Settlement agreements in an employment context are ordinarily used to provide both parties with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship – but what happens when there is alleged discrimination after entering into a settlement agreement?
Settlement agreements in an employment context are ordinarily used to provide both parties with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship – but what happens when there is alleged discrimination after entering into a settlement agreement?
The recent case of Bathgate v Technip UK Ltd and Ors considered this question. The Claimant in this matter, C, was employed for some 20 years before he agreed to take voluntary redundancy. C entered into a settlement agreement waiving his right to bring past, current and future claims against his employer in consideration for enhanced redundancy pay, notice pay and an additional payment calculated in accordance with the terms of a collective agreement. After C entered into this agreement, the Respondent discovered that the terms of the collective agreement provided that the additional payment would only apply to those who had not reached the age of 61. C was not entitled to receive the collective agreement payment as he was 61 or over as at his termination date.
C brought an employment tribunal claim, citing age discrimination in relation to the non-payment of the collective agreement payment. The Respondents sought to defend this claim on two grounds, firstly that C had compromised his ability to bring a claim by entering into the settlement agreement, and secondly on jurisdictional points relating to the meaning of “seafarers” that we will not be considering within this article.
The Employment Tribunal found that C was precluded from bringing his claim, due to the settlement agreement; the wording of this was an effective full and final settlement of all current and future age discrimination claims. C appealed against the Employment Tribunal’s decision.
The EAT upheld his appeal. For an agreement to be valid to settle claims under the Equality Act 2010, it must meet a number of requirements, including that it must relate to “the particular complaint”. In this case, the settlement agreement referred to a “long list” of legislation, including that relating to age discrimination and purported to include future discrimination claims of which C was unaware. The EAT held that an unknown future claim could not fall within the statutory meaning of a “particular complaint” under the Equality Act 2010.
It was previously understood, based on the decision in Hilton UK Hotels Limited v McNaughton, that it was possible to settle future unknown claims within a settlement agreement but that, if this was the intention of the parties, the wording needed to be clear and unequivocal. The decision of the EAT in Bathgate has, however, restricted this principle as being relevant only to matters of contract law and contractual interpretation, highlighting the potential limitation of settlement agreements, and the protection afforded to employers in certain circumstances. The reduction in certainty, and the inability to secure a clean break, will need to be considered by employers when deciding whether to enter into settlement agreements and/or the amount of consideration that will be offered.
Official statistics show that 15,336 claims which included a complaint of age discrimination were received at the Employment Tribunals between March 2020 and March 2021.
Law firm Browne Jacobson has collaborated with Wiltshire Council and Christ Church Business School on the launch event of The Council Company Best Practice and Innovation Network, a platform which brings together academic experts and senior local authority leaders, allowing them to share best practice in relation to council companies.
The outcome of the Employment Tribunal claim brought by Gulnaz Raja against Starling Bank Limited (1) (Starling), and Matthew Newman (2) was reported last month.
In the Autumn Statement delivered on 17 November, rises to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates were announced, to take effect from 1 April 2023.
The World Cup kicks off in Qatar on Sunday 20 November 2022, with the final taking place on Sunday 18 December 2022. Undoubtedly, this is a huge sporting event, and many employees will be keen to show their support for their favourite teams. However, due to the time difference, start times for the matches are between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. UK time, which could have an impact on employers if employees who wish to watch the matches are scheduled to work.
Settlement agreements are commonplace in an employment context and are ordinarily used to provide the parties to the agreement with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship.
Where an employee appeals against their dismissal under a contractual appeal procedure and their appeal is successful, reinstatement to their previous role is automatic and does not require approval or agreement from the employee.
Settlement agreements in an employment context are ordinarily used to provide both parties with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship – but what happens when there is alleged discrimination after entering into a settlement agreement?
Updates include UK Shared Prosperity Fund, contracts, Subsidy Control Bill, data controller liability, Government Covid-19 procurement and Highway Code revisions.
A few weeks ago we brought you news that following the Government’s mini-budget it was confirmed that the off-payroll working rules (known as “IR35”) put in place for public and private sector businesses from 2017 and 2021 would be scrapped from April 2023.
In Mogane v Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered whether it was fair to dismiss a nurse as redundant on the basis that that her fixed-term contract was due to expire before that of her colleague.
The majority of people do not feel the need to embellish their CV to get that coveted position and move on up the career ladder. Their worthiness and benefit to the hiring organisation are easily demonstrated through the recruitment process – application, psychometric testing, selection day or interview.
In July 2022, the Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited Judgement in the case of Harpur Trust v Brazel relating to the correct calculation of statutory holiday pay for part year workers. This decision has implications for all part year workers on contracts which subsist all year round, whether their hours are normal or irregular.
The Procurement Bill (the Bill) has now been with us for about four months, during which time there have been a huge number of amendments proposed in the House of Lords (circa 320). Lately, there has been less mention of it — unsurprising, really, given everything else going on in politics recently — but here’s a summary of some of the key issues and themes so far.
Browne Jacobson has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Public Sector Legal Services Framework on Lot 1a – full-service provision (England and Wales) and Lot 2a – general service provision (England and Wales).
The Government has announced a change to the categorisation of “small” businesses to reduce the amount of regulatory compliance (or “red tape”) required. Currently, SMEs (those with fewer than 250 employees) are exempt from certain regulations – such as the obligation to comply with gender pay reporting. With effect from 3 October, these exemptions will be widened to apply to businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
In University of Dundee v Chakraborty, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered whether a first draft of a grievance report could retrospectively be deemed to be privileged.