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Settlement Agreements Services for Employers
Settlement agreements offer a fast, cost-effective way for employers to resolve employment disputes or avoid the potential for future disputes. They can be used in a range of circumstances, such as when making redundancies or dealing with an employee complaint or employment tribunal claim.
Settlement agreements (which replaced compromise agreements in 2013) involve having an employee agree in writing not to bring a claim for a specific issue related to their employment in exchange for a one-off payment. Settlement agreements can be used to either terminate the employment relationship altogether or to resolve a grievance in circumstances where the relationship will continue.
Settlement agreements can save you time and money, as well as allowing you to avoid the potential for an employment tribunal, where the outcome is never certain and proceedings are held in public, which can result in negative publicity and damage to your reputation.
Our employment lawyers offer a sensitive, pragmatic approach to getting settlement agreements in place, helping to ensure that you and your employees can achieve an amicable solution to any contentious issues while keeping your business protected.
We regularly advise employers in relation to creating settlement agreements for individual employees, including negotiating with employees and their representatives and drafting the resultant agreements.
In some circumstances we have also assisted larger company with mass settlement agreements during redundancy proceedings, providing independent advice for employees allowing an employer to quickly and cost-effectively get large volumes of settlement agreements in place where required.
Similarly, we also provide settlement agreement advice for employees, if asked by their employer to enter into a settlement agreement. It is a legal requirement for employees to have independent advice on a settlement agreement before signing, so it is typical for employers to fund this.
To speak to one of our expert settlement agreement solicitors today, please contact your local JCP office or use our simple enquiry form to ask a question.
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- Catherine Almeida
- Senior Associate Solicitor - Employment & HR
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- Maia Liddle
- Undergraduate Legal Assistant - Employment & HR
How we help your business with settlement agreements
Making sure a settlement agreement is legally binding
While settlement agreements are generally the best way to resolve most employment disputes, they need to be prepared in the right way to make sure your business is truly protected from the potential for future employment claims.
In order to be legally binding, a settlement agreement must:
- Be voluntarily entered into by the employee (i.e. they must not be under pressure to sign)
- Be in writing
- Relate to a specific complaint or issue
- Be signed by the employee only once they have had advice from an appropriate independent advisor (e.g. a lawyer or certified trade union representative)
- Allow the employee appropriate time to consider the agreement before signing (usually a minimum of 10 calendar days)
- Identify the employee’s advisor
- State the relevant statutory conditions regulating the agreement have been satisfied
Our employment lawyers have the experience and expertise to ensure all of these conditions are correctly met, giving you confidence that the settlement agreement will provide appropriate protection for your business moving forward.
Mass settlement advice
If you are contemplating making a large number of employees redundant, it is not uncommon for an employer to invite a panel of advisers to provide independent legal advice to a group of affected employees in relation to their settlement agreements.
Our employment lawyers can come to your business or another convenient location and hold a mass signing day, where we can advise all of the employees being made redundant individually. In those circumstances, we would be retained by each individual employee affected.
This approach ensures that employees have the appropriate advice to make any settlement agreement they sign legally binding, while allowing you to get the matter resolved quickly. This is an effective way of bringing matters to a conclusion bearing in mind the number of employees that can be involved.
We undertake this locally and nationally for organisations of all sizes and across all sectors.
Why use our settlement agreement solicitors for your business?
Our employment law team have extensive experience with all aspects of settlement agreement for a wide range of businesses and organisations. We can make the process of getting settlement agreements in place as simple and straightforward as possible, allowing you to do the right thing for your employees and protect your business. That way you can move forward with complete confidence.
We are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), ensuring we maintain the highest legal and professional standards at all times.
Our aim is to be as accessible as possible, so we are happy to communicate with you in person, over the phone, by email or via whatever means are most convenient for you.
We have a number of offices covering the whole of South Wales, East Wales and West Wales, including in Swansea and Cardiff. Find out more by taking a look at the contact details for our other law offices in Wales.
Speak to our settlement agreements lawyers in Wales today
Get in touch with our settlement agreements solicitors in Wales now by contacting your local JCP office or filling out the enquiry form at the top of the page to request a call back.