Do I have a case?

Given that you’ve been employed for over 2 years, you have acquired the right not to be unfairly dismissed. This also applies to constructive dismissal.

As you’ve been employed for a reasonably long time, it is possible that you have some friends who also work for your employer in management or HR.

If so, then perhaps you could use some of the goodwill which you may have built up, in order to smooth the way for a settlement. It can be worthwhile pursuing the ‘softly softly’ approach at first.

If you have less than 2 years’ employment for an employer, then you have unfortunately not yet acquired your unfair dismissal rights. Therefore, you cannot claim in an Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal or constructive dismissal.

Types of claims which you could commence include (but are not limited too); breach of contract (for example not paying your bonus or commission, but only up to a maximum of £25,000), unlawful deduction of wages (again up to £25k maximum), discrimination, and victimisation for whistleblowing (reporting an illegal matter to your employer).

If you no longer work for your employer, this can be a disadvantage. You are no longer the thorn in their side which they are trying to get rid of, so there is less motivation for them to reach a financial settlement with you.

And if you have another job already, then the financial loss caused to you by having to leave your job is a lot less than it would be if you were still unemployed – decreasing any possible settlement amount.

Employers will know that there is a 3 month time limit for Employment Tribunal claims, so if you leave it too late, you are throwing away much of your negotiation power.

If your employment ended more than three months ago then you have little chance of issuing an employment tribunal claim, because most claims have a three month time limit.

Unfortunately, with no chance of a making a claim your negotiating position is weak.

This is good news, as regardless of the issue that you have with your employer, it is normally better to stay in your job than resign. If you remain as a ‘thorn in their side’, your employer will be more motivated to reach a financial settlement with you.

As part of a negotiation, you will consider your potential financial losses and use these to try and get your employer to increase the settlement figure.

If you have already left your job, and have new employment, your losses will be a lot less than if you are being forced to leave with no job to go to, therefore it will be much harder to negotiate a decent pay out.

If the situation at work feels too much to bear, consider going to your GP and requesting to be signed off from work. A doctor will normally do this if you indicate that the stress of your job is making you ill and you can not function properly in your role.

It is better to do this, and continue to negotiate with your employer (particularly with the assistance of a lawyer), than panic and quit your job.

If it’s just you going you have better odds of negotiating a settlement. If your employer is a very small organisation then this may not raise an eyebrow. If it is a big organisation then you should ask questions about exactly why you were the one chosen.

If other people are being made redundant too, it can often be trickier to gather evidence that this was a sham redundancy or a deliberate attempt to get rid of you (for example for personal reasons). One common example of multiple redundancy is when a whole department is closing down or relocating. In this case there is often nothing you can do other than accept the redundancy money being offered.

If the process has been more selective than that, you should examine each stage in detail to ensure that the correct procedure has been followed. It might be a good idea to team up with the other employees being made redundant and consult an employment law solicitor if you feel that your employer has been unfair in their selection.

An employee being made redundant has the right to be offered alternative employment, or at least to apply for such jobs that might be suitable.

If you do not get offered any alternative but you feel that there is space elsewhere in the company that you could legitimately work, this oversight could be used in negotiations with your employer regarding a settlement.

If you are offered alternative employment, then even if you feel that you are being pushed out it can be a good idea to actually apply for the job. This will give your employer more motivation to reach a settlement, because it will take them more management time to interview you and refuse you the job (assuming that they just want you out and are going through the motions).

Alternative employment should be ‘suitable’ though, so you can’t be criticised for not applying for jobs which are a significant pay cut or use a totally different skill set. Having said that, it is legally acceptable for an employer to make you redundant because you cost too much, and then to replace you with someone else doing exactly the same job but on less money – so long as they offered it to you first.

If you are being made redundant unfairly, or potentially unfairly, and then you are offered only the statutory redundancy pay, then you have nothing to lose by claiming against your employer for a settlement.

Often if you actually ask, and do so in the correct way, many employers do ‘sweeten the deal’ with a settlement figure. This is certainly worth doing, given that satutory redundanccy maximum is not exactly generous (£15,750 in 2019/20).

Solicitors who specialise in employee-side law are experts at leveraging up redundancy pay, so if you’re unsure of how to tackle this, just get in touch to request a free consultation.

Often there is an enhanced redundancy package available, but the amount on offer is not always clear.

There is no harm in asking what the package would be. After all it makes sense for an employee to factor that into their thinking for a voluntary redundancy.

Some generous employers will give people up to a months’ wages for each worked. This is probably the higher end of the scale. Others might give only a week's money for each year, but that might be uncapped, rather than the maximum limit set by the government for statutory redundancy (£15,750 in 2019/2020).

There also tends to be more flexibility with enhanced packages, so that different employees can negotiate different amounts even, depending on a number of factors including how much fuss you create and/or whether you are asking the right kind of searching questions.

Being put in a pool for comparison with others is a common way (but not the only way) for employers to carry out a redundancy exercise. Normally people put in a pool together are employees who have similar skill sets.

There is a certain number of people who are to be made redundant, so those in a pool are compared to each other. The scoring is supposed to be objective, and those with the lowest scores are made redundant.

It may be that you should be in a pool with more people, and that some people have been unfairly left out. Or it may be that you should not be in the pool yourself at all.
Have a look at the criteria or ask for an explanation of the pool system and/or scoring system. Your employer should give you this as part of the consultation process. You could also try and get hold of peoples’ job descriptions and compare them to ensure that it is a fairly constituted pool.

An employee being made redundant has the right to be offered alternative employment, or at least to apply for such jobs that might be suitable. If you are offered alternative employment, then even if you feel that you are being pushed out it can be a good idea to actually apply for it. This will give your employer more motivation to reach a settlement, because it will take them more management time to interview you and refuse you the job (assuming that they just want you out and are going through the motions).

Alternative employment should be ‘suitable’ though, so you can’t be criticised for not applying for jobs which are a significant pay cut or use a totally different skill set.

Having said that, it is legally acceptable for an employer to make you redundant because you cost too much, and then to replace you with someone else doing exactly the same job but on less money – so long as they offered it to you first.

Some employees are under the impression that the only way to receive a settlement from your employer is when you are being made redundant after long service, but there are many other situations in which it can be possible to negotiate an exit package. Experienced employment solicitors can advise you if you have grounds to negotiate a settlement from your employer.

Make sure you are prepared. When you read an employer’s grievance procedure it may look like the process will only take a few weeks but the reality is often rather different. Regrettably, these procedures can drag on for months, if the employer wishes to drag their feet, or a just matter of days if there is an impetus to start another procedure, for example, a disciplinary.

Equally, if you are signed off from work you may not be well enough to attend a meeting and this may need to be held in abeyance until you are better. It is worth reminding yourself of the procedure and the timetable that is stipulated.

Before submitting a grievance, check the Company’s grievance policy and refer to the ACAS Code of Practice. Hopefully, you might be able to find a way of solving the problems without formal steps. If not, then your grievance should set out clearly, chronologically and concisely your complaint and identify the staff involved and the dates that incidents happened. Keep relevant emails and other documents to refer to and print them off – you may need this evidence in the future.

A grievance process will often go hand in hand with a Without Prejudice letter – but it is important to time this carefully. Giving the employer some time to contemplate the extent of the grievance, and to start the interviews of relevant staff, might demonstrate how long the whole process is going to take and make a quick settlement seem more appealing.

Once this realisation has sunk in might be a good time to submit a Without Prejudice letter. Although, equally, it can follow that an employer will feel vindictive and also have a closed mind if a grievance letter has been submitted and it can be better to make a proposal promptly.

The best tactic for your situation will depend upon a number of factors including the size and administrative resources of the employer and the personalities and attitude to money of key decision makers. An experienced employment law solicitor will be well placed to advise you on the intricacies of the best course of action in your particular case.

There are no statistics on this, but in our experience the vast majority of grievances will be dismissed by the employer. This is not to say that the basis of the grievance was not credible or justified. It usually shows the protective position that employers adopt as a means of protecting or backing up managers and as a way of trying to avoid liability.

Don't lose heart if your grievance has been knocked back: if your employer takes adverse action because you have complained there can be a further complaint for retaliation or victimisation. This will generally be the case if there was a complaint of discrimination or whistle-blowing.

A grievance is generally the first of many formal steps you can take, and your employer may be keen to settle with you if it looks like you are planning to start tribunal proceedings.

There is always the option of appealing against the decision – so do you appeal? Presumably, your employer has not found in your favour – they rarely do. If this is the case then you should appeal.

You have dealt with the grievance meeting, and no sooner have you heard the outcome you have to make a decision whether you wish to lodge an appeal. Most employers will provide you with five working days which is very little time, particularly when you haven’t had the notes of the grievance meeting yet and you have plenty of day-to-day work stacking up.

If you are short of time, write a letter saying that you plan to appeal and ask for additional time, 14 days or until they have supplied you with any further information you require.

You need to review the basis of your appeal. The employer will say that the appeal is not a rehearing of the previous grievance. However, sometimes the grievance process is so flawed that a re-hearing is necessary as they have failed to consider the main substance of the grievance.

Generally speaking, your line of attack is to identify the facts which the grievance manager has failed to consider, or respond to in their communications. This might be found in evidence they have presented, such as any communications with independent witnesses, consideration of irrelevant facts or reaching conclusions that were not permissable or perverse in the circumstances.

A further line of attack may be to say that they have adopted a biased and partisan approach to the grievance, that could be because they are friends with the person you have complained about, or share an office with them for example.

Around the time of an appeal hearing is often a good time to have a Without Prejudice discussion. This is because a more senior manager will then be required to spend time dealing with the issue.

Well done! If a grievance is upheld it means that the employer accepts your grievance and does not dispute it. It is rare for an employer to find in favour of an employee in a grievance.

But beware, as this might have been strategic and the employer may have another trick up their sleeve. That said, if your employer has upheld your grievance then there is a good prospect that you will be able to negotiate favourable terms – either to leave the employment (if that is what you want), or to remedy the cause of your grievance.

If you want to leave, then it will be worth reinforcing your negotiation strategy and either write a Without Prejudice letter or have a Without Prejudice meeting to discuss a possible settlement.

Your employer is likely to have found in your favour on a small procedural point but the main substance of your grievance has been rejected. This is often a ploy to demonstrate a fair approach taken to the grievance process and suggest that they have been fair minded and considered all the points in an independent review.

Even with this outcome, there is still a good chance that you have room to negotiate a settlement agreement. You can read some helpful articles about negotiating a settlement on this website, or instruct the services of a specialist employment lawyer to take the best negotiation angle and approach on your behalf.

The date of your grievance will be important for the calculation of time limits in relation to claims brought to the Employment Tribunal.

There is a 3 month time limit for Employment Tribunal claims, meaning that a claim must be issued less than 3 months after the incident (or the latest of many incidents) in question. If you have made an official grievance at work, the 3 month time limit would start on the date of the incident to which you are making a grievance about – meaning you may already have less than 3 months left.

It could be argued in any claim you make, that failures during the grievance process could be regarded as a continuing act of discrimination against you. Therefore it is important to record every communication and event after you lodge your grievance.

You may want to consider raising a formal grievance with your employer. Most employers will expect you to attempt to resolve matters informally at first but this might not be appropriate in all the circumstances.

Making a decision about lodging a grievance is a difficult one – it formalises your complaint so you need to be ready to stand by your case. But the positive is that it requires your employer to take formal action to resolve matters.

Before submitting a grievance, check the Company’s grievance policy and refer to the ACAS Code of Practice. Hopefully, you might be able to find a way of solving the problems without formal steps.

If not, then your grievance should set out clearly, chronologically and concisely what your complaint is, identify the staff involved and the dates that incidents happened. Keep relevant emails and other documents to refer to and print them off – you may need this evidence in the future.

A grievance process will often go hand in hand with a Without Prejudice letter – but it is important to time this carefully. Giving the employer some time to contemplate the extent of the grievance, and start the interviews of relevant staff, might demonstrate how long the whole process is going to take and make a quick settlement seem more appealing to them.

Once you are at this stage, it might be a good time to submit a Without Prejudice letter. Although, equally, it can follow that an employer will feel vindictive and also have a closed mind if a grievance letter has been submitted and it can be better to make a settlement proposal promptly.

The best tactic for your situation will depend upon a number of factors including the size and administrative resources of the employer and the personalities and attitude to money of key decision makers.

An experienced employment law solicitor will be best place to advise you on the intricacies of the best course of action in your particular case.

If you have issued an ACAS certificate, you will know that ACAS is a governmental organisation which aims to settle employment law disputes between employees and employers.

You may have issued the certificate because you either plan to issue an employment tribunal claim, or you’d like the other side (your employer) to think that you’re going to issue one.

It’s very often possible to reach a settlement with your employer either before you reach the court, or even before issuing a claim at the Employment Tribunal.

It’s worth seeking the advice of an employment solicitor whatever stage you are at, because they will be able to advise on the best strategy to take in order to achieve a quick and attractive settlement.

ACAS is a governmental organisation which aims to settle employment law disputes between employees and employers.

If you wish to issue an employment tribunal claim, or if you’d like the other side (your employer) to think that you’re going to issue one, then you will need to issue an ACAS certificate first.

Get in touch with an employment lawyer for a free consultation because there can be pros and cons to issuing an ACAS certificate and/or a Tribunal claim.

If you’ve issued an Employment Tribunal claim then it is still very possible to reach a settlement with your employer without going through the courts – in fact, the majority of Tribunal claims do settle out of court.

Hopefully you only issued a claim as a last resort. This is because issuing a claim can often burn your bridges with your employer and stall the negotiation process, at least until they’ve responded to your claim in the official manner.

It would now be wise to instruct a specialist solicitor to act on your behalf in order to reach a settlement with your employer quickly. It is of benefit to everyone involved to settle the matter out of court, as Employment Tribunals can end up being costly (even though there is no fee to lodge a claim), and can drag on for a long time.

If you’re thinking of issuing an Employment Tribunal claim it’s important to think carefully about your strategy if your end goal is actually to reach a settlement with your employer and receive an exit package. It is possible to reach a settlement with your employer with or without either issuing a Tribunal claim or going through the courts.

Don’t rush into issuing a claim as a way to reach a settlement. Instead, use it as a last resort. This is because issuing a claim can often burn your bridges with your employer and stall the negotiation process, at least until they’ve responded to your claim in the official manner.
It it also worth bearing in mind however, that most employment claims have a very strict 3 month deadline, which means that, if you don’t issue a claim (or at least an ACAS certificate) within 3 months of the event in question, then you will be prevented from ever bringing that claim at all.

If you miss this 3 month deadline, your negotiating position would be hugely undermined, because if you have no possibility of suing your employer there’s no reason for them to offer you a settlement. The notable exception to this rule is regarding contractual claims, which have a 6 year time limit – although these need to be brought in the ‘civil’ courts, meaning the county courts or the High Court, depending on the value of the case.

A specialist employment law solicitor will be able to use their extensive experience to advise you on whether it would be a productive strategic move to issue a Tribunal claim. They may advise that it would actually be more beneficial to enter into negotiations with your employer straight away in order to achieve the best settlement.

Constructive dismissal is such a broad subject that it is can be a challenge to determine whether your employer’s behaviour does amount to constructive dismissal or not. A brief explanation: constructive dismissal is where your employer’s actions are so bad, either in a one-off incident or cumulative events, that you are left with no choice but to resign.

It is normally much better not to resign at all, but rather to take some other formal action and continue to work ‘in protest’. That other action is often commencing the grievance process. This buys you some time to negotiate a decent settlement agreement whilst still protecting your right to resign and claim constructive dismissal later.

If you simply wait and do nothing then you can be seen to have accepted your employer’s bad behaviour, which makes it more difficult to claim later on (and therefore to negotiate a settlement).

If you’ve already resigned, unfortunately your position is probably not as good as if you were still in employment. This is because you are now already out of the picture and are no longer a thorn in the side of your employer. This means they have no motivation to pay you off as normally they would do this in order to get rid of you. If you’ve resigned and left, you’re already out of sight and out of mind.

Having said that however, there does come a point eventually at which you do need to resign in order to protect your negotiating position. That point is probably once you’ve exhausted all the internal grievance processes and appeals. If you continue to stay on in your role after these procedures have been adhered to, you would legally be taken to have ‘accepted’ your employer’s misconduct and effectively forgiven them.

This means you wouldn’t be able to resign a few months later (say when you find a new job) and claim for a constructive dismissal settlement, because the trigger for your resignation would be getting a new job rather than the original misconduct.

It is worth noting that there is a strict three month time limit for constructive dismissal claims at the Employment Tribunal. So if you have resigned due to mistreatment you need to issue a claim or send off your ACAS certificate within three months of your last day at work.

If you have a case for constructive dismissal, as long as you have not left it too long to take action, remaining in employment gives you the best negotiating position. This is because you are still a thorn in the side of your employer and they are motivated to pay you off in order to get rid of you.

Having said that however, there does come a point eventually at which you do need to resign in order to protect your negotiating position. That point is probably once you’ve exhausted all the internal grievance processes and appeals. If you continue to stay on in your role after these procedures have been adhered to, you would legally be taken to have ‘accepted’ your employer’s misconduct and effectively forgiven them.

This means you wouldn’t be able to resign a few months later (say when you find a new job) and claim for a constructive dismissal settlement, because the trigger for your resignation would be getting a new job rather than the original misconduct.

A good employment solicitor can advise you firstly on whether or not to resign, and secondly how and when to do so.

If you’re still employed and want to stay, then you won’t need to negotiate a settlement agreement. It may be best to refrain from submitting a formal grievance, but it is important for your health and career that you try and resolve the situation.

Although HR departments work for the employer rather than the employees, some HR representatives do care about the employees and will endeavour to help. If you feel the situation goes too far up to be resolved internally, and in fact the constructive dismissal is coming from management themselves, then you should maybe consider trying to negotiate a settlement in order to leave.

In circumstances such as these, employment law solicitors who work for employees only are uniquely placed to offer you advice, so do get in touch.

There is a strict time limit at the Employment Tribunal for constructive dismissal claims, which is 3 months. So if you resigned due to mistreatment, then you need to issue a claim or send off your ACAS certificate within 3 months of your last day.

Also, if you have not yet resigned, but thinking of doing this soon, then you need to be aware of how your actions and behaviour could be interpreted. Being seen to accept their mistreatment by staying employed and not doing anything about it can have a negative impact on a claim.

You need to register your protest, for example via a formal grievance, then carry on working ‘under protest’. Once the correct grievance procedure has been carried out (including any appeal), then you will need to choose whether or not to resign. If you choose not to resign, then an Employment Tribunal would ask whether in fact you have ‘accepted’ your employer’s bad behaviour. If they decided this was the case, then you could be prevented from relying on the actions of your employer in support of a constructive dismissal claim.

It’s a good thing that you don’t think that you are a victim of constructive dismissal as it can be a very stressful situation. However, some employees are not fully aware of exactly what constructive dismissal means and are the victims of this unfair workplace practise without realising it. It is a particular type of unfair dismissal and more information can be found here.

Once the performance review, or PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) has started, you are likely to be invited to regular meetings. It might be that you have to spend more time preparing for these special meetings than doing your day-to-day work, which is likely to add to the pressure you face and therefore will impact on your performance.

You need to look at matters objectively – do you think that your manager wishes to help you do your job better, or is this simply a process to try and push you out of the company? If it is the latter, it might be worth negotiating with them to see if you can reach agreeable terms to leave your employment with a settlement.

In these circumstances, it’s a good idea to get in touch with an employment law solicitor as soon as you can, as they will advise you on how to act, what actions to take, and what to keep a record of.

Passing a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) will either show that there has been a vast improvement in your work or more likely, that there was little justification for starting the process in the first place.

If you employer was attempting to use the PIP as a prelude to dismissing you, then they are going to be somewhat disappointed that this aggressive tactic was unsuccessful. At this point in proceedings it is often an excellent idea to begin discussions regarding a settlement. As you have already shown that you are ‘worthy’ of the position in passing the PIP, your employer should realise that they must offer your attractive terms.

The end of a PIP process in which you have shown to fail can be a tricky time to negotiate as an employer will feel that a fair dismissal is within their sights.

However, you may have a very long list of reasons why you believe the performance review process was unfair, arbitrary and potentially at odds with your employers’ correct procedures. Equally, there could be other members of staff who have been treated more leniently than you without good reason. This is all likely to be useful ammunition for a ‘without prejudice’ discussion as you may be able to demonstrate your employers’ vulnerability.

You can infer that you have grounds for an unfair dismissal claim. But if you have enough evidence, you can use this to negotiate a settlement agreement.

You can attempt to negotiate with your emloyer yourself, but also consider seeking advice from a specialist solicitor who can help advise you on the best tactics to adopt.

A performance review may also be called a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan.). If you think you may have been put on a plan like this and are concerned about your employment situation, or think that your employer may be acting unfairly, contact an employment specialist solicitor for a free consultation.

A performance review is supposed to a mechanism to assist an employee improve their performance in the workplace in order to meet defined objectives. Most commonly, it is used by an employer to start a dismissal process.

In a performance (aka capability) dismissal claim in an Employment Tribunal, the Tribunal will examine the steps taken to help the employee to improve, and assess if they behaved fairly and reasonably.

A Performance Improvement Plan or PIP will protect an employer from liability, or at least reduce it, in a Tribunal. If an employer does not conduct themselves fairly it may mean that an unfair dismissal claim could succeed.

In terms of negotiation, the start of a PIP is often a good time to discuss an exit from your employment. The employer will know that they have months’ worth of meetings with you in front of them, and will have to constantly review your work.

Those procedures are going to use up their management and HR resources which will cost them money. Employment law solicitors are often able to negotiate a settlement on the basis of how long it would take the employer to go through the process fairly – this can be many months in the case of a long-serving member of staff, or a few weeks for someone who has short service.

So, if you do get put on a performance review plan, it would be in your best interests to have a free consultation with a specialist employment solicitor as soon as you can.

Bullying and harassment is something that unfortunately happens a lot in workplaces in different guises. If you are feeling put upon by someone at work and made to feel bullied and harassed, don’t ignore it – you should challenge the way you are treated if it is unfair.

Sometimes people think it’s they are imagining that their boss has it out for them. A great tactic is to keep a record of everything that has happened (and is still happening) and how it makes you feel. It will not only help you realise that the unfair behaviour is real and needs to be addressed, but that evidence is going to be very useful for a formal grievance. When you are ready to raise poor treatment at work as a formal grievance you will use this evidence and to argue a claim for severance or an exit package.

The problem with these types of matters is that it is not actually illegal to bully or harass someone in the workplace. So unless it is extremely serious, to the extent that you can legitimately say that it has amounted to a fundamental breach of your employment contract, there is likely little you can do about it.

If you feel you have to leave the employment and can not stay for long enough to go through the full grievance proceedings and negotiations, you will have no option but to bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal for constructive unfair dismissal. Be aware though that those types of claims are very difficult to win. Also, you have to have been employed for a period of two continuous years to be covered for that claim.

That is why it is important to be able to expertly and swiftly negotiate an exit from your employer while you are still there, and that’s where a good employment lawyer can really earn their fee.

Employers never seem to be aware when a member of staff is bullying and harassing another (or multiple) others despite complaints having been made. If it is a manager, as often it is, the company will do what they can to protect the manager at the expense of the other employees.

Getting evidence and support from other members of staff is useful in forcing the employer to do something more than just slap the knuckles of the person involved. Tactically, you need to show that the business is likely to lose more staff if they do not do anything about the person’s treatment of employees, and also that the claims being made might become more serious.

Although bullying and harassment are not illegal other than in the more extreme cases, where the reason or likely reason for the conduct is discriminatory, then there is no bar to a claim and that gives you a stronger negotiating position.

If you think that you are being bullied or harassed by your employer, keep a record of every incidence – both written, verbal and events. It is extremely important that you have evidence of the treatment you have received so that you are able to refer back to it in negotiations with your employer, or at the Tribunal. The timing of the conduct is important for establishing a claim, and ensuring that you bring a claim in time for the Employment Tribunal (for which there is normally a 3 month time limit).
A “series of conduct” allows you more time, but you will not know whether it amounts to this unless you are able to look back at a clear timeline of events. This is a time to keep a detailed diary of events, and fill in any past events with clear details while you can still remember and easily uncover the evidence such as emails and messages.

If you think that you are being bullied or harassed by your employer, keep a clear and detailed record of it. It is so important that you have evidence of the unfair treatment so that you are able to refer back to it either in a grievance, Employment Tribunal claim, or in negotiations with your employer for a settlement.
The timing of the conduct is also important for establishing a claim and ensuring that you bring a claim in time for the Tribunal. A “series of conduct” allows you more time, but you will not know whether it amounts to a series of conduct unless you are able to look back at a clear timeline. Start to keep a diary of events as soon as you receive any treatment at work which you feel to be unfair, or an example or harassment or bullying.

That’s great as unfortunately it seems to be all too common in many workplaces. Just make sure you are aware of the way that other employees treat you, and if you feel that you are being treated unfairly or are being bullied keep a record of events. Keeping a clear written record of any instances helps your case later on if it comes to a formal grievance procedure. Evidence includes verbal communications, emails, letters, text messages, and actions such as being excluded from important meetings or having key clients taken away from you.

If you have been treated less-favourably at work due to your age, either because you are either younger or older than someone who is treated more favourably than you, then you need to start gathering evidence immediately. Keep copies of emails and take notes of meetings or conversations during which evidence of discrimination occurs.

Direct age discrimination mostly occurs when two employees are being considered for promotion or are up against each other in a redundancy situation, and one is treated less favourably than the other due to their age.
Indirect age discrimination mostly occurs in the operation of pay and benefits systems where a rule treats a group of younger or older employees less favourably than the other group.

Although it is unlawful to discriminate against an employee on the grounds of their age, even direct discrimination is capable of being legally justified by your employer. Therefore they may have an adequate legal defence even if you can prove discrimination. For example, a retirement age in a company may discriminate against employees aged 65+, but the fact that the company policy contains a retirement age, although discriminatory, may be justified if the employer has genuine reasons for having it.

Many employers still don’t quite understand age discrimination, or its impact. Often younger employees replace older ones leaving an employer vulnerable to a claim. In a negotiation, you will need to identify the person, or class or persons, who you believe have been treated more favourably than you on the grounds of your age. You will also need to identify how you have been subject to a detriment as a result of this treatment; for example: you have been passed-over for promotion, you are paid less, you have been made redundant in favour of someone else.

Once you have identified these two important factors, you should attempt to gather evidence of the less-favourable treatment and secure it. At this point you should raise the matter with your employer via a formal grievance in a clear manner. If you want to leave employment, you should also open up “without prejudice” negotiations with your employer alleging age discrimination and also constructive dismissal as a proven incidence of discrimination would amount to a breach of trust and confidence, as well as discrimination.

If age discrimination is proved, it can cost a large company millions, so if you have evidence which can prove discrimination for yourself or a wider group of people, there is a good chance your employer will be keen to pay you off in order to keep you quiet.

If the discrimination you have identified applies to a large group of people, and not just yourself, you have two choices: you can either inform the others who are similarly affected and look to start a multiple-person grievance and then litigation (for which you would need a solicitor), or you can use this as a bargaining chip against your employe. In this case you can offer to sign a confidentiality clause in your settlement agreement preventing you from discussing the matter with other employees – there is certainly a value in this in terms of a negotiation tactic to get the best outcome for yourself as an individual.

There are different forms of disability discrimination, the main ones being direct, indirect and a failure to make reasonable adjustments. What form of discrimination you have suffered depends upon your unique circumstances.

Treating someone less favourably because they are disabled is direct discrimination and there is no legal defence to this discrimination once proven.
Indirect discrimination occurs when a provision, criterion or practice operated by their employer results in a group of disabled people being treated less favourably.


A failure to make reasonable adjustments occurs when a disabled employee is unable, due to their disability, to meet the usual expectations of other employees. An employer is obliged to put in place any reasonable measures that would support the employee in achieving the usual expectations. This could be, for example, the provision of a special chair to aid the disabled employee in sitting for long periods of time, or providing additional breaks.

Disability discrimination is a complicated area of law and one which an experienced employment law solicitor is best placed to advise you on. If you can identify areas in which disability discrimination exists in your organisation, there is scope to negotiate an attractive settlement agreement if you are wanting to leave your employment.

Maternity discrimination is unfortunately very common. Many women returning from maternity leave are offered settlement agreements or redundancy payments as their employer has decided, for example, that it can either do without them, or the employer believes that the care of a child will inhibit the woman’s ability to fulfil her duties at work.

Any decision by an employer to dismiss a woman either during or upon her return from maternity leave, leaves the employer vulnerable to a claim of discrimination. You need to gather evidence and contact an employment lawyer immediately if you think you are being discriminated against because you are pregnant, or have just had a baby.

An employer may try to disguise the discrimination beneath another excuse to end your employment, but a specialist solicitor will be able to uncover any untoward intentions and use these to negotiate with your employer for a substantially increased settlement agreement.

It is not a very well known area of discrimination, but treating part-time workers less-favourably than full-time workers is unlawful discrimination.

Part-time employees must receive the same benefits and opportunities as full-time workers; therefore if you are a part-time worker and if you believe that a full-time worker is treated better than you are and enjoys (on a pro rata basis) more benefits or pay than you, then you need to start enquiries . You need to establish what a full-time employee in similar work to yours is paid, and what benefits they receive, and conduct a comparison. If you are missing out, then you need to raise a grievance with your employer clearly setting out the difference in treatment and ask them to justify and/or resolve it.


If discrimination is occurring but your employer refuses to acknowledge it, then you can claim discrimination. As it is a lesser-known area of employment law, this may be tricky to do on your own, but a specialist solicitor would be able to give you the best advice.

Most instances of race discrimination are in the form of direct discrimination – treating a Person A less favourably than Person B because of their race, or harassment on the grounds of a person’s race. These days direct race discrimination is mostly insidious, as opposed to overt, and employers that discriminate on the grounds of race will do so covertly, even unconsciously, which means that there is usually very little documentary evidence available. If there is any documentary evidence available it must be gathered and secured before taking any further steps.

Making an allegation of race discrimination against an employer is extremely serious, so make sure you understand what your allegations are and have the facts to back them up. You need to have evidence to support your accusations and be able to formulate your arguments in a clear manner – this is where a professional solicitor is worth their weight in gold, as they can help you sift through the evidence and separate emotions from a clear argument, in order to get you a healthy settlement package.

Various types of discrimination are still surprisingly common in the workplace. For example, many people do not realise that being signed off sick from work can count as a disability in some circumstances – meaning if your employer treats you unfavourably because you are off sick with stress, they could be found to be guilty of disability discrimination.

That’s great – occupational health are there to advise your employer on your health issues so it’s important to get them on your side. If you feel that there are any ways that your employer has caused your illness, present these issues to them in a succinct and factual manner. If your doctor has signed you ‘fit to work’, but your employer is waiting on occupational health to make a decision and report before letting you return, you should be paid even if your allocated sick leave has expired. Read on for more information on sick leave rights.

Whether you want to continue in your employment, or negotiate a settlement to leave your job, going to see occupational health when you are ill is important. Occupational Health are there to advise your employer on your health issues so it’s important to get them on your side. If you feel that there are any ways that your employer has caused your illness, present these issues to them in a succinct and factual manner. If your doctor has signed you ‘fit to work’, but your employer is waiting on occupational health to make a decision and report before letting you return, you should be paid even if your allocated sick leave has expired. Read on for more information on sick leave rights.

Paid sick leave is a very useful tool if your employer is trying to push you out. Typically if an employer is using a bogus process it becomes very stressful and it is possible to see a doctor and be signed off on sick leave. This makes it more difficult for the employer to progress with their process and means they may be more willing to negotiate an exit package with you. There is no need to remain in the office being unfairly treated if it is making you ill.

An illness can amount to a disability if it is likely to last more than 12 months. If you are classified as disabled because of an accident or condition, your employer has additional responsibilities to make adjustments to accommodate your illness. The fact that they are obligated to make adjustments for you can improve your chances of reaching an agreed settlement with them. Just remember, making reasonable adjustments does not include paying you to have time off work – you want to focus on what you employer needs to do to accommodate your return to work. If organising the return to work adjustments in your role is seeming to be too difficult for your employer, they may be prepared to pay you to leave instead, if you are happy to take a settlement.

However much sick leave you have remaining, if you’d like to leave your employment with a settlement it’s important to start negotiations as soon as possible. Employers will be more keen to pay you off if you are costing them money without doing your job. If they can see that you are guaranteed to not be back at work for 3 months for example, but they are still paying you, they will find the idea of a settlement more appealing than if you only have a couple of weeks left of sick pay. They will hope that you resign, but it’s important to take full advantage of any paid sick leave you have and use this in your negotiations. Specialist employment lawyers are experienced in knowing how to approach employers and which tactics are best to employ in order to secure the best possible settlement for employees.

While you are signed off sick and on full pay, your employer has a big issue – they are paying you but you are not doing your job. If you want to negotiate an exit package to leave your job, you are best placed to do so while you are still on full pay. This is because at this point there is a real monetary benefit to your employer in agreeing an exit package with you.

In order to plan the best approach in your particular situation, it would in most cases deem appropriate to consult an employment lawyer with experience of these types of settlement.

The best position to negotiate with your employer is when you are still on full pay, even if signed off sick. This is because at the end of the day, most employers care more about loosing money than anything else. It can be difficult to encourage your employer to reach a settlement if they are not still paying you, so if you want to negotiate an exit package you should do so as soon as possible if already on reduced pay.

Find an employment lawyer who will give you a free consultation as their experience will help you reach a settlement swiftly while you still have bargaining power.

If your sickness is due to issues in your employment, typically people’s health does not improve until the issue is resolved. It can be tough but you should take steps to have your issues resolved as soon as possible. If your employment ends you may have access to benefits or be able to undertake a different type of employment.

Paid sick leave is a very useful tool if your employer is trying to push you out. Typically if an employer is using a bogus process it becomes very stressful and it is possible to see a doctor and be signed off on sick leave. This makes it more difficult for the employer to progress with their process and means they may be more willing to negotiate an exit package with you. There is no need to remain in the office being unfairly treated if it is making you ill.

You have a claim against your employer if they have deducted money you are contractually entitled to. You are entitled to the difference between what you were paid and what your employer was contractually obliged to pay you.
This does not apply to money you have lost through being on sick leave or not being given sufficient work to meet your bonus targets or being underpaid compared to others (although such losses may be recoverable under other claims).

Are you sure? You are entitled to the difference between what you were paid and what your employer was contractually obliged to pay you.
An independent advisory service or an employment solicitor will be able to advise you on whether this applies to you if you are not clear on what is in your contract.

Do you think your employer is up to no good? Do you think that they are or have done something that is against the law or are trying to cover something up?

If you have disclosed their conduct and have suffered a ‘detriment’ ie some treatment that is demeaning or has resulted in your losing out on opportunities, you might have a whistleblowing claim. This is also referred to as making a “protected disclosure”. If you have witnessed something that you think is a wrongdoing and might be in the public interest ie sufficiently serious then you can “blow the whistle”. What that means is that you complain about it or just alert management or a relevant regulatory body.

Make sure you use any formal channels that your employer has in place so that it cannot be denied that you have in fact blown the whistle. Keep a record of what you have sent them because you may want to rely upon it in the future. Generally speaking you cannot complain about something that is only a personal issue, but don’t let that stop you although it might be more appropriate to raise a grievance.

The sorts of wrongdoings would include criminal acts like fraud, things that endanger health and safety or the environment, miscarriages of justice or a failure to do something they are obliged to do by law. It would also include an attempt by the company to try and hide what they have done.

A responsible employer will welcome and encourage you to bring any wrongdoing to their attention, but others will want to keep you quiet. You must not allow yourself to be bullied or victimised.

By the way, your employer is likely to be responsible for any victimisation that occurs at the hands of a colleague and not the employer, so don’t be put off when your employer denies any knowledge of any victimisation.

Companies will not want to let it be known that they are up to no good; these are clearly very serious matters that could quite easily see them out of business and so they will more than likely want to settle with you if you threaten to bring a claim that you have suffered a detriment as a result of blowing the whistle.

The business will never admit any wrongdoing so do not expect it. You can claim for any financial loss that you suffer as a result of suffering a detriment and even if you have not suffered any particular financial loss, you can still claim for injury to feelings. The amount you can claim will be judged on the seriousness of the situation but the damages are uncapped, subject to guidelines issued by the Tribunals.

It is a good idea to have a solicitor instructed to negotiate on your behalf because it is a tricky one. If you successfully agree terms of settlement by way of a Settlement Agreement, it is unlawful to have a gagging clause in it that prevents you from making a protected disclosure or blowing the whistle so your employer will not be able to stop you legally from doing that even if you have signed a settlement agreement. A solicitor can broker a settlement and reassure an employer that entering into the settlement agreement means that you will not do so again.

Blowing the whistle on your employer can be a very serious matter. Although some will welcome it, many will not and will want to silence you. You must also be careful of your fellow colleagues who might think you a traitor for blowing the whistle on wrongdoing that might affect their jobs. If, having blown the whistle you start being treated differently meaning badly or suffer some detriment as a result from either management or any colleagues that is called victimisation and you can bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal for compensation.

The law is on your side, you will have a record of what you told your employer about the wrongdoing and when you did so you are holding all the cards. Don’t allow yourself to be bullied or victimised into keeping quiet.

What is the date you blew the whistle? It is so important to keep a record of when you blew the whistle so that you can refer to the timing of any detrimental treatment as it has to be treatment resulting from the whistleblowing. It is also important that you are able to identify the date of the detrimental treatment as that is the date from which you have to start counting the time within which you can bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal, the time limit being three months.

Do you think your employer is up to no good? Do you think that they are or have done something that is against the law or are trying to cover something up?

If you are thinking about blowing the whistle on your employer’s improper or illegal conduct, it’s important to follow a careful procedure. Keep all the records and evidence that you can regarding how you are treated both before you blow the whistle, and importantly, after. If you disclose their conduct and suffer a ‘detriment’ i.e. some treatment that is demeaning or has resulted in your losing out on opportunities, you might have a whistleblowing claim.

This is also referred to as making a “protected disclosure”. If you have witnessed something that you think is a wrongdoing and might be in the public interest i.e. sufficiently serious, then you can “blow the whistle”. What that means is that you complain about it or simply just alert management or a relevant regulatory body.

Make sure you use any formal channels that your employer has in place so that it cannot be denied that you have in fact blown the whistle. Keep a record of what you have sent them because you may want to rely upon it in the future. Generally speaking, you cannot complain about something that is only a personal issue, although it might be appropriate to raise a formal grievance.

The sorts of wrongdoings could include criminal acts like fraud, actions that endanger health and safety or the environment, miscarriages of justice or a failure to do something they are obliged to do by law. It will also include an attempt by the company to try and hide what they have done. A responsible employer will welcome and encourage you to bring any wrongdoing to their attention, but others will want to keep you quiet.

You must not allow yourself to be bullied or victimised. It is worth noting that your employer is likely to be responsible for any victimisation that occurs at the hands of a colleague, so don’t be put off when your employer denies any knowledge of any victimisation.

Companies will not want it to be known that they are up to no good; these are clearly very serious matters that could quite easily see them out of business. So they will more than likely want to settle with you if you threaten to bring a claim (that you have suffered a detriment as a result of blowing the whistle).

The business will never admit any wrongdoing, so do not expect this to happen. You can claim for any financial loss that you suffer as a result of suffering a detriment, and even if you have not suffered any particular financial loss, you can still claim for injury to feelings. The amount you can claim will be judged on the seriousness of the situation but the damages are uncapped, subject to guidelines issued by the Tribunals.

It is a good idea to have a specialist employment solicitor instructed to negotiate on your behalf because it is a tricky type of claim to win. If you successfully agree terms of settlement by way of a Settlement Agreement, it is unlawful to have a gagging clause in it that prevents you from making a protected disclosure, or blowing the whistle.