Usually, your employer covers the costs of legal advice for settlement agreements, ensuring you have professional guidance without financial burden.

Depends on age and length of service , see our calculator.

Most last between 3 to 6 months, though some may extend to 12 months. The time limit must be fair and necessary to protect the business.

Unfortunately, there are no definite timeframes when bringing a claim in the Employment Tribunal. As a guide, the tribunal states that simple cases should be concluded within nine months of issuing proceedings. However, the time frame is often dependant on which part of the country your case is being heard and the type of claim.

An employee can request this but the employer does not have to agree. It is the employer’s decision which employees to place on furlough leave. It is unclear whether refusing to place employees on furlough leave and making them redundant instead could amount to unfair dismissal.

You are not obliged to enter into a Settlement Agreement if you do not wish to do so. If you would like to negotiate the terms of the Settlement Agreement it is possible to make a counter offer. If negotiations are unsuccessful, depending upon the circumstances, the employee can decide whether they wish to issue a claim in the Employment Tribunal. The time limit for bringing such a claim is three months less one day from the date of termination/last act of discrimination. If the discussions regarding the Settlement Agreement are “off the record” they cannot usually be referred to in any legal proceedings.

It would seem at first sight that employees who transferred under TUPE to a new employer after that date cannot be placed on furlough leave. However given that TUPE operates to preserve the rights of employees and their contracts on transfer to the new employer it could be argued that these employees should be treated as if they were on the new employe’rs payroll on 28th February. This point requires further clarification from the government and at the moment, it is difficult to say with certainty which is the correct answer.

There is nothing in the current guidance which suggests that the employer will only be able to access the reimbursement if it makes it a condition of furlough leave that the employee does not work elsewhere. Therefore, in theory an employee could work for another employer. It is however clear that the employee cannot do work for the employer seeking the reimbursement during furlough leave.

The scheme states that employees must be furloughed for a minimum of 3 weeks. What is not clear is how long the employee may return to work after a period of furlough leave before being placed on furlough leave again.

No. However withholding 20% of salary would amount to a breach of contract and unlawful deductions of wages unless the employee gives their consent. It is expected that the majority of employees will consent since furlough leave is a much better alternative than unpaid leave, lay off or redundancy.

Some employers will not be able to continue to pay 80% of salaries until the HMRC portal is up and running and reimbursement is received. They therefore have the option of:

Making the employees redundant although this will have its own associated costs
Putting the employees on unpaid leave until the scheme is up and running
Reaching an agreement with the affected employees that they will be furloughed now but that payment of their salaries will be deferred until reimbursement is received from HMRC

Yes 2 years.

We are able to discuss the terms of the Employment Settlement Agreement with you over the telephone or arrange a meeting if you prefer. The offer made will depend upon the circumstances leading up to the discussions and the relative strength of any claim you have. If you have not secured another job to go to, as a general rule of thumb, a payment equivalent to six months’ salary would be considered a good settlement. For a more accurate assessment please use our settlement agreement calculator.

Yes

Whilst there is no legal obligation for an employer to provide a job reference, a factual reference is often appended to the settlement agreement. The content of the reference is usually confined to the job title and length of service.

Usually a document consisting of several pages outlining issues such as:

The details of any severance payment you are to receive at the end of your employment.
Settlement of any claims the employee may have against the employer.
Assurance by the parties that no future legal action regarding your employment relationship will be pursued.
The details that will be provided to other employers after your departure.
The reference you will receive from your employer (we usually agree the wording of any references).
Whether certain matters are required to be kept confidential.
Whether there will be any restrictions placed on the employee after leaving the employer.

Your former employer could try to take legal action. But first, the court will decide if the clause was fair and enforceable to begin with.

If unsuccessful, you typically won't receive compensation and may have to cover your legal costs unless you have insurance or union support. Tribunals rarely order the losing party to pay the winner's legal fees.

Unfortunately the time limit is very strict so we would be unable to help you

Usually not. If it’s not in writing, it’s much harder for an employer to enforce a post-employment restriction.

Put simply, a grievance is a complaint. If you are having a problem at work (for example, you are unhappy with something you have been asked to do as part of your job), you are concerned about an issue that has arisen at work (for example, the terms of your contract of employment have been changed) or you wish to make a complaint about a colleague or a manager (for example, you feel you are being bullied by a colleague or a manager) then you can raise a “grievance”.

Raising a grievance is putting your problem, concern or complaint to your employer informally at first (by perhaps having a private word) or if that fails, more formally, perhaps in writing which will allow them to investigate and hopefully resolve your complaint.

One of the nine features , eg sex , race , disability , age , sexual orientation , religious belief, transgender reassignment , marital status and pregnancy.

The concept of a protected conversation was introduced in 2013 enabling an employer to enter into discussions (“out of the blue”) with an employee with a view to terminating their employment under a settlement agreement, without the parties being able to rely on the details of the conversation as evidence in an unfair dismissal claim. The purpose of the legislation is to enable employers to facilitate the exit of underperforming staff without the necessity of going through a lengthy formal performance management process which can be stressful for both parties.

Settlement agreements are legal contracts between an employer and an employee (or former employee to terminate the contract of employment. We often see settlement agreements in the following circumstances:

Performance review
Disciplinary process
Redundancy

The agreement usually contains provisions for the following:

Payment in lieu of notice (unless the employer wants you to work your notice);
A sum equivalent to any accrued, unused holiday

Any payment in lieu of notice and holiday pay with be subject to your usual tax and national insurance deductions.

Depending on the circumstances, sometimes there may be an ex-gratia (one-off) payment. This is often referred to as the termination payment and ideally should be an incentivised sum of money to sign the agreement. This sum is tax free up to £30,000.