forced to sign a Compromise Agreement

[melody213]

Hi,

I was having some workplace issues and was signed off on long term illness when I was told I was going to be made redundant. Afterwhich I filed a case with the Employment Tribunal.

I was made redundant this year and the employer was keen that I enter into a compromise agreement. I believe I was pressured into signing this agreement as the employer was pressuring my solicitor to get me to sign, and saying that my case would not be seen to for over a year, and also my solicitor pressuring me by saying that he will stop the funding to my case if I didnt sign it (I had an insurance company paying the fees). Even though I provided my solicitor with some damning evidence against the employer he still insisted that I sign and he also lowered his initial estimate of compensation by a third to make me think I was better off.

I have a mental illness and the pressure from them got to me and I reluctantly signed. I was not in the best of states to sign, the employer was pushy and I my solicitor did no act in my best interests.

Please can you advise if there is anything I can do now to reverse this?

Thank you

[SarEl]

Hi,

I was having some workplace issues and was signed off on long term illness when I was told I was going to be made redundant. Afterwhich I filed a case with the Employment Tribunal.

I was made redundant this year and the employer was keen that I enter into a compromise agreement. I believe I was pressured into signing this agreement as the employer was pressuring my solicitor to get me to sign, and saying that my case would not be seen to for over a year, and also my solicitor pressuring me by saying that he will stop the funding to my case if I didnt sign it (I had an insurance company paying the fees). Even though I provided my solicitor with some damning evidence against the employer he still insisted that I sign and he also lowered his initial estimate of compensation by a third to make me think I was better off.

I have a mental illness and the pressure from them got to me and I reluctantly signed. I was not in the best of states to sign, the employer was pushy and I my solicitor did no act in my best interests.

Please can you advise if there is anything I can do now to reverse this?

Thank you

 

I am afraid that there is nothing you can do to reverse it - you have signed a legally binding agreement after having received legal advice from a solicitor independant of the employer. The only way such an agreement would not be legally binding is if you had been judged (legally) to be mentally incompetant before signing it, and if you had been, then any claim you had made would be highly questionable - legally incompetant persons cannot initiate legal action on their own behalf.

 

Your solicitor could not "insist" that you sign - you had every right to refuse. However, having done so, you will likely never be able to prove or evidence any alleged malpractice. You could complain to your insurance company about your allegations, but I suspect that they will not be likley to take your word over the solicitors without any evidence of your allegations, and would not be likely to support a claim against the solicitor.

[melody213]

Thanks for your reply. I would say that my judgement was aggravated by the pressure from the employer and the solicitor. Also being told that he would tell the insurer to pull the funding if I didnt accept left me with little choice.

 

In the agreement it has a paragraph saying that in the event that I did proceed with a claim against the employer, that I would have return any payments. - Does this not imply that I can proceed after I return the payments?

 

I would welcome anyone elses opinions as well please. thanks

[melody213]

Thanks for your reply. I would say that my judgement was aggravated by the pressure from the employer and the solicitor. Also being told that he would tell the insurer to pull the funding if I didnt accept left me with little choice.

 

In the agreement it has a paragraph saying that in the event that I did proceed with a claim against the employer, that I would have return any payments. - Does this not imply that I can proceed after I return the payments?

 

I would welcome anyone elses opinions as well please. thanks

[SarEl]

Thanks for your reply. I would say that my judgement was aggravated by the pressure from the employer and the solicitor. Also being told that he would tell the insurer to pull the funding if I didnt accept left me with little choice.

 

In the agreement it has a paragraph saying that in the event that I did proceed with a claim against the employer, that I would have return any payments. - Does this not imply that I can proceed after I return the payments?

 

I would welcome anyone elses opinions as well please. thanks

 

This isn't, I'm afraid, a matter for "opinion" - it is a matter of law. If you decided to breach the compromise agreement then yes, you would have to return the full payment, and you still may be sued for losses incurred by the mployer (such as their legal fees). If you don't return the payment you will almost certainly be sued for that AND any losses - and a tribunal may still refuse to accept your claim even if you have returned all the money, which could leave you with no case and not a penny (because you will not then get your compromise agreement money back - it will be gone for ever).

 

Everyone is placed under pressure in difficult employment circumstances. But you say that you are a legally competant adult - or at least you are not saying you aren't. In which case it is up to you, in the end, to decide on a course of action which is best for you. Nobody forced you to sign this agreement, as in physically coercing you; and "pressure" is not the same thing as "forcing".

 

I cannot tell you why the solicitor said what he did. But I know from personal experience that there are always two sides to every story, and clients do not always hear what is said. You may think that you had a very good case - but that does not mean that your solicitor thought so. Reading between the lines, I suspect that he or she did not agree with you, because that is the most common reason for support being pulled by insurance companies - that the assessed risk of the case is too high to justify legal action. But if you are suggesting that your solicitor colluded with the employer to put pressure on you to take an agreement which was gainst your best interests (which is pretty much what you implied), then that would be a very serious allegation of professional misconduct and you will absolutely need to back it up with hard evidence.

 

I can tell you that there is every chance that you couldn't take a case to tribunal now no matter what you did. You say you were made redundant earlier in the year - when exactly? Because if it was more than three months ago then you have no chance of making a claim - it would be out of time. And to find out whether it would be ruled out of time you would have to submit a claim - at which point, in time or out of time, your compromise agreement is breached and you must repay the money, and will not get it back.

 

I really do strongly suggest that unless you have specific and clear legal advice to go down this path, you do not do so. You could loose everything, very easily. You certainly should not be even thinking about taking the advice of people on a free advice board on the internet - you have no idea how valid that advice is or who it is from. You don't know this (no reason you should) but I am a barrister specialising in employment law (but I also CANNOT prove that on here, can I - so you could be talking to an articulate 5 years old!)

 

I think I also ought to advise you that if you go down this route, even if you can take a claim, you are heading for a very stressful time (with no guarantees that you can win) for at least the next 12 months - you have no idea how complex an area of law you are thinking about messing with, and you are very likley to find your insurance company, your solicitor and your former employer against you. And none of them are likley to be very nice to you - the nature of even the most straightfoward of claims is that they can be very stressful and extremely nasty, and even people with the strongest mental health can come close to breaking.

 

I am not telling you this to frighten you - it is just the truth. I do not want you to do something foolish in the extreme without getting proper legal advice, and leave you without a penny and without a case.

[melody213]

Thinking about how the solicitor revised the potential compensation significantly less (to justify why I should accept the figure in the agreement) despite me providing new evidence and witness has made me think that he was not acting in my interest. This coupled with him saying that he would get the funding pulled seems to be adverse.

I would have no objection of returning the money related to the compromise agreement. As advised I have written to the Employment Tribunal about re-opening due to the circumstances. What if the Employment Tribunal would re-open the case?

My interest is in re-opening the case and getting a fair outcome and I would instruct new solicitors. I would no longer have dealings with the insurer and old solicitors. Why would there be any negaive recourse from the old solicitors and insurance company?

[SarEl]

Thinking about how the solicitor revised the potential compensation significantly less (to justify why I should accept the figure in the agreement) despite me providing new evidence and witness has made me think that he was not acting in my interest. This coupled with him saying that he would get the funding pulled seems to be adverse.

I would have no objection of returning the money related to the compromise agreement. As advised I have written to the Employment Tribunal about re-opening due to the circumstances. What if the Employment Tribunal would re-open the case?

My interest is in re-opening the case and getting a fair outcome and I would instruct new solicitors. I would no longer have dealings with the insurer and old solicitors. Why would there be any negaive recourse from the old solicitors and insurance company?

 

There could be negative repercussions because you are making extremely serious allegations about professional malpractice, and the only way to get the compromise agreement overturned is to make those allegations - at which point they will be defending themselves and those defences may come into the purview of any case you attempted to take to a tribunal, assuming they will permit it.

 

Please - I am really begging you - get legal advice before you do anything further. Even writing to the tribunal about re-opening the case is very probably a breach of your compromise agreement and if the employer finds out you could be in serious trouble. I am not taking sides here, but trying to make you understand that you are not acting in your own best interests here.

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I don't think I've seen you here before, have I?

 

I don't know anywhere near as much as SarEl about employment law, but I would defer to her knowledge myself. I do know that taking a couple of words from an agreement may well not be helpful in the greater scheme of things. We've had people here before who've concentrated on a small piece of wording and it's gone wrong.

 

SarEl has been around in this field for a long time, I hope she won't mind my saying and I would think long and hard about what she's saying and get independent legal advice from an employment specialist if you're determined to press ahead with this, at the very least.

 

My best, HB

[SarEl]

 

SarEl has been around in this field for a long time, I hope she won't mind my saying and I would think long and hard about what she's saying and get independent legal advice from an employment specialist if you're determined to press ahead with this, at the very least.

 

My best, HB

 

You saying I'm old?

 

But yes, Honeybee is right - taking a bit out of an agreement that happens to suit the position you want to be in is very dangerous. For example, I will bet that if you read the rest of the agreement there is another clause in there - one that says that discussing the agreement , its terms or the circumstances leading to the agreement with anyone other than a legal advisor or (probably) an immediate member of the family is a breach of the agreement. And another one that says that you have accepted the settlement in repudiation of all your claims. In other words, you took some money and you signed a legally binding agreement by agreeing to drop your claims; and now you are discussing the agreement and the circumstances leading to it with a tribunal (by sending them a letter saying you want to pe-open the case) - which breaches two of the provisions that I will bet are in there because they are in 99.9% of all compromise agreements. I don't need to read one to be able to guess at 85% of what it will say.

 

The clause that you quoted also doesn't, in law, mean what you think it does. This is a standard clause in many agreements, and is there to affix a monetary value to the contract (the cost of the settlement) and to make clear that there is a right to clawback the money, so that if you breach the agreement you can be sued. It isn't a clause giving you the right to breach it by paying back the money!

 

The tribunal is not a legal adviser - nor are they your legal adviser. They are a court of law and will not give you a legal opinion or advise you in any way as to your legal position. You say "As advised I have written to the Employment Tribunal about re-opening due to the circumstances." - who on earth advised you to do this, because it was very bad advice. A tribunal may, depending on what you have said in your letter, even inform the respondant of what you have said - they are impartial and if they need to take both views they will. That will be tantamount to your writing to the employer to let them know that you have breached the agreement.

 

A compromise agreement which has been duly countersigned is very hard to overturn. To do so you are going to have to prove, in a court of law, that your solicitor acted against your best interests and deliberately misadvised you - because you are saying that that is what he or she did. If and it is a huge if this came to a court of law or a professional board, you have to prove every word you say. If it came before a tribunal the tribunal may want to call the solicitor to give evidence - and at the stage when that happens your solicitor will definitely "be on the employers side" - because you will be making accusations that could have professional repercussions for the solicitor if they are upheld. So they will be testifying against you on this matter.

 

I never represent employers in court (or anywhere else) - only employees - so I have no reason to be telling you something to be on your employers side. The can of worms you are opening may consume you, and you need to get some proper advice - and not from whoever told you to write to the tribunal.

 

You also never answered my question - when did this all happen?

[melody213]

Hi thanks for your helpful comments so far. I have been on here a while ago seeking advice, you can see it by searching my posts.

I dont think writing to the Employment Tribunal would be a breach of the agreement as they are already well aware of all the claims. I was advised by someone at the Employment Tribunal. I am now nervous upon what you said that they might contact the employer. Should I withdraw the letter?

In the agreement does not prevent me to speak to immediate family or professional advisors (as long as there is a conition of confidentiality). This may seem unusual but I had to ensure this was in place so that I could talk about this in my therapy sessions.

As per your advice and without giving out too much details it has been just over a couple of months since the agreement was made.

I guess by signing I have made the situation worse, in hindsight I wish I had better advice and had the money to get a privately paid for solicitor back then. I am working now but I am a nervous wreck.

What areas of law do you anticipate me needing i.e. employment, contract, pofessional negligence? If I were to win the Employment Tribunal case would I be able to recover these expenses as well?

I have considered making a complaint against my solicitor as a second choice (which I may have to make my only choice). Which entity has more power the Legal Complaint Service or the new Legal Ombudsman?

Thank you

[SarEl]

I'm sorry, but I have given you all the advice that it would be advisable to give. Get legal advice.

[ms_smith]

Hi,

I was having some workplace issues and was signed off on long term illness when I was told I was going to be made redundant. Afterwhich I filed a case with the Employment Tribunal.

I was made redundant this year and the employer was keen that I enter into a compromise agreement. I believe I was pressured into signing this agreement as the employer was pressuring my solicitor to get me to sign, and saying that my case would not be seen to for over a year, and also my solicitor pressuring me by saying that he will stop the funding to my case if I didnt sign it (I had an insurance company paying the fees).

 

Ha ha! 'Mine" wanted me to withdraw all the claims he was issuing himself before!

Dunno, in the end it acted as a kick to me - "do it yourself girl! you'll make it yourself!" .

 

Sorry to hear about your problems, melody.

 

I think you sound very honest and genuine. Also, the fact that you have a mental illness (and you can prove it with a long term medical history, I presume) is a crucial to the case of that compromise agreement. That is their weak point, I suppose. What kind of illness is that exactly?

Edited November 8, 2010 by ms_smith

[melody213]

hi, thank you for visiting my post. Without going in to too much detail its an affective disorder brought on constant severe negative experiences.

I have taken the advice from here and stopped thinking about revoking the compromise agreement. Also the amount of law involved, including contract, professional conduct, etc, is beyond my comprehension and budget.

The other option I am considering is going to the Legal Ombudsman because I strongly believe that there has been some malpractice towards me by my solicitors. Considering they were paid a fee by the insurer I dont think they represented as well as they would a private paying client. I have little faith in these solicitors and I now doubt what they advised my case was worth. I am unsure to how to go about assessing the true value of my case. Any helpful ideas welcome. Thank you

[ms_smith]

hi, thank you for visiting my post. Without going in to too much detail its an affective disorder brought on constant severe negative experiences.

I have taken the advice from here and stopped thinking about revoking the compromise agreement. Also the amount of law involved, including contract, professional conduct, etc, is beyond my comprehension and budget.

The other option I am considering is going to the Legal Ombudsman because I strongly believe that there has been some malpractice towards me by my solicitors. Considering they were paid a fee by the insurer I dont think they represented as well as they would a private paying client. I have little faith in these solicitors and I now doubt what they advised my case was worth. I am unsure to how to go about assessing the true value of my case. Any helpful ideas welcome. Thank you

 

Hello,

 

The disorder you refer to sounds to me like a post-bullying stress disorder. I am studying psychology and although it may not appear in the official terminology yet, I believe it should be identified and classified as it is a matter of fact everyone may observe it around themselves on a daily basis, yet never being able to name it or put into a concrete structure.

Basically, people who have over a period of time and repeatedly been subject to a behaviour commonly classified as bullying, are likely to develop problems with their own concentration or understanding of what is being said to them. Their perception is affected. Their performance at work is likely to be affected to a worse effect. They will call sick at work or take sick leave. They can easily be irritated as well as tend to panic just at the thought of, sign, sight or a mention of a harassing person/experience from the past.

I am not 100% sure if that is your case, but the fact is it takes time for people with PbSD (in short, as I call it) to recover from the trauma and think properly again.

The fact is also, as mentioned before by our lovely barrister, people will react differently to different amounts of bullying from others, also during the ET proceedings. If on their own, some will cope better, some worse.

 

It seems you were bullied into signing the agreement and given the past experience at the workplace and your own personal level of emotional defence, you were quite vulnerable at the time you signed it.

 

Obviously, I can't tell you what to do.

I just hope I shed you some light on why you might have signed the agreement but I am sure you know it already.

 

It is true though that those who represent themselves in ET have to take care of everything. They have to read as many articles from other ET proceedings as possible, know the bits of law, know through and through the content of one's employee handbooks.

Luckily, there are many publications for claimants representing themselves on the market. There is also employment tribunal enquiry line one can ask about some aspects of court proceedings.

Ideally, claimants should refer to a few sources of information when deciding on a crucial matter.

 

If you decide to go that road and continue to sue your former employer, it may be extremely difficult experience for you. In the end you would have to ask yourself what you would like to achieve from it? is it worth it? would any compensation awarded be higher or lower than the settlement? And first of all - the evidence you would have to have in hand to convince the panel. Is it hard enough?

Edited November 9, 2010 by ms_smith