How Much Should We Expect With A Compromise Agreement

mrsmoneypenny9

Further to my previous thread, my husband has decided not to sign the Compromise Agreement which his employer has asked him to sign as they have not offered him any compensation just the stat redundancy payment of £310 per week, his salary was £550 plus bonus, so we are going to renegotiate through our solicitor, but we do not know what is a reasonable deal, so any thoughts would be appreciated, also if we took them to a tribunal, we have a good case against them, what could we expect to get if we won and what would the costs be,

Facts are, my DH was employed with them for 34 years is 60 in may next year, other benifits inc company van inc private fuel, mobile phone, pension and death in service at 4 x salary. The amount they have offered is 29 weeks ( thats his entitlement) x £310 = 8990, not a lot when you consider that he has worked for them for most of his working life.

Thanks in advance. :beer:

Lakeuk

What were the redundancy terms in your OH's contract from company 1, this should be the starting point for your solicitor, I'd expect it to say something like x weeks basic pay per years service, other benefits like bonus, use of company vehicle, mobile phone I wouldn't expect to be factored in.

Other avenues that the solicitor could try would be better pension for a lower redundancy payment

mrsmoneypenny9

if you mean the compromise agreement the terms were, he would recieve his basic statutory entitlement and not a penny more, if you mean his contract of employment there was no provision made fro redundancy in it.

Lakeuk

In his 34 yrs employment has he never had a contract of employment that has stated what the redundancy terms were?

mrsmoneypenny9

I have just checked hos CofE, and it does not mention Redundancy, this is the only copy we have and it was revised when his Company was sold on a few years ago.

cash99

Have there been any other redundancies at your OH's employer in the past. If they have paid more than statutory redundancy then the amount paid could be deemed custom and practice and you could argue this is the amount due.

If the redundancy is TUPE avoidance then you solicitor should be able to advise what a Tribunal would award and you can start negotiating from there.

Early involvement of a solicitor will also put the pressure on the employer, who clearly thinks they are doing something wrong if they are pushing for compromise agreements. Get your solicitor to start proceedings against the company taking over the contract, as if it is TUPE related, they could be liable also.

I would be bold with your demands ( a years salary tax free) , as at this stage you have nothing to lose.

mrsmoneypenny9

Thanks for the advice, there have been redundancies in the past but we dont know what they paid out then, we do think that they were better payouts because it was back in the day when the Company was family owned but not 100% sure.

We have an appointment of Friday to see our solicitor and my gut feeling is to brave it out, we are not desparate for the money right now, so we can wait if need be for a tribunal if it comes to that. The other guys who did sign the contract were under pressure because they were all out of work with no job to go to and were relying on their redundancy money to see them through, so they had no choice but to sign.

CFC

Mrs moneypenny, my advice would be to push for whatever you can get and not rush to accept their next offer; and your starting point would be what a Tribunal would pay out if you went and won.

Advise your husband to refuse to discuss the matter with his company or any managers when he is in work, except to request any communication on this matter to be made in writing, so he can take it to the solicitor.

Make sure that your solicitor is an employment specialist.

gwernybwch

mrsmoneypenny9 wrote: »

Further to my previous thread, my husband has decided not to sign the Compromise Agreement which his employer has asked him to sign as they have not offered him any compensation just the stat redundancy payment of £310 per week, his salary was £550 plus bonus, so we are going to renegotiate through our solicitor, but we do not know what is a reasonable deal, so any thoughts would be appreciated, also if we took them to a tribunal, we have a good case against them, what could we expect to get if we won and what would the costs be,

Facts are, my DH was employed with them for 34 years is 60 in may next year, other benifits inc company van inc private fuel, mobile phone, pension and death in service at 4 x salary. The amount they have offered is 29 weeks ( thats his entitlement) x £310 = 8990, not a lot when you consider that he has worked for them for most of his working life.

If they were to make him redundant, they would have to either give him 12 weeks notice of termination of contract / redundancy or pay him 12 weeks pay in lieu of notice.

Therefore in addition to his statutory redundancy payment of £8990, I think that at a bare minimum you should be asking for 12 weeks pay on top of that + any outstanding holiday pay entitlement.

I would think long and hard before going down the tribunal route, it is time-consuming and emotionally draining. If an employer offers a compromise agreement, it doesn't always mean that they have something to hide, alot of employers use them to 'tie everything up cleanly'.

I would also ask your legal advisor regarding the tax implications of an agreement, if some cases if they are worded correctly (the think that it has to be worded as a 'settlement' and not for payment in lieu of notice) that the payments can be tax-free.

I hope this helps.