Solicitor to deal with compromise agreement

[possiblecase]

My company has offered me a compromise agreement following a grievance I have raised. The solicitor I have been liaising with for general free advice up to now has now stated that the fees the employer will pay will not cover negotiations and will just be advise on the agreement itself. I'm unsure if the offer I have been given by my employer is enough. Anyone have any advice as to whether I should just accept the employers offer and inform the solicitor to go ahead or whether I should pay for solicitors' negotiations myself? The grievance was against a very senior manager and involves sex discrimination. Offer is around 5 months pay plus notice.

Thanks!

[becky2585]

What your solicitor has told you is fairly standard advice - the minimum contribution we would accept is £250 plus VAT and that only really covers the meeting and advice on the agreement itself. Negotiations on contentious issues usually cost a minimum of £1,000 +.

 

If you're unsure, it may be worth paying the extra for peace of mind alone. They can always try to negotiate a higher contribution to your legal fees, which may cover the higher cost of the work done.

[possiblecase]

Thank you - Could you tell me what the average pay out is for a compromise agreement in this area? The employer has informed me that they are going to hire external consultants to investigate the grievance because it involves several members of senior staff and I have plenty of email evidence of what has happened - lewd jokes, complaints of lewd remarks etc. but a lot of these are out of time but I have since been removed from my role working for this person because I complained to him of the lewd remarks/jokes and also when I spoke to HR about it, they advised me not to take things further and essentially broke their own policies and procedures they have in place. I know it is difficult to advise but I really feel at risk if I want to start negotiating the amount. I definitely do not want to return to the employer but want to make sure I get the outcome I deserve having had depression and stress several times since I have been with the employer. The HR manager is preparing my comp agmt as the legal team there are having to be kept out of the situation due to the investigation and their involvement in whats happened in the past so it is so difficult to ascertain the HR Manager's ability to handle this situation following advice from another director I worked for who had no idea of what had happened.

[becky2585]

Really, it's absolutely impossible to advise without knowing your situation, but as a bare minimum, I'd expect to see your notice pay in lieu, outstanding holiday pay, and wages up to the termination date. They'd then usually add on an ex-gratia payment as an incentive for signing the agreement, as clearly you are waiving your employment rights by doing so.

 

In terms of lost earnings, an absolute ball park figure is 26 weeks for an unfair dismissal claim - but clearly you'd probably have to compromise on the full amount.

 

So it could be a good offer, but without the facts, or knowing whether discrimination has taken place, etc, then I can't really say any more. That's why it's good to instruct a solicitor to deal with the matter.

[lbruk]

you could always ask as part of the compromise agreement for the employer to pay for your legal fees thats what i have done on mine, if i ever get a decent offer from them that is!!

[assisted blonde]

Do you think the offer is reasonable if so accept and draw a line under the whole thing, if not you could ask the solicitor to continue negotiations but if he dosent get substantially more you could end up with less after paying his fees.

[Jon D]

without knowing any facts, 5 months plus you notice period would be at the top end of settlements.

 

If you push too much higher - then the employer might take a view that by fighting it through the courts would be worth the hastle.

 

As someone else has said - draw a line and move your life one would be my advise!