can someone explain to me the process and how I would go about opening up discussions with HR?

On what basis would you be asking for the settlement?

IME unless there's been discrimination, they're used to bring forward the end date on a mutually agreeable basis. So if you need to give 3 months notice, the settlement might be 3 months pay in lieu of notice and an agreed reference. Usually negotiated by your union.

In my experience of doling them out...

HR will approach you and its basically to save everyone the stress and morale lowering exercise that is "going through a PIP".

You may be offered a certain amount (£300-500) to hire an employement lawyer, you may not. If you aren't, get one yourself.

They will negotiate the settlement.

You can also negotiate on paid out notice and annual leave on top and also also sometimes agree upon wording for a reference (these tend to be neutral and contain employment dates vs "iceandindigo was a stellar employee and top performer! I cried when they resigned and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them"

There was maternity discrimination but I’m out of time for a tribunal claim. Since then a whole lot of broken promises and dysfunctional work environment leading to considerable mental distress, although probably nothing illegal. Other colleague also affected by situation had a mental breakdown and left. Expected to take over all their work on top of mine with no discussion and even though working part time. Subject to drawn out restructuring process leading to effective demotion.

Also, long-standing employee with exemplary performance assessments throughout my time there.

I don’t have a union.

I do about 2 a year and this is generally the process in my industry.
Firstly it needs to be a worrying enough issue that you want it to go away, and that any other route will be long, drawn out and far more expensive (generally with peoples time).
If we decide to proceed to a settlement agreement firstly we plant the seed to find out if the person is open to it.
Then we call a meeting and have a without prejudice conversation.
There are generally two payment, one is your notice in lieu which is subject to normal taxes and secondly a ex gratia payment which is subject to much less taxes.
The Timeline will depend on the person, but the person has to see a independent lawyer (which we will pay £500) in order for the settlement agreement to be legal.
We always agree with the person the “story” for them leaving and say we will provide a reference.
There is a gag clause in the settlement agreement. So be mindful of that and what it means. You won’t be able to sue on anything in the future. You cannot go to a tribunal or anything like that.

How do you know HR are open to it?

Good luck op.

I know they’re open to it because someone in HR mentioned it as an option in an informal conversation.

Can you explain what happens in a without prejudice conversation?

I was told I could request one of those but I guess I’m wondering at what point I need to tell my story, explain why I want to leave.

Because we are in a restructuring process I also have the opportunity to volunteer for redundancy and I’m wondering if I’m better just to go for that. Our redundancy policy isn’t very generous though.

Settlement will be better than redundancy I would think,but you should be able to find out what the redundancy payment is and use that as your benchmark.

I don't think you would need to tell your story. The fact they are considering a settlement means they accept at least some of the issues in some way. I would have the meeting and ask them to make a proposal of what they were offering. Then you go away and think about it, compare it with your own costing work - redundancy, notice pay etc and then negotiate a bit more. They agree, and all the bits mentioned above and on you go.

A without prejudice conversation is the first step in a process that can lead to a settlement agreement. Exactly what happens varies but the important point is that, because it is without prejudice, neither you nor your employer can use anything that is said in that conversation if you decide to take your employer to tribunal.

If your employer is saying they are amenable to a settlement, that suggests they think you may have a case against them. They will therefore offer you some money in return for which they will want you to agree to give up your right to take them to tribunal. The money offered will be less than you would get if you took them to tribunal and won, but it avoids the stress of tribunal and takes away the possibility of going to tribunal and losing. The agreement will also include other terms such as a confidentiality clause and an agreed reference.

Do not agree to anything in the discussion. Just listen to what they say. The settlement agreement is not binding on you unless you take independent legal advice before signing it, so your employer should offer to pay for that. Remember that this is a negotiation. It is likely you will be able to get a better deal than the one that is initially on offer.

I may have given a misleading impression, the discussion about settlements was part of a general discussion of potential options if I wanted to end my employment, and it was from a relatively junior HR person with no direct authority over such things.

I feel like I have a certain amount of goodwill with the organisation and would like to leave on good terms, but at the same time their behaviour has had a massive negative impact on me, basically totally destroyed my professional confidence, and I would like to get that out in the open somehow.

The question, then, is whether they are interested in a settlement. If they don't think you have a case to take to tribunal, it is unlikely that a settlement will be on offer.

It depends on your situation but a settlement is often much easier than taking formal processes. Its quicker and way less stress.

As I said you will be in much strong position if you let them come to you. What you can do is make things more awkward for them and escalate the situation.

So with your workload if you are being asked to do x 1.5 FTE roles (your own PT role and the role role of the person who quit) literally do your contracted hours. Ask for prioritisation on a weekly/daily basis against tasks, do not work with speed or enthusiasm and let stuff slide and start going tits up. Smile blandly and shrug as it falls down around you.