Compromise agreements

[V8mate]

How do you encourage an employer who is making employees redundant to pay some of those departing additional severance under a compromise agreement?

It can't simply be a case of blackmailing the employer with threats of bad publicity/anti-competitive information, can it?

There are plenty of firms of solicitors who seem to specialise in securing departing employees the best deal. How do they operate? Why doesn't the employer just tell them to 'get lost' on the back of having operated a bona fide re-organisation process?

[RicksAlfas]

In many cases they are used when the official (endless, unsettling) process is being bypassed.
e.g. "we would like you out of here by the end of the week with minimal fuss and will pay you £XXXX for your trouble"

So it is something that is led by the employer, not the employee hoping to get one.

[edc]

If a restructure/reorg/redundancy is handled correctly then there is no need for a comp agreement. I have certainly not gone rushing to get one drafted for any exiting employee. I have certainly never used them for the reasons you describe. Indeed, comp agreements often serve to alienate employees.

If the aim is for an enhanced redundancy scheme then this should be chanelled through the appropriate works council or employee reps if a larger scale redundancy.

The reality is redundancy is part of working life so blackmail efforts citing long and loyal service, difficult home circumstances don't really go any way to persuade an employer to do much differently.

[Ali_D]

It can be a way to reduce the employers NI contributions so its worth suggesting to the employer as a cash benefit to them as well as a method of reduce tribunal risk.