Grievance/Settlement Agreement

Greycommand

Hello all. I’m hoping someone might be able to give me some advice. I am due to return to work from maternity leave soon and due to the way I was treated before I left and since, I don’t want to return. I believe I was discriminated against prior to leaving (excluded from meetings, team had pay rise other than me) I was also not invited to our Christmas party and various other issues such as advertising my role following me making a flexible working request. (which they also haven’t responded to after 3 months.) I have proof of all of my claims but I’ve also submitted a DSAR which I am awaiting - i’m hopeful there may be some more evidence in emails between hr and my manager. I am going to submit a grievance but I’m not sure the best way to go about telling them I would accept an exit settlement, I also don’t know what kind of figure I should be looking to accept. I will have worked there 9 years after Christmas. I have already confirmed I don’t need to repay any enhanced mat pay I’ve received so this wouldn’t cause an issue. 

DE_612183

A lot depends on their grievance process - is this private or public sector?

Greycommand

DE_612183 said:

A lot depends on their grievance process - is this private or public sector?

Private 😊. 

DE_612183

so if it's a small company and you know the MD to speak to, I'd guess the best route would be ask outright.

In terms of settlement, most companies already have "structure" for calculations - 1 month per year of service depending on age - I'm assuming if you have just come off maternity leave then you're probably under 40.

I'd guess therefore that 9-12 months salary is what you'd be looking to get.

gwynlas

It is unlikely that they will offer you any settlement as they should let the grievance process continue, It is also unlikely that you would win the grievance process unless you have a stack of well sourced evidence and they will counter argue that you should have raised these issues at the time so that they could have been investigated whilst fresh. Raising a grievance and looking for a settlement figure now makes it look as though you never intended to return from maternity leave.Sorry if this is not the type of advice you were looking for.

Greycommand

gwynlas said:

It is unlikely that they will offer you any settlement as they should let the grievance process continue, It is also unlikely that you would win the grievance process unless you have a stack of well sourced evidence and they will counter argue that you should have raised these issues at the time so that they could have been investigated whilst fresh. Raising a grievance and looking for a settlement figure now makes it look as though you never intended to return from maternity leave.Sorry if this is not the type of advice you were looking for.

I have raised my issues with HR throughout, including before my leave. Thank you for your thoughts though, it’s good to get lots of prospectives 

Greycommand

DE_612183 said:

so if it's a small company and you know the MD to speak to, I'd guess the best route would be ask outright.

In terms of settlement, most companies already have "structure" for calculations - 1 month per year of service depending on age - I'm assuming if you have just come off maternity leave then you're probably under 40.

I'd guess therefore that 9-12 months salary is what you'd be looking to get.

It’s a fairly large company - well over 2k employees. Thank you, 1 month per year sounds reasonable! 

JReacher1

From what you have written I can't see anything that would lead me to believe that you are going to get 9 months pay from your company as a settlement. 

People not wanting to return to work after maternity is pretty common.

Greycommand

JReacher1 said:

From what you have written I can't see anything that would lead me to believe that you are going to get 9 months pay from your company as a settlement. 

People not wanting to return to work after maternity is pretty common.

Just for clarity - I absolutely intended to return to work, and would have done so had they not have behaved how they have. I will be returning to work regardless but I don’t wish to work for this particular company. I obviously can’t put specifics but even the items on the brief run down there have been successful tribunal claims for - and having read the tribunal claims I have significantly more evidence. Thank you for your opinion though. 

Puddings

I'm afraid I agree that anywhere near 9 months pay seems unlikely, if I'm working on a settlement agreement our starting position is usually equivalent to a statutory redundancy (plus notice etc). This does all depend on how strong your grievance and evidence is though, I would ask them, in writing, when you should expect to hear the outcome of your grievance. 

ETA I've just re-read and you haven't yet submitted your grievance, that's the first thing you need to do, as you move through the process there may come a suitable time, for you or them, to raise the potential for a settlement. 

Marcon

Greycommand said:

JReacher1 said:

From what you have written I can't see anything that would lead me to believe that you are going to get 9 months pay from your company as a settlement. 

People not wanting to return to work after maternity is pretty common.

Just for clarity - I absolutely intended to return to work, and would have done so had they not have behaved how they have. I will be returning to work regardless but I don’t wish to work for this particular company. I obviously can’t put specifics but even the items on the brief run down there have been successful tribunal claims for - and having read the tribunal claims I have significantly more evidence. Thank you for your opinion though. 

Sounds as if a meeting with a specialist employment lawyer would be money well spent, if only to establish whether or not you might have a case and if so, the likely strength of that case. It would be unusual for a company of such a large size to get things quite so wrong (based on what you have posted, which is -  very sensibly - short on detail), so checking with someone who knows their stuff and has all the facts would be wise.