Without prejudice/ Settlement agreement: Solicitor negative feedback & limited timescale, advice?

mrrossi

Hi all

So, I've been offered a Without prejudice/ Settlement agreement and engaged a solicitor as per legal requirement to review, confirm all is ok and I was expecting all good for me to accept & sign. Due to various delays/issues I won't go into here, it's only completed today and the last day of employment is also today (was given 2 weeks notice to be fair) but agreed yesterday to extend signing until tomorrow in case of any queries/feedback on the review.

I was "happy" with the settlement; 3 months PILON + ex-gratia - very generous. But lost in the legal jargon. However, the solictor has ripped it to shreds, listing 20 seperate points for negotiation! They've also said the amount the company offered to pay "is insufficient for reviewing and negotiating an agreement with this many problematic clauses" and suggested asking for more money and an extension.

Personally, I think they've gone over the top. For a start, there's no negotiation to be had here really. The company could simply withdraw the offer and go down the formal redundancy route, and I'm pretty sure there's no job at the end of it and I'd be far worse off. I want to accept and don't want to jeapodise the offer. Note: large number of people in same position, no discrimination etc. The offer is more than fair. 

Question is, how should I respond to HR now / move forwards? Options I see are:

1) Send HR the whole thing and say "this is the advice, what do you think"? (I'm thinking this may not be wise - I always prefer honesty, but, honestly?!? - maybe not this time!!)

2) Send HR it and say "I'm not so concerned about clause a, b and c but please amend x, y and z" (after I've had a fresh look tomorrow, but I think some parts are defo overkill whereas some it WOULD be nice to amend a little bit to CMA! See below key concerns)?

3) Don't send HR it but say the solicitors have said there's significant problems and it needs renegotiation and the fee would be higher and do they agree to that? (VERY wary of this option as they could just say "no" and withdraw the offer?)

4) Just say "fine", and sign anyway?!?!? (scares me due to some of the key concerns below)

KEY CONCERNS raised by solicitors (some of the 20 points I think can be ignored/"gentle" re-words requested):

*some calculations not included (such as the 30k tax free part) which could lead to HMRC challenging later & facing an unexpected tax bill (is that realistic/likely? but surely not contentious to ask for...?)

*there's a part about the restrictions on references but I'm not that concerned here as have already been offered great ones from close "allies"

* "The definition of "Confidential Information" is drafted so broadly that it could be interpreted to prevent you from using your general skills, knowledge, and experience in a future role. This is an unreasonable restrain" - this one does concern me but it doesn't offer alternative wording without further paid negotiaton services which I don't think is reasonable, so not sure what to feed back to HR...?

*"Repayment Clause: This clause is extremely aggressive. It allows the Company to demand full repayment of your severance payment based solely on its own assertion that you have breached the agreement, without a court ruling. We must amend this so that repayment is only triggered by a court's finding of a *material* breach, and is limited to the actual financial loss suffered by the Company" - this one is pretty scary and I think I really should ask for a re-word, but I'm thinking I ask HR/legal to re-word rather than ask them pay more money for my solicitors to re-draft?! Although, I highly doubt I would breach the agreement, as I said, happy with it and happy to move on!

Thoughts/advice please?!

Rx

Maegi

Unless you're going to work (directly) with a competitor then will anything even be applicable? 

 

mrrossi

Thanks Maegi - my partner was just saying something similar, I'm not going to be divulging secrets (I'm not really privee to any anyway!) or bad mouthing the company! I think the settlement may be excessive due to them covering themselves/all eventualities, and the solicitors feedback also being excessive to cover themselves / get more work?!

However, that being said, there IS a good chance I may indeed work directly for a competitor... although difficult to say at this stage.

I'm wary of asking HR to make any amemdments to the contract as then it will have to go back to legal, which will result in more delays and possible withdrawal of the offer. On the tax side, I could just ask them for a separate letter/email with the tax workings...?

QrizB

Your solicitor should be acting in your best interests. I'd listen to their concerns.

mrrossi

One would hope so... but it is just a an internet based service (which I'm regretting now) and I don't think they've taken my circumstances into account. I've replied asking them (nicely!) to be less "aggressive" and told them I don't want to negotiate, that's not an option at this stage, and to please focus on the most important points and request mild re-writes. Will see what they say on Monday...

penners324

Send them solicitors advice over. It's what they're being paid for

mrrossi

Just an update to say it's all sorted now. I believe the solicitors being being too agressive and it would have been unrealistic to ask for everything suggested, I think the offer would have been withdrawn. Instead the "many points" need MINOR re-work approach was safer and was eventually agreed, so I'm happy with the result.