Company disclosed medical condition to my staff

[Sangie595]

Re: Company disclosed medical condition to my staff

I have just out of curiosity googled settlement agreement and low and behold a calculator or two, again not really pinning my hopes on these was simply curiosity but both I used ranged from 15-17k, any idea why such a massive difference to the gov redundancy pay? I know which one I'd rather have!

Statutory redundancy is a very basic scheme. Surprising you don't have a company scheme. The other calculators are designed to "reel you in" - most of them belong to the sites of people who want a cut of the action. £17k is six months salary - a very good settlement agreement and therefore rarer. To get this amount you would have to be very good at negotiating, they would really want rid of you, and preferably you have something damning on them - which you don't. Three months salary is more realistic. But that doesn't mean you can't get more. You don't have any experienced back up here, and that doesn't help, so you need to "box clever". I would personally start with something outrageous, but not so outrageous they won't be prepared to talk. Nine months salary and a good reference (the reference has to be part of it - a good agreed reference is worth money in the bank). So that what you ask for - all trust and confidence has gone, you have done all these awful things to me, I believe a tribunal would favour a claim, I want £25k and a good reference. You are going to have to lie very convincingly about bringing a legal claim. With any luck they won't realise it's a bluff. Then you let them come back to you. If they come back to you. Remember this is a risk and there's that elephant - you can't unsay it even if you don't get it.

If they are willing to haggle, they will probably come back with something equally outrageous - possibly two months wages at about 5700. Don't be insulted - you just said an outrageous figure too. You don't haggle now. This is the point where you act outraged and simply say no. And walk away. Don't make a counter offer. Normally - and this isn't an exact science so all this is guesswork based on experience - they will then come back with a better figure. If you can get it to three months worth - £8500 - then you can start haggling. At that point it is down to the haggle. Don't forget that reference. And the payment should be tax free. Plus you want your legal fees for a solicitor covered - a settlement agreement must be advised on by a solicitor to be enforceable.

Just for information about the context, if you went to an employment tribunal and if you won - the median awards these days are only about £8k. So if you attempted to go to law, and if you won, you very easily might get no more than that. So every £ over that 3 months salary is a good win.

I hope you can play poker...

[Jarj]

Re: Company disclosed medical condition to my staff

I would have to look at my contract re: redundancy not too sure if company package. As I said in my opinion this sounds like the most viable option to me, granted, probably a bias opinion as I'm not the one having to pay thousands, and I understand that but looking online this seems quite a common procedure am i right to think this? Also surely as has been mentioned the breach of data protection act is enough to constitute a break down in trust etc breach of contract and therefore grounds for constructive dismissal, so this said, if it were me facing a court case surely the amount to pay out plus any costs to court etc wouldn't be far off what a straight forward settlement to me would be. If this is the case wouldn't this be the best option for my company too?

[wales01man]

Re: Company disclosed medical condition to my staff

Your company may well pay out more to defend a claim if they think they will win even if it is more than would be paid in a settlement, Winning may stop others taking action.

[Jarj]

Re: Company disclosed medical condition to my staff

That's a fair point, I'm just going off the basis the as was said earlier this breach is not really disputable I.e. they have upheld and can not deny disclosing my medical information to people that I did not consent or want them to disclose it to. So in reality this should really just make them sure up their processes at the very least and maybe review who else this has happened to.

[Sangie595]

Re: Company disclosed medical condition to my staff

I would have to look at my contract re: redundancy not too sure if company package. As I said in my opinion this sounds like the most viable option to me, granted, probably a bias opinion as I'm not the one having to pay thousands, and I understand that but looking online this seems quite a common procedure am i right to think this? Also surely as has been mentioned the breach of data protection act is enough to constitute a break down in trust etc breach of contract and therefore grounds for constructive dismissal, so this said, if it were me facing a court case surely the amount to pay out plus any costs to court etc wouldn't be far off what a straight forward settlement to me would be. If this is the case wouldn't this be the best option for my company too?

They are not that common that you can depend on it - that is why I keep warning you to be sure. If you Google "settlement agreement" of course it appears common. If I Google "life on Mars" I'm sure the planet will appear to be teemingl

I'm not really getting into a side discussion again about this matter, and will simply reiterate what I have already said - I do not in any way consider what happened to be a substantive reason to claim constructive dismissal. I have significant doubts that you would win, even assuming you can get as far as a tribunal. Another poster disagrees and appears to believe that this is not the case. I have based my opinion on reading everything you have said. They have, by their own statement, based theirs on one post that I made early on. You decide who you wish to bet on.

I also agree, some companies will go to the wire to prove their point and won't give in to a claim. Others will beat you down and wear got out until you walk away - if you think your manager is hard work, you have no idea what a lawyer or two will do to you. And wait until you can't afford to continue. All whilst very possibly saying "we refuse to provide you with a reference for Jarj, and won't be reconsidering our position until after the employment tribunal proceedings". Good luck getting any job with that reference.

You see, the problem is that I'm not a lawyer. I don't care about the finer arts of the law. I care about what the result is. I function in the real world and not a court room. But I know that what court rooms make of things are a long way off what the real world makes of them. Try defining what fair means in relation to a dismissal for starters if you want to see how many totally unfair things are "fair".

And I can easily see your "breach" being "an unfortunate mistake that should never have happened" but with insufficient seriousness for anyone reasonable to justify resigning a perfectly good job without another one to go to. And that is all you have. The rest of it you have left by and never pursued your complaints, so they weren't all that serious until now and you are just dredging up every whine you can think of to get a payoff because "the balance of your mind is disturbed" - or that is what your employer will claim, their solicitor will argue, and I wouldn't even be surprised if some of your staff turned up as witnesses to support this view. Unfortunately, I have seen that happen more than once.

[Jarj]

Re: Company disclosed medical condition to my staff

Just thought I'd make a little addition by way of maybe showing example. Worked late shift other night done for about 3:30am later on that morning member of team called in sick and junior manager on shift sent email around whole area asking for cover that night, my boss seen email, called my place of work and told them not to bother calling around ring me and let me sort it! In my absence HE should support and assist them if it actually required that. He knew i was on a late, even they knew it was wrong and explained i was on a late however he insisted they not call area i should do it from home! So they felt they had no choice but to pass it on to me 5 hours after I'd left work. This is a matter that they had in hand and didn't really warrant waking me up, nor am i paid to be on call or sort every single trivial issue. Just hope this highlights the pettiness and lack of support especially now with what is going on. Am i not entitled to just be at home or in bed or enjoy normal life!