Have you spoken / emailed your solicitor to see what is happening. Seems to me that getting this resolved quickly is almost as important as getting the absolute best deal. But don't cave in just to get it done, at this stage they don't care for your mental health and if dragging it out makes you weaken they'll do it.
Update.
My solicitor forwarded me correspondence from their solicitor. They are (of course) denying all claims but have upped the 'clear off' bonus from £3k to £10k.
I've worked for companies that have been bought, and several times and currently for one that buys people quite often. You don't need all those managers, and that includes technical staff as well.
C'est la vie , it isn't personal, but it isn't a charity
Well, I've instructed my lawyer to accept the offer. Truth be told, she hasn't instilled me with confidence from the outset and the employer will have deeper pockets than I do.
I think I have a reasonable case but what I don't have is the resources either financially or mentally if I reject it and they call my bluff and take it to tribunal. I was not in a great place from the outset and I have to protect that.
The payout will pay off a couple of debts and keep me in the equivalent of a salary for, if I've done the math, maybe four or five months.
The payout will pay off a couple of debts and keep me in the equivalent of a salary for, if I’ve done the math, maybe four or five months.
You are out of there and have a bit of breathing room. Sounds like a good outcome.
I think I have a reasonable case
A lot of people do but it will get messy in a tribunal. You've probably done the right thing, I'd have pushed for a bit more but if the solicitor wasn't very good....
End of the day you need to look after yourself after what you've been through, drawing a line under it with some payout as recognition of them at fault is not a bad way to do it.
Thats not a bad outcome. You could maybe have levered them for a bit more but maybe not. Its highly unlikely they would want to go to tribunal. Ho0wever drawing a full stop under the whole affair is worth a fair bit as well
Good to see you've logically thought through it and picked your best solution.
I hope so.
I've rejected two offers, the most recent one came via a solicitor rather than the company and closes with something like "this is absolutely our best offer." A lot of what they claim is simply untrue, but me evidencing that is another matter.
It's Christmas in a week, which shouldn't matter but the last thing I want to be doing is fretting about all of this, for the family's sake as much as my own.
I never did work out what "without prejudice" meant.
Without prejudice
Basically cant be used in court.
Is that legally binding? Seems awfully convenient.
If not already done, then I strongly suggest that you supply the wording to be used in response to third party reference requests, and that the agreement mandates that that text should be the only response from the company. Also an agreement with how the company is going to reveal/announce/explain your departure to fellow employees/customers etc.
Removes much of the possibility of any post-agreement shenanigans with what potential future employers may get told.
Without prejudice - we're making this offer but in doing so infer no blame or responsibility to be read into it.
Thats not a bad outcome.
Its a good outcome. you're happy, the employer is happy. you might have been able to squeeze some more about, but not without incurring any more cost with a solicitor that you aren't really that confident. Too many people try to "have their day in court" and end up losing the case or losing out financially.
unless my legal fees were being covered by insurance I'd try very hard to stay away from a tribunal.
Without prejudice
Is that legally binding?
Not always. Its used where you are trying to negotiate a settlement and the without prejudice bit means "you can't use the fact I've offered you money to settle this thing against me in the event the negotiation fails and we end up in court anyway"
a communication may not be privileged if you aren't actually making a genuine attempt to come to an agreement.
Sounds like it’s above your bottom line but not as good as your ideal outcome, which is a pretty good result IMV.
Whenever I get my ideal outcome I’m always kicking myself for not asking for more.
Well done, you got a settlement you were happy with, and can get on with your life.
Good result. Make sure you've got the cash before you've signed and left! Cash in your bank this week ideally
Well, the payout landed finally.
£18k give or take pocket change. That'll pay off the credit card and keep the wolves from the door for a few months.
Thanks to all who took the time to reply, it's sincerely appreciated.
Well done!
Nice work. Well done for holding your line.
I think sufficient time has passed that I might as well add a coda to this tale. Plot twist: I'm the OP.
Four of us were TUPEd. My apprentice got a better offer elsewhere (for more money than I was on, the little shit) so never transferred. My partner-in-crime colleague was made redundant earlier this year, a few months after I unceremoniously departed. My former boss is still there, but he's counting down the weeks to retirement so that's in both parties' best interests just to ride it out.
I think I said earlier that I suspected this was their game plan all along. The new company never wanted any of us, we were just collateral damage. I am, truth be told, still violently angry about the whole thing after the amount of blood sweat and tears I poured into a company for 16 years just to be thrown under a bus by a change in upper management, but it's done now and I'm glad to be out of it.
I've said this before. Loyalty and hard work/ability counts for nothing. When your number's up and you're in the cross hairs, that's it. Doesn't matter who you know, how good or diligent you are - sayonara.
I hope you got a decent golden parachute and are fixed up well elsewhere. Learn from it and good luck.
I'm currently living off CapEx rather than OpEx. We're OK for now but this is a finite situation. If anyone needs someone with management experience who knows a bit about computers I'm all ears.
And, thank you.
I"m currently living off CapEx rather than OpEx.
I know that experience. I'll keep an ear to the ground, our IT team seems to have imploded so there may be vacancies, pm me with your details. I might have a vacancy in my team coming up, probably below you skill set but might give you some breathing space.
Are there any Contract opportunities within a sensible commute? Employers would normally give their collective left testicle for someone that 'does' rather than just talks about it... Not a great time of year to be looking but if you're not looking, you'll (almost) certainly not get placed.
And don't forget, it really is them not you - cnts. Although that doesn't pay the bills, it's important to retain some self respect.
Yup, It's easy to say in retrosepect, but you are just a number at the and of the day...
I've been on both sides of the coin, the worst was when I ran a support team of 12 people (pretty much 24/7 IT support coverage)... the entire team got outsourced and 6 of our 12 were temps, as 'team leader' I had the lovely job of laying them off, knowing damn well I was gonna get laid off a few months after a bit of handover stuff, it wasn't spelled out as such but the writing was on the wall.
Cooperate IT is bloody soul destroying at times - half my job was 'playing the game' and sucking the right sausage, as opposed to actually doing my day job. I'm glad I'm out.
Been there, got the T-shirt!
