Compromise Agreement
COMPROMISE AGREEMENTS SOLICITORS NORTHAMPTON
Compromise Agreements have become an increasingly common way of avoiding employment disputes reaching the Employment Tribunal and consequently minimising the inherent stress, delay, cost and uncertainty to both employer and employee.
The essence of a compromise agreement is for the employee to contract out of rights to make the vast majority of potential employment law claims against the employer, in return for which the employer will typically pay the employee not only his or her contractual entitlements on departure but also a compensatory amount which can be tax free up to £30,000.00.
Compromise agreements are very standard documents and there is a good reason for this. Such agreements were created by statute (the Government) as a way of lessening the economic burden of an increasing number of claims being made in the Employment Tribunals where no court fees are payable. In order for compromise agreements to be legally effective and binding, the vast majority of the content is standardised to comply with the statute.
Why do you need legal advice if everything is so straightforward you may ask ? The answer to this is again that the statutory provisions, in order to safeguard employees, requires the employee to have been independently legally advised. The good news in this respect is that it is more or les standard (although employers occasionally resist) for employers to pay the employee’s lawyers fees for the advice by agreeing a contribution which is typically around £300.00 plus VAT. With a fairly straightforward agreement, this will generally cover the employee’s legal fees in full. Certainly, Northampton compromise agreement solicitors rarely charge over and above this, so if you instruct us to advise you, it is highly unlikely you will have to pay any costs.
Notwithstanding compromise agreements are pretty standard, there are some clauses which can be contentious and/or negotiable and most employees do rely on our advice as to whether the ex gratia compromise compensation is fair based on the underlying issues and based on our experience of advising many employees on compromise agreements.
We are able to advise you rapidly on compromise agreements offered, often on the same day you call, as some employees are very keen to conclude matters rapidly. Please do get in touch if you are based in Northampton or nearby, for local, trusted employment law advice. It may also assist you to visit our compromise agreement faq page, which includes more helpful information and answers to common questions.