In legal terms, a settlement is an agreement between the disputing parties that can be reached either before or after court proceedings begin, and that serves to end the dispute without a trial. When handling disputes with their employees, employers prefer the settlement option because it can save them a lot of time, ensure confidentiality and protect the reputation of their business. Employees can also benefit from this type of a dispute resolution method, as the employer can offer to pay them a sum money, as well as promise to stop treating them unlawfully, or both, while also paying for their independent legal advice. Settlements further explained here.
As the employee, you may think that you don’t need settlement agreement legal advice and that you can handle everything on your own. That, however, is usually not the case, because you can never have as much knowledge on these proceedings as professionals, and not getting their help can lead you towards agreeing to not-such-a-great deal. If you’re not sure whether you need settlement agreement advice or not, read on to find out, as well as to figure out how to actually get it correctly.
Why You Need Settlement Agreement Advice
Settlement agreement advice is necessary for numerous reasons and you, as the employee that will receive an offer from the employer, need to know precisely what you can get from solicitors and why you should use their services. Below I’ll list some of those reasons why you should use the advice of these professionals when trying to settle perfectly with your employer. As you’ll quickly see, they can do much more than just review and sign the agreement for you, although that is a huge part of the work they’ll do for you.
1. You May Not Know If You’re Getting A Good Deal
Employees often don’t really know if they are getting a good deal from the employer or not. Something that may seem like the perfect deal could actually simply be the initial, i.e. the lowest, offer that the employer is trying to pass as a great one. The truth is that they may be prepared to go much higher than that. Since your situation will be unique, as everyone’s is, you won’t really know whether the sum you’re getting under the agreement is enough. Great solicitors, on the other hand, will know exactly if you’re getting what you deserve or if the employer is trying to pass a poor deal for a great one.
2. Solicitors Will Review And Advise You On What To Do
By reviewing the documents in details, solicitors will be capable of advising you precisely on what to do and how to proceed with the settlement. You’ll know if accepting is the right thing to do, or if you should perhaps proceed negotiating, with the aim of scoring a better deal. Most employees don’t really understand their own rights, and they, thus, don’t know what they’re entitled to regarding compensation, which is why they need solicitors to help them with that. Your documents will be reviewed in great detail by these professionals, and they’ll tell you what your next course of action should be.
3. And Even Sign The Document, All Free Of Charge
It’s not common for solicitors to give their signatures on documents free of charge, or to give advice free of charge for that matter, but that’s exactly what you’ll be getting from these professionals. The entire process of reviewing, of advising you and of signing the necessary agreements will be completely free for you, and it’s nice knowing that you won’t need to pay a penny for this. The fact that you won’t get charged is just another additional reason why you should use these services, as passing on something so helpful and practically free is not very logical.
4. They Can Negotiate On Your Behalf
If the solicitors find that you’re not getting a good offer from your employer, they’ll advise you to further negotiate. Naturally, you might not be very apt at negotiation, which is where they’ll come in, negotiating on your behalf and striving towards increasing the offer, sometimes even up to 50%. The negotiation services, unlike the review, advice and signature ones, however, won’t be free of charge. Nevertheless, paying for those will be worth it if there’s a chance to increase the offer.
5. And Thus Score You A Better Deal
Everything that the solicitor will do for you, including giving you advice on settlement agreement as well as negotiating on your behalf will ultimately lead towards you getting a much better deal than the initial one you might have been offered. It’s perfectly okay to settle and avoid going to the court, but it’s not okay to do so if you’re not getting a good offer. The solicitors will help you get properly compensated and agree on other favorable terms that you may be looking to get from your employer, which is practically why using their services is a must.
How To Get It
Getting great advice on settlement agreements depends on finding the perfect solicitors to provide you with that. So, what you should mostly focus on is searching for the best solicitors in your area that offer the advice free of charge and that can also negotiate for you if you find that it is necessary. You can begin searching for them using the Internet, but it won’t hurt to get some suggestions from the people you know as well, people who’ve previously had to sign settlement agreements with their own employers.
When you find a few great professionals, you’ll need to research them further, checking their level of expertise and experience, as well as their reputation among clients. By doing that, you’ll get a clearer idea on who could provide you with the best advice and the best negotiating services if necessary. Of course, remember to check the fees for those services as well, so as to get the most reasonable solution.
