Compromise Agreement for my departing employee?

BryanSmallBiz

Times are tough and one of my employees and I have decided to go our separate ways. Neither of us are particularly happy about it and it's probably the least worst option. We agree on signing a compromise agreement to make sure we're both on the legal straight-and-narrow.

I've had a couple of verbal quotations from local solicitors / HR consultants to draw up an agreement. The quotations are in the high hundreds of pounds and the amount of my time they want to take up for meetings is ludicrous. I'd rather pay my departing employee a bigger tax free ex gratia settlement. I will pay my employee's legal expenses in any case.

I want to ensure the agreement is legally water-tight so that rules out downloading free or cheap templates from the internet.

Anybody know any other alternatives?

patman99

If your employee simply wants to leave, why not ask them to write a letter of resignation ?.

If however, you are talking about redundancy, then there are loads of rules you will need to research first.

BryanSmallBiz

@patman99 - thanks, yes, I could do and afterwards, without a compromise agreement in place, my former employee could then go to an Employment Tribunal alleging, for example, constructive dismissal.
As for redundancy, it's something I want to avoid, because of all those (well-meant) rules, unless backed up by a compromise agreement.

@draftedonline - sounds interesting, thanks, I'll take a look.

zzzLazyDaisy

I am sorry, but this really is spam, and any employer who is in this situation really should be running a mile from this company. The law requires that a compromise agreement be drafted to address the specific dispute, and in compliance with the laws relating to compromise agreements. If you get it wrong, then a tribunal is entitled to ignore the document and still hear the claim in spite of the compromise agreement. This is not an area for amateurs.

BryanSmallBiz

@greenface, @zzzlazydaisy, @pleasedelete - I appreciate your concerns. By their works shall ye know them...

@zzzlaxydaisy: you have hit the nail on the head "...drafted to address the specific dispute..." this is the bit that bugs me because it's how and where the lawyers justify their fees. If >98% of an agreement I get from a lawyer is just regurgitated boilerplate text (which they have been previously) does that count as "...drafted to address the specific dispute..." etc.

And one of the reasons that the lawyers have to charge so much for their time is the cost of their Professional Indemnity insurance in the face of our increasingly litigious society with people being able to chance-their-arm in the Employment Tribunal even after signing a compromise agreement entered into supposedly in good faith. At least with a CA it has to be counter-signed by the employee's own adviser who has to have the necessary qualification and insurance cover.

zzzLazyDaisy

BryanSmallBiz wrote: »

At least with a CA it has to be counter-signed by the employee's own adviser who has to have the necessary qualification and insurance cover.

Yes, that's true. And that solicitor works for the employee. If the CA is badly drafted and unlikely stand up in law, that's fine - the employee's solicitor will explain the risks of signing the document accordingly.

Why you would be willing to pay the costs of a solicitor to advise your employee, and not appoint someone of the same professionalism and qualification to act on behalf of your own interests, is beyond me. But hey, each to his own!

getmore4less

If you think thye have a chance for constructive didmissal you must have done something bad.

What do you think they have on you?

How long have they worked for you?

Redundancy is very easy to do if you have genuine reduction in the need for work.

Savvy_Sue

Note that there was a spam post which has been deleted, couple of references to it remain within posts with other information / comment!

BryanSmallBiz

@getmore4less
In my experience, I think you might be surprised how relatively easy it is for a disgruntled former employee to allege either "breach of contract" or "constructive dismissal" and bring a case in an Employment Tribunal. And there are plenty of poor employers who get away with one or both and still avoid being taken to a Tribunal. There are many variables.

Sometimes, a business development opportunity + employee doesn't work out, for whatever reason. When this happens I am keen to do what I can to ensure that I minimise the subsequent risk of an appeal to an ET, less for the fear of having done wrong, more for the time, cost and effort involved in defending myself. I've always found a compromise agreement fits the bill.

The challenge, which first initiated this thread, is finding a cheaper way to get one drawn up.

Catherine_Johnson_2

I'm always a little suspicious about these types of threads, ones that seem to almost invite an advert from someone for their services - in this case the spam has been removed, thankfully.

The OP seems to already know a great deal about Compromise Agreements having posted about them in previous threads but is looking for a cheaper alternative. And, lo and behold, one of the first replies is someone advertising their cheap service!

Now I know I'm naturally cynical when it comes to these things, but sometimes alarm bells start to ring!

Sorry if I've got this wrong, but the whole 'feel' of the thread seems to be engineered to get an advert from someone placed here.