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Without Prejudice Meeting

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  • Without Prejudice Meeting

    A friend of mine has been on sick leave for the past 5 months, having suffered some mental health issues. The sickness was not caused by work related issued. She is now ready to go back to work and was due to return in a couple of weeks time, but out of the blue, she receives a request for a 'Without Prejudice' meeting from the employer - with no real explanation.

    After doing some research, we can see that Without Prejudice meetings are for coming to an pre-termination agreement, which she is shocked about and given her a bit of a knock.

    My question is whether what the employer is doing is legal. Reading on another site, it states: "The without prejudice principle only covers situations where there has been an existing dispute between the two sides. You cannot simply use without prejudice conversation to offer an employee a financial reward for leaving the company."

    There has been no dispute between my friend and her employer, she has been working for them for over 30 years and was happy and prepared to return. So if there is no existing dispute, how can the employer offer a Without Prejudice meeting?

    Thanks

    Mr_J

    Tags: None

  • #2
    While your friend was on sick leave was she being paid full pay or maybe just SSP? It might well be that now she has said she wants to return to work there is insufficient work to do. It is difficult to know really.

    Comment


    • #3
      Hiya

      Thanks for the response, she was paid Full pay. In terms of the workload, as far as she is aware (from other colleagues), the workload may have increased. Whilst she was off, they had to hire to specialist support to cover her role, so its not as though the work has been spread out between other people

      I think she is just shocked that she just got a request, with no communication about it. I was a bit concerned that a website I saw states "Without Prejudice" is for when there are disputes (but there wasn't a dispute), and just wanted some clarification. However after reading ACAS, it does say that there doesn't need to be a dispute.

      So, we are assuming that her contract will be terminated. Are there any pointers as to what sort of settlement she would be looking for? (had a look at a few sites, and looks a bit confusing to me!)

      Thanks

      Mr J

      Comment


      • #4
        If an employer wants to use the protection of the without prejudice rule they need to do so on the basis of starting a process which could result in the employee being dismissed. This could be for a number of reasons e.g. redundancy or disciplinary. What should happen is the employer effectively creates a dispute by way of initial corerspondence stating that they are initiatng e.g. redundancy or disciplinary action and advising that this procedure could result in termination of employment. They then send a second without prejudice letter which refers to the first letter and is likely to include a settlement agreement.

        I am wondering if they are mistaking it for a protected conversation which can happen without a dispute but these conversations can still be used to offer and negotiate the termination of employment but this is done on terms agreed between the employee and employer.
        If you would like a one-to-one expert consultation with me on your employment issue than I can be contacted by emailing admin@legalbeaglesgroup.com

        I do not provide advice by PM although I may on occasion ask you to send me documents this way but any related advice will be provided back on your thread.

        I do my best to provide good practical advice, however I do so without liability.
        If you have any doubts then do please seek professional legal advice.


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        Comment


        • #5
          Hiya

          Thanks again for a response. My friend had her meeting on Wednesday and was offered a 'redundancy' package of £10k, to end the employment with immediate effect. The £10k is effectively the statutory Redundancy pay. No mention of PILON.

          She is going to get some legal advise, but I am just wandering whether this is on the low side? Should PILON be included?

          Thanks

          Comment


          • #6
            Is PILON included as a clause in your friend's contract?

            If not the employer can still offer a payment in lieu of notice if it is not in the contract, but this should be agreed, in writing, between the employer and your friend.

            Are they covering this under what is called a Settlement Agreement?
            If you would like a one-to-one expert consultation with me on your employment issue than I can be contacted by emailing admin@legalbeaglesgroup.com

            I do not provide advice by PM although I may on occasion ask you to send me documents this way but any related advice will be provided back on your thread.

            I do my best to provide good practical advice, however I do so without liability.
            If you have any doubts then do please seek professional legal advice.


            You can’t always stop the waves but you can learn to surf.

            You are braver than you believe, smarter than you think and stronger than you seem.



            If we have helped you we'd appreciate it if you can leave a review on our Trust Pilot page

            Comment

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