Have you received a Settlement Agreement from your employer? Our employment team has extensive experience in advising employees on the terms of their Settlement Agreements and has put together the following 5 top tips to help you secure the best settlement package possible:-
- It is likely that you will have had a meeting with your employer at which your exit and the settlement agreement was proposed. You should make a contemporaneous note of that meeting because the manner in which it was conducted may give you the evidence you need to force your employer to increase your exit package.
- When the settlement agreement is presented, you should resist the temptation to make any comment to your employer about your intentions to accept it or its contents until after you have sought advice from your solicitor. A misplaced comment, may make it more difficult to negotiate a better package.
- Dig out your contract of employment or ask your employer to retrieve a copy from your personnel file. Both you and your solicitor will need to check that you are being properly compensated for the loss of all your contractual benefits such as notice, bonus, commission, holiday pay and shares.
- Don’t just think about money. Very often reaching agreement on other matters can help you move on to new employment quickly. For example, agreeing a departure announcement or reference and keeping a work mobile phone (or phone number) or laptop may help you with your job search.
- Check every insurance policy that you hold for any legal expenses cover. Your employer is more likely to agree to your demand for a higher settlement sum if it is informed that you are not afraid to make a claim because your legal costs are covered.
We have many years experience of successfully resolving disputes in the workplace for our employee clients. We have a demonstrably good track record of identifying the weakness in your employers’ arguments and negotiating a significantly improved settlement agreement.
If you have any queries in relation to the issues mentioned in this blog please contact your usual Morrisons’ adviser. For further information on employment law please click here.