Negotiating compromise agreements
If you have been offered a compromise agreement then you should always consider trying to negotiate better terms. It is important to use the words without prejudice when you talk or write to your employer about this – for more on that concept, see our without prejudice page.
To ascertain your rights, have a look through the information on our website. The next step is often to put your grievances to your employer. For maximum effect, you should put it in writing. It may be that we will be able to offer you assistance at no upfront cost – see our Representation page for more info.
If you feel you have been treated badly about something, put it in writing. If you feel you have a potential employment tribunal claim for something, put it in writing. Don’t tell them what you intend to do about it or write that you will take it to tribunal. Just write down what your complaint is. For example you might say “I feel that I am being unfairly dismissed OR I feel that I am not genuinely being made redundant OR I feel that I am being discriminated against” and then give the reasons. Be as detailed as you can and give as much information as possible. Give dates of incidents, list who was present and if you have any witnesses, and detail the effect it has had on you.
If your employer starts to negotiate with you, make sure that you say/write the words ‘without prejudice’ (see our definitions pages). Then you obviously need to ask for more than you really want, to give you room to negotiate your compromise agreement. Your employer might offer you a lower amount, and then you can split the difference. Of course it helps if you know how to ask for that higher sum, by pressing the right buttons. Issues likely to affect your employer’s decision on value can include for example legal fees and lost management time, as well as the strength of the claim and liklihood of having to pay out at tribunal.
If you want to maximise your financial settlement, you might decide to instruct experts to guide you. Our experts can either write to your employer on headed paper, or they can guide you from behind the scenes and tell you what to say. It can help you if your employer realises that you have instructed solicitors to represent you – it makes you look more serious, and is always worth a few more thousand pounds to the employer to make it go away.
Armed with some tailored advice, you will not only know which moves to make and which moves to not even think about, but your employer will suddenly sit up and take notice. Have a look at the Employee Experiences to see how others in your situation were helped on their journey. If you want to discuss how much money you should get, or any other compromise agreement query, email us on info@compromiseagree.com, call us on 0800 533 5134 or 07758 263970, or send a message in the box to the right.
