Hi all, I'm still trying to establish the terms of the agreement and if they are fair or not, especially the last bit about re-paying them should any of the clauses be 'broken': "If the Claimant breaches any obligations within this agreement, he will repay immediately to the Respondent the sum referred to at numbered paragraph 1 above as a debt and on demand and will indemnify the Respondent in respect of its reasonable legal costs incurred through enforcing any term of this agreement in proceedings" I'm away this week and hope to get everything sorted out asap with ACAS to be able to draw a line under this and really, really hope that somebody out there can shed some light on this before I sign it. If anybody can, I sincerely thank you in advance!

Just a little bump...

The respondents solicitors drafted it...

Ok, I have re-written the COT3 to an extent which I feel is clearer and leaves no doubt what the settlement agrees to (only the tribunal claim and not the personal injury claim). The 1st paragraph now reads: "We the undersigned have agreed: 1 The Respondent will pay to the Claimant and the Claimant will accept the sum of £x made payable to x in full and final settlement of the claim relating to his employment with the Respondent and/or its termination (Being the subject of Case Number: x in the x Employment Tribunals) but excluding any claims for personal injury and accrued pension rights to the date of termination". There is a final clause (there are 7 in total, to do with not making further claims regarding this case, not disclosing details surrounding the case and the settlement, not applying to the company for work ever again (!) and that I'll withdraw the claim at the tribunal). The final clause states: "If the Claimant breaches any obligations within this agreement, he will repay immediately to the Respondent the sum referred to at numbered paragraph 1 above as a debt and on demand and will indemnify the Respondent in respect of its reasonable legal costs incurred through enforcing any term of this agreement in proceedings". Does this sound like a reasonable request? Is this standard? Any thoughts most welcome.

Thank you Mariefab, I suspected as much...

Right, this is the latest: I have had an offer to settle before the Pre Hearing Review and going through ACAS there is a COT3 agreement to be sorted out. This I am happy with, I can now move on and put this whole sorry mess behind me. However, there is some wording I'm unclear about and its possible implications for my personal injury claim, which is almost concluded. The particular paragraph is: "We the undersigned have agreed: 1. The Respondent will pay to the Claimant and the Claimant will accept the sum of £x made payable to x in full and final settlement of all claims relating to his employment with the Respondent and/or its termination (whether the subject of Case Number: x in the x Employment Tribunals or otherwise) but excluding any claims for personal injury of which the Claimant is currently unaware and accrued pension rights to the date of termination". So, does anybody think they are eluding to my TOTALLY SEPARATE personal injury claim and wanting me to drop that as well, otherwise no deal?

Hi Mariefab... My last day, due to injury, was 19th December 2009... My contract officially ended 28th December 2009... The key date is when I found out I wasn't returning, which was on 22nd February 2010. I was well within the 3 month time frame for submission (if thats what your'e wondering!) or it wouldn't have been accepted by the tribunal. The issue seems to be their definition of my employment - for some odd reason they are saying I haven't been continuously employed for more than 12 months and so not able to bring an unfair dismissal claim: my payslips prove otherwise...

UPDATE!!! Had a letter from the tribunal people today setting a date for a Pre-Hearing Review to decide whetehr I have sufficient service to claim for unfair dismissal... Here are the facts. Began work in April 2007 and that fixed term contract ended in November 2007. Started second fixed term contract in March 2008, continued working beyond the expiry of that contract (it was to have ended in December 2009 at the request of my manager to complete maintemance work before the new season began in March 2009. The only break in employment at this time was due to christmas, when everyone was on holiday. Worked through January and February doing the maintenance and simply continued into the new season without any further breaks in my employment until December 2009. So, from April 2007 until December 2009, I was not working for 3 months (December 2007 - end of February 2007. I have continuous payslips for 2008 and 2009, no P45 was issued, and I was working for 22 months straight with no break. All in all, since April 2007 until December 2009 I only had one 3 month break... The company also uses fixed term contracts for staff who have been there for longer then 4 years, some have been there for 10 years and are still on fixed term contracts... Anybody have any thoughts or advice for the impending (late June) hearing? Thank you in advance...

No news is good news right? Had to supply a detialed statement to my solicitor regarding my injury claim and I had a brainwave... The defendant's insurers are claiming I didnt have the accident on site (even though I was witnessed by two members of management falling). My brainwave is this: I remembered that there is CCTV and that I walked past the camera twice immediately after my accident, now hopefully that will confirm I was already injured WHILE ON SITE! Awaiting a response from the defendant as I type, any news will be posted here...

UPDATE!!! Had a letter from my injury solicitor regarding my accident at work which kicked this whole thing off... They have admitted a breach of statutory duty!! Right, breathe.....

Hi HB, This is the reply I sent out... I am unable agree to your request to withdraw my tribunal claim. In the spirit of fairness, it is for the tribunal to decide if my claim is, as you say in your letter, ‘misconceived and/or otherwise unreasonable’. I look forward to meeting with you at the tribunal hearing. Yours sincerely... blah blah blah..." Short and sweet. Job done. I cc'd ACAS and the tribunal folks too, with my response and the original letter from the solicitors, just so everybody is upto speed with whats being said... Funny how the solicitors didn't send a copy of their letter to either ACAS or the tribunal, so I helped them out and did the job for them.[/font]

Received their response to my tribunal claim today, full of inaccuracies and not even dealing with all the points I raised... I'll add a few details later when I get more time! It makes interesting reading!

Result! Well done!

No, management always arrived well before the rest of us. As I said previously, they had to close the grounds in the afternoon on the day of my accident because they ran out of grit and that was management's decission... So I wonder, do they have short term memory loss to forget all about the poor, icy conditions and then look to blame me...? Hmmm...

Hi Mariefab, do I take it from your posting that you were successful in your tribunal claim? If you still have the letter I'd love to see what you wrote!! I certainly have no intention of dropping my claim, they messed up big time and I want my day in court, so to speak!