Advice on Settlement Agreements

starcloud

Hi

I work for a very small but distinguished organisation and have been employed since 1 Sept 2011. I passed the probation and all was well until last November when I was called into a 'performance review' over a few issues/mistakes with one element of my work - organising my CEO's diary.

After this I was given one written warning which was to last for 6 months and had a mid term review whereby it was agreed that my performance would continue to be monitored. At a scheduled meeting 2 weeks before my 1st warning was to elapse I had a second meeting with my CEO and it was clear she was trying to push me down the path of dismissal, saying while there were no big problems there were little issues and she did not have faith in me etc. etc.

For various reasons, mainly relating to her moving the organisation in a different way and also wanting a dedicated PA, which I am not I had the feeling she wanted me out. After this long tirade of issues I said that I would look to move on then she mentioned 'a settlement' and if we went down this route she would be willing to compromise and be helpful etc.

I am yet to receive this from the companies legal team and also yet to take my legal advice which they will (and need to) pay for.

However I have these queries which I was wondering if anyone could advice/comment on.

1) We discussed that I might work up until the end of August and she mentioned 3 months notice but if I work to a period should I expect compensation on top of that? I have read as a guide you should try to negotiate up to 6 months salary as you do not know how long you might be out of work etc.

2) The PA aspect is only one (1/3 say) element of my work and the rest of it she admitted was fine. Also I passed my probation fine. She acknowledged that the job had changed but that is the nature of small orgs. Surely this is unfair?

3) She is no doubt clever and wants this done before my 2 years service have been completed, how would this impact me?

Does anyone have similar experiences of these proceedings?

Any help would be appreciated.

lulu650

Someone should be able to give more detailed, and possibly, personal advice. But my responses are;

1) Rule of thumb would be that any opening offer would expect to be negotiated higher.

2) It may be unfair but clearly your employer feels that organising the CEO's diary is a very important part of your job. Do you need more training on how to do this? If there are capability issues then the next formal action is a final written warning. Have you looked at the company policy on this?

3) What do you mean by 2 years service and how that would impact on you? Are you talking about redundancy? Statutory redundancy would be £450 x 2 = £900 if you managed to hold on until September. But I'm guessing you're talking about unfair dismissal in which case you've had one year's continuous service and joined the company before 6th April 2012 therefore you could pursue an unfair dismissal case if the worse scenario happened. Although I'm not clear what evidence there is..

The legal advice that the company pay for is to explain the legal paperwork to you. This is usually up to £350 + VAT. Any discussion with a solicitor about whether you have a case for unfair dismissal would have to be paid for by you. Also bear in mind that from summer you will have to pay the Employment Tribunal fees.

Although you haven't actually been dismissed, the company feel you aren't doing what is expected of you evidenced by the 1st warning. The advantage of a settlement agreement is being able to see the reference and having input into that.

getmore4less

Is that 3 month PILON after 3 months working, that is affectivly 6 month total.

The 3 month working should be in a better environment and if the replacement comes in sooner they may put you on garden leave or reduce the bits you don't like/want the PA side.

Add a good reference and a flexable leaving date, that's not a bad deal for less than 2 years and one that do you want any more.

starcloud

Thanks for your response and also for clearing up the two year issue.

When in summer would you need to pay the Employment Tribunal fees? I take it this is because of legal aid cuts?

lulu650 wrote: »

Someone should be able to give more detailed, and possibly, personal advice. But my responses are;

1) Rule of thumb would be that any opening offer would expect to be negotiated higher.

2) It may be unfair but clearly your employer feels that organising the CEO's diary is a very important part of your job. Do you need more training on how to do this? If there are capability issues then the next formal action is a final written warning. Have you looked at the company policy on this?

3) What do you mean by 2 years service and how that would impact on you? Are you talking about redundancy? Statutory redundancy would be £450 x 2 = £900 if you managed to hold on until September. But I'm guessing you're talking about unfair dismissal in which case you've had one year's continuous service and joined the company before 6th April 2012 therefore you could pursue an unfair dismissal case if the worse scenario happened. Although I'm not clear what evidence there is..

The legal advice that the company pay for is to explain the legal paperwork to you. This is usually up to £350 + VAT. Any discussion with a solicitor about whether you have a case for unfair dismissal would have to be paid for by you. Also bear in mind that from summer you will have to pay the Employment Tribunal fees.

Although you haven't actually been dismissed, the company feel you aren't doing what is expected of you evidenced by the 1st warning. The advantage of a settlement agreement is being able to see the reference and having input into that.

starcloud

getmore4less wrote: »

Is that 3 month PILON after 3 months working, that is affectivly 6 month total.

The 3 month working should be in a better environment and if the replacement comes in sooner they may put you on garden leave or reduce the bits you don't like/want the PA side.

Add a good reference and a flexable leaving date, that's not a bad deal for less than 2 years and one that do you want any more.

I would be happy with working until the end of Aug + 3 months.

I have a 3 month notice period and there are some events in July that I am working on that would make it very problematic to get anyone to replace me before Aug when most of the staff are away anyway.

lulu650

starcloud wrote: »

...When in summer would you need to pay the Employment Tribunal fees? I take it this is because of legal aid cuts?

Legal aid has never been available for representation at an Employment Tribunal.

Here's one link for the new fee structure;
http://www.pannone.com/media-centre/articles/employment-articles/employment-tribunal-introduction-of-fees
but Google would find other links if you're looking for the reasons why fees have been introduced.