Settlement offer too low - what now??

fruitedeli

inapickle9 wrote: »

It's part of my salary, I have only received SSP for the last 6 month. Also you have to be at work achieving parts of targets to release it and I haven't been there for 6 month.

You haven't been there to achieve those set targets. Therefore you are not entitled to any commission bonus on top of basic salary. Your union already said they don't believe you have a strong case to go on, and you've been made an offer of £4000. If you decide to carry on and claim, you may receive nothing. £4000 is better than £0.00.

marybelle01

fruitedeli wrote: »

You haven't been there to achieve those set targets. Therefore you are not entitled to any commission bonus on top of basic salary. Your union already said they don't believe you have a strong case to go on, and you've been made an offer of £4000. If you decide to carry on and claim, you may receive nothing. £4000 is better than £0.00.

I have to say that unless you can prove that the commission is a contracted right regardless of whether you have actually earned it (which you seem to be saying is not the case) I agree with fruitdeli - you haven't earned commission and therefore you are not owed it.


Which then, putting the offer in context - the employer does not owe you salary for the time you have been off sick because you are only entitled to SSP; they do not owe you commission because you haven't been there to earn it. And they rejected your claim of bullying. So actually, legally, they do not "owe" you anything. None of that money would be forthcoming from a tribunal claim if it isn't owed - and it seems it isn't. They have paid you according to your contracted terms. In that scenario, £4k doesn't sound so bad. Bearing in mind that if your union won't support you the tribunal is going to cost you £1200, win or lose.


It's a matter of judgement whether they might be willing to think about a counter-offer (no matter what they said), but if they will, I can't see it being realistic countering with anything more than £6k (and not expecting to get it - expecting then to come back again with another offer - if, of course, they come back with anything )

inapickle9

marybelle01 wrote: »

I have to say that unless you can prove that the commission is a contracted right regardless of whether you have actually earned it (which you seem to be saying is not the case) I agree with fruitdeli - you haven't earned commission and therefore you are not owed it.


Which then, putting the offer in context - the employer does not owe you salary for the time you have been off sick because you are only entitled to SSP; they do not owe you commission because you haven't been there to earn it. And they rejected your claim of bullying. So actually, legally, they do not "owe" you anything. None of that money would be forthcoming from a tribunal claim if it isn't owed - and it seems it isn't. They have paid you according to your contracted terms. In that scenario, £4k doesn't sound so bad. Bearing in mind that if your union won't support you the tribunal is going to cost you £1200, win or lose.


It's a matter of judgement whether they might be willing to think about a counter-offer (no matter what they said), but if they will, I can't see it being realistic countering with anything more than £6k (and not expecting to get it - expecting then to come back again with another offer - if, of course, they come back with anything )

I have earned the commission, I received a statement in the post as I do monthly, however it won't be released as I am not at work on target etc. Tbh I would settle at 6k at the min to get this over with but 4k isn't realistic. Like I say i am tempted to reject 4k, however I risk not getting anything

sniggings

inapickle9 wrote: »

I have earned the commission, I received a statement in the post as I do monthly, however it won't be released as I am not at work on target etc. Tbh I would settle at 6k at the min to get this over with but 4k isn't realistic. Like I say i am tempted to reject 4k, however I risk not getting anything

pretend you have rejected it... what would be your first step? hiring a solicitor? would be pointless as they would charge more than you would win...doing the work your self? do you know where to start? it could be a year before you even make it to court, and it's a proper court, you have to file papers, meet deadlines etc then you have to win! so a full year of stress and no reference, so probably no chance of a decent job or at least it will be a lot harder to get one without a reference.

Remember too that if by a chance you should win, you have to pay back any benefits you have had, if you win, if the award is for a loss of earnings.

I feel for you and it sounds like I do not support you but as I said I have been through this and it gets a lot easier when you accept that some people in this world are just nasty and the system doesn't help you address that.

Take the money, move on is the best way for you to beat them, let them see they have not won.

And remember they haven't even sacked you, you have been off sick, which probably means a constructive dismissal case which have about a 5% chance of winning, only 4% out of 50,000 won £4k-£5K for unfair dismissal, you have not been sacked so it will be even harder to win that that, out of 50,000 cases for unfair dissmissal the total award was only £180k for all those that won, only 4% won £10k, just shows what a battle it is to win.


if I were you I would try for slightly more if it's not forthcoming, accept the £4k and get on with your life.

marybelle01

inapickle9 wrote: »

I have earned the commission, I received a statement in the post as I do monthly, however it won't be released as I am not at work on target etc. Tbh I would settle at 6k at the min to get this over with but 4k isn't realistic. Like I say i am tempted to reject 4k, however I risk not getting anything

Sorry, but this isn't a statement of the commission you have earned. It is a statement of the commission you might have earned if you were at work and on target - neither of which you are and neither of which you will be, unless you go back to work. The receipt of commission is conditional upon certain things happening, and they haven't happened - so you cannot say that they owe you this money. They only owe it to you if you met the conditions and you didn't

Pricivius

One point to make is that if you reject their offer of £4k or make a counter-offer, legally both are a rejection and the £4k is off the table. There is no guarantee the company will put it back on the table.

As Sniggings points out, if you reject and they are not bluffing and stand firm, what's your next move? Are you still signed off sick or are you supposed to be returning to the office? If you are deemed fit for work, you need to go back. Failure to do so would mean you were absent without authority which is potentially gross misconduct. If you are still off sick, then you are out of SSP so will need to apply for ESA. From their point of view, all you are accruing is annual leave which is a small price to pay, if you see what I mean.

If you haven't already during your six months of sick leave, I would start looking for a new job very quickly...