Sacked? Redundancy? Advice needed please

Savvy_Sue

I'd personally put plenty of effort into the agreement including a good reference - making sure you know what will and will not be said. You may be able to persuade them it's worth their while to improve the offer - but it may not be. Keeping the car, probably they should not have removed it from.you, but paying you £ks more? I'm not sure.

Most importantly, jobhunt. This job is over. You may have been badly treated, but nothing you do now will change that. If all your energy goes into trying to get an improved offer, you may not be any better off if you miss out on the next job.

happyc84

Undervalued said:

jlfrs01 said:

You need to speak with a Lawyer who specialises in Employment Law pronto. I had a similar thing happen to me a few years ago. For a start, involving a Lawyer takes you out of the firing line, secondly they'll be able to advise you of your options and the possible outcome, you'll usually get an initial phone call for free and can go from there. I don't believe your employer had any right to confiscte your car, if it forms part of your contract then you should be entitled to it until the day you leave the company (or if you change jobs internally for one which doesn't include one).

What you employer is suggesting is a fait accompli - accept their offer to leave or face a Disciplinary. This is the government's advice on Disciplinary procedures:

https://www.gov.uk/disciplinary-procedures-and-action-at-work/disciplinary-hearings

If it's a matter of taking an offer then in effect you are waiving your legal rights under UK employment law and accepting a "Compromise Agreement". If you feel your position is untenable then this may be the route to go and you don't have to accept what they're putting on the table, a Lawyer can negotiate this for you and it is usually the employer who bears all costs. If you can get redundancy then some of your settlement could be tax-free.

1 - Now called a "Settlement Agreement" (changed from a compromise agreement about ten years ago)!

2- For it to be valid the employee must receive independent legal advice so that they understand the implications of signing. Whilst it is customary (not obligatory) for the employer to pay towards this it is unusual for them to pay for more legal advice than the minimum the law requires for the agreement to be valid. It is most unusual for the employer to pay for the employee's lawyer to negotiate for a better settlement!

3 - This is not a redundancy situation however, that is irrelevant as the first £30K of a settlement agreement is also tax free. Any contractual entitlements such as notice and holiday pay would be taxable in the normal way.

point 3. This didn't happen when I signed a Settlement agreement - paid tax as not made redundant, seek legal advice or Trade union FTO if you are a paid up member. 

Undervalued

happyc84 said:

Undervalued said:

jlfrs01 said:

You need to speak with a Lawyer who specialises in Employment Law pronto. I had a similar thing happen to me a few years ago. For a start, involving a Lawyer takes you out of the firing line, secondly they'll be able to advise you of your options and the possible outcome, you'll usually get an initial phone call for free and can go from there. I don't believe your employer had any right to confiscte your car, if it forms part of your contract then you should be entitled to it until the day you leave the company (or if you change jobs internally for one which doesn't include one).

What you employer is suggesting is a fait accompli - accept their offer to leave or face a Disciplinary. This is the government's advice on Disciplinary procedures:

https://www.gov.uk/disciplinary-procedures-and-action-at-work/disciplinary-hearings

If it's a matter of taking an offer then in effect you are waiving your legal rights under UK employment law and accepting a "Compromise Agreement". If you feel your position is untenable then this may be the route to go and you don't have to accept what they're putting on the table, a Lawyer can negotiate this for you and it is usually the employer who bears all costs. If you can get redundancy then some of your settlement could be tax-free.

1 - Now called a "Settlement Agreement" (changed from a compromise agreement about ten years ago)!

2- For it to be valid the employee must receive independent legal advice so that they understand the implications of signing. Whilst it is customary (not obligatory) for the employer to pay towards this it is unusual for them to pay for more legal advice than the minimum the law requires for the agreement to be valid. It is most unusual for the employer to pay for the employee's lawyer to negotiate for a better settlement!

3 - This is not a redundancy situation however, that is irrelevant as the first £30K of a settlement agreement is also tax free. Any contractual entitlements such as notice and holiday pay would be taxable in the normal way.

point 3. This didn't happen when I signed a Settlement agreement - paid tax as not made redundant, seek legal advice or Trade union FTO if you are a paid up member. 

Unless your circumstances were very unusual that was most likely wrong and to your disadvantage. If less than six years ago you may be able to claim the tax back.

Here is a link to an article published by a firm of solicitors (I have no connection to this firm and many other similar advisory articles are available online elsewhere)......

https://www.ms-solicitors.co.uk/employee/settlement-agreements/factsheet-settlement-agreement-tax-implications/

Normally any ex gratia payment (up to £30K), forming part of a settlement agreement, is tax free. The only exception I can think of would be the fairly unusual contractual agreement to a pre defined "no fault" severance payment. These are sometimes agreed when an employee is "head hunted" and giving up security in their previous employment. Without something like that in place they risk being "let go" in the first two years with nothing more than their contractual notice. As I said earlier, any contractual entitlement is taxable.