ET - ACAS - Settlement

sol69_2

Hi

I have just had my date for ET set, and have received a call from ACAS advising that my ex employer has asked if I would consider settling.

Am I being baited, should I give a settlement fiqure ?

Thoughts Advice welcome x

Googlewhacker

No you ask them to offer a settlement which will most likely be naturally low and then you counter offer them a higher value (if it is low) and hopefully accept from there and not have to deal with the stress.

Have you got a union or solicitor to ask for guidance on this?

2sides2everystory

I am no expert, but I would say this seems a good position for you to be in.

(a) It may suit you too just before the holidays to have the matter settled and off your mind.
(b) Clearly your employer has been first to "blink" now they know how much legal work is to be done to be ready in time for the date set so have decided they have good reason to make you an offer. If they now go on to incur substantial legal costs because you say No at this stage then you won't know if they will make another offer. They probably will before the full hearing but you can't be certain. It depends if they feel they will definitely lose, or if they are simply making a commercial judgement to cut their losses and avoid publicity at a hearing.
(c) Treat ACAS politely and listen to their thoughts on the matter, but do not let them beat you down. They are involved solely for cost cutting purposes not to achieve justice, and the costs they are trying to cut are not at all equal on all three sides (I mean (i)yours, (ii)your employer's and (iii)the UK judicial system/taxpayer's). The ET system is creaking at the seams and ACAS conciliators are pushed to get as many quick settlements as they can in order primarily to cut costs in (iii).
(d) Don't sell yourself too cheaply. It is tough out there for most people to get new jobs and if you have truly been unfairly dismissed (if this is your case) for whatever reason, and no matter how short a time you might have been employed, start to think in terms of 6 month salary multiples and much more if there was clear discrimination involved. Don't settle for just a few weeks or months that barely will pay for an unemployed Christmas. Alternatively ...
(e) How mentally resilient are you and your family? I mean how will you cope with the period of growing uncertainty during the rest of the ET process? Are you hard pressed for money?
(f) In these matters, a bird in the hand is truly worth two in the bush for most people. I know someone that was offered an amount and refused. Then the amount was doubled and refused, it progressed through further legal work and the claimant's family were getting more and more stressed about it, and they ended up having to settle for the first amount just to have it off their minds and move on. The amount was barely a couple of months wages.

Good luck and happy holidays!