Settlement offer too low - what now??

inapickle9

Hi Guys,

I was just looking for some advice.....to cut a long story short, 6 months ago I was signed off sick by my DR due to anxiety, depression and stress due to been bullied by my boss at work. I submitted a grievance at the beginning of July and after 4 months of my employer dragging the process out, cancelling meetings etc, I finally got the outcome which as expected said they were supporting my boss. Unfortunately the witnesses advised they didn't want to comment which has made things alot harder, I do understand as the boss would make their lives hell.
I have provided my employer with 6 months of noting things down in my diary, including him swearing at me, humiliating me infront of the team, constantly threatening to get rid of me etc. I also provided them with a recording of a review where he laced into me and it clearly supports my grievance. I have also proven that my boss has lied in a statement in response to my grievance.
I have appealed against the outcome and the appeal meeting was last week where I advised I would not go back and work for him or the employer after the way they have handled my grievance.
In the meeting my employer asked me what I would settle on which I said would be the following.

A good reference, £14,500 plus my 4 weeks notice - this is how I came up with the figure

6months salary (annual salary £25,900) which I have lost as I have only been paid SSP for 6 months.
[/LIST]My commission owed to date

4 weeks notice

This accumulates to the below

6month £12,949
commission £3,400
1 month notice £2,158
= £18,507

I believe that the 14.5k plus 1 month notice is very reasonable figure from me, I have not been paid for 6 months because of how my employer has treat me, I suffered mentally and been ill with all this and I simply want to cover my losses.
If I was to take this to employment tribunal I would be looking at a claim of at least £30,000. I have spoken with my unions solicitors and they are unsure if I will have a strong claim due to lack of solid evidence as the witnesses do not feel comfortable to comment.

My employer called my union rep yesterday and offered me a settlement of £4,000 which I think is shocking tbh, this is not even equivalant to 2 months pay, I haven't been paid for 6 months and I still have to find alternative employment when this is over, I also have a company car, laptop, mobile phone and I will somehow have to fund a transport/car etc and I am already in debt due to all this.

Basically all this has been an unbelievably stressful time and I am at rock bottom now.

I was hoping someone could offer any advice on what to do next and to see if you thought my initial figure of 14.5k + 1 month was reasonable? I appreciate they are going to offer as low as possible etc. Do you think 4k is acceptable? What next?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks x



My union representative called yesterday to advise me that my employer has contacted him to offer me £4,000 for a settlement agreeement.

marybelle01

inapickle9 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I was just looking for some advice.....to cut a long story short, 6 months ago I was signed off sick by my DR due to anxiety, depression and stress due to been bullied by my boss at work. I submitted a grievance at the beginning of July and after 4 months of my employer dragging the process out, cancelling meetings etc, I finally got the outcome which as expected said they were supporting my boss. Unfortunately the witnesses advised they didn't want to comment which has made things alot harder, I do understand as the boss would make their lives hell.
I have provided my employer with 6 months of noting things down in my diary, including him swearing at me, humiliating me infront of the team, constantly threatening to get rid of me etc. I also provided them with a recording of a review where he laced into me and it clearly supports my grievance. I have also proven that my boss has lied in a statement in response to my grievance.
I have appealed against the outcome and the appeal meeting was last week where I advised I would not go back and work for him or the employer after the way they have handled my grievance.
In the meeting my employer asked me what I would settle on which I said would be the following.

A good reference, £14,500 plus my 4 weeks notice - this is how I came up with the figure

6months salary (annual salary £25,900) which I have lost as I have only been paid SSP for 6 months.
[/LIST]My commission owed to date

4 weeks notice

This accumulates to the below

6month £12,949
commission £3,400
1 month notice £2,158
= £18,507

I believe that the 14.5k plus 1 month notice is very reasonable figure from me, I have not been paid for 6 months because of how my employer has treat me, I suffered mentally and been ill with all this and I simply want to cover my losses.
If I was to take this to employment tribunal I would be looking at a claim of at least £30,000. I have spoken with my unions solicitors and they are unsure if I will have a strong claim due to lack of solid evidence as the witnesses do not feel comfortable to comment.

My employer called my union rep yesterday and offered me a settlement of £4,000 which I think is shocking tbh, this is not even equivalant to 2 months pay, I haven't been paid for 6 months and I still have to find alternative employment when this is over, I also have a company car, laptop, mobile phone and I will somehow have to fund a transport/car etc and I am already in debt due to all this.

Basically all this has been an unbelievably stressful time and I am at rock bottom now.

I was hoping someone could offer any advice on what to do next and to see if you thought my initial figure of 14.5k + 1 month was reasonable? I appreciate they are going to offer as low as possible etc. Do you think 4k is acceptable? What next?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks x



My union representative called yesterday to advise me that my employer has contacted him to offer me £4,000 for a settlement agreeement.

Don't take this the wrong way, but here is the employers calculation:

The union isn't going to support your claim because they don't think it is strong enough so:

Likely award based on the median awarded by tribunals - About £6 - 7k

IF you win because you would have to resign, which means a contrsuctibve dismissal case (something less than 3% chance of winning)

Less £1200 for the claim fee and hearing costs which you will probably have to pay because the union are not seeming to support your claim (so deduict that from the award that you MIGHT get IF you can prove your case).

You cannot claim the difference between sick pay and normal pay at a tribunal - your employer has fulfilled their contractual obligation to you by paying sick pay when you are off sick and the reason you are off sick isn't relevant.

There is no way they are going to offer you £30k, or even £18.5k. And almost no chance of a tribunal awarding you that much. It'd be cheaper for them to let it run to a tribunal because the chances of you winning aren't that high.

The employer is probably expecting to settle at around the £6-7k figure if they have come in at £4k.

getmore4less

Don't forget that the holiday is trill accruing they need to cover that.

What will they do if you say OK that's not enough, I will come back to work and start collecting more evidence if you don't get the manager under control?

Dovah_diva

So you have a case against your employer that has no witnesses and is not backed up by your Union and you think £4k is derisory? There is room for a little more, but really not much.

You think you're stressed now,wait until you get to Tribunal stage. Unless you can afford to employ a solicitor you'll have to do it all yourself. All the paperwork, all the evidence, everything. Make sure you hit the Tribunal deadlines and make sure your bundles are in order and accurate.

Turn up and put your case - probably against a trained solicitor. Remember that you need to PROVE your case. You have no witnesses.

My advice? Make a counter offer for around £6k and settle somewhere in the middle, take some time to recover from the stress and get another job. Don't even consider a Tribunal if you are not well enough to work.

inapickle9

Dovah_diva wrote: »

So you have a case against your employer that has no witnesses and is not backed up by your Union and you think £4k is derisory? There is room for a little more, but really not much.

You think you're stressed now,wait until you get to Tribunal stage. Unless you can afford to employ a solicitor you'll have to do it all yourself. All the paperwork, all the evidence, everything. Make sure you hit the Tribunal deadlines and make sure your bundles are in order and accurate.

Turn up and put your case - probably against a trained solicitor. Remember that you need to PROVE your case. You have no witnesses.

My advice? Make a counter offer for around £6k and settle somewhere in the middle, take some time to recover from the stress and get another job. Don't even consider a Tribunal if you are not well enough to work.

Hi thanks for your advice. Unfortunately taking time off to recover is impossible. I have a £4,000 credit card bill which has reached its limit, I have to live of this for the last 6 months. I need a job asap to make the minimum payments, thats without paying my normal bills. The 4k will literally only clear my credit card, I have accumulated debt over the last 6 months so I can live.

inapickle9

getmore4less wrote: »

Don't forget that the holiday is trill accruing they need to cover that.

What will they do if you say OK that's not enough, I will come back to work and start collecting more evidence if you don't get the manager under control?

I'm not sure really.....I don't think after all this they will want me going back to work at all.

superbigal36

What would you have been doing if you were off long term sick for another reason ?

TrickyDicky101

If future employers were to find about about you taking a previous employer to a tribunal they are unlikely to view it favourably (irrespective of the justification or the outcome).
You need two years service now before you have employment protection (for non-discriminatory reasons) so this should factor in your decision should you decide to take the tribunal route.

inapickle9

superbigal36 wrote: »

What would you have been doing if you were off long term sick for another reason ?

Not sure what you mean by this?

Just to put things in perspective......I am off long term sick because my boss has bullied and harassed me. The reason I want to claim back my losses is because I have been penalised for what this man has done to me and I don't think my employer should get away with it. Im talking about a huge global company who know EXACTLY what this man is like and what he is capable of, yet because he earns the company alot of money, they turn a blind eye.
It's a disgrace that they think they can get away with it, after i have provided them with recording and evidence etc.

inapickle9

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

If future employers were to find about about you taking a previous employer to a tribunal they are unlikely to view it favourably (irrespective of the justification or the outcome).
You need two years service now before you have employment protection (for non-discriminatory reasons) so this should factor in your decision should you decide to take the tribunal route.

I've been there 2 years and 6 months to date so this isn't a problem

TrickyDicky101

inapickle9 wrote: »

I've been there 2 years and 6 months to date so this isn't a problem

Actually I meant about your next job - if the next employer gets a whiff that you took a previous one to a tribunal they may decide to get rid of a potential troublemaker (in their mind) before they have earned employment protection.