Settlement Agreement after successfully avoiding redundancy
With the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve seen a massive number of people being made redundant and that, as sad as it is, is probably pretty obvious.
But what happens if you were successful in avoiding redundancy after a company redundancy process, only to be offered a settlement agreement a month or two down the line?
It’s an unusual situation, but is something which we’ve seen a number of times in the last few months.
A fair and proper redundancy selection process should be designed to ensure that the best candidates remain in the role; those with the lowest scores in a selection matrix will be made redundant.
Occasionally, as an alternative to redundancy, you might be offered another role — perhaps in a different department or with different duties. At the time, you probably thought that the job is better than having no job, and therefore you agree to a “trial” in the new role.
You therefore start the new role, only to realise that it really isn’t for you.
You speak with your line manager and let them know your concerns. You say, in hindsight, that you think it might be better for you to take the redundancy after all. The employer says no sorry you can’t, we’ve finished the redundancy process now.
So what are your options? If you hand your notice in, then you’ll miss out on any redundancy pay. However, this may be your only option.
Redundancy is entirely up to the company, you cannot “claim” redundancy unless it’s offered as voluntary. If you missed the chance, then I’m sorry you missed your chance.
Depending on the employer, it may be possible to negotiate a settlement agreement as a way of terminating your employment and receiving a tax free payoff.
The other alternative is if there is evidence that the only reason the company offered you the alternate role was a sham to avoid redundancy. I’ve seen a company do that, and then “have a chat” with an employee a couple of weeks later.
If you’re in a situation like this, it is probably a sensible idea to have a “protected conversation” with your employer — a pre termination discussion — in which a agreement ca be discuss to terminate your employment by way of a settlement agreement.
You’ll need expert legal advice on a settlement agreement, which is a little more than a solicitor signing off the agreement, but rest assured we can help. Your employer usually pays the bill as well.
