Yeovil lawyers stress the art of workplace compromise following BBC case

A YEOVIL law firm has backed the principle of ‘compromise agreements’ in ending employment contracts despite public furore over their use at the BBC.

Battens Solicitors says the controversial £450,000 pay-off for the former BBC Director General turned on a ‘no blame’ severance approach that can help resolve disputes.

Discussions around George Entwistle’s resignation - including a doubling of his required notice pay - were revealed during questioning by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.

A BBC Trustee told the committee that a ‘compromise agreement’, which included pension payments and expenses on top of a full year’s salary, at least helped the corporation draw a line under the situation rather than risk protracted legal wrangling.

Victoria Knight (pictured), a Chartered Legal Executive at Battens, said: “While the BBC case attracted predictable outrage because of the level of the pay-off involved, the principle of agreeing a compromise can help when a relationship breaks down for whatever reason. In Mr Entwistle’s case, he was said to have lost the confidence of the BBC Trust although it appears his action fell short of misconduct as such.”

Mrs Knight said the use of compromise agreements was designed to let employer and employee part on a mutually agreeable basis.

She added: “Independent legal advice is a requirement of any valid compromise agreement so employees should not be scared to ask for help.

"The employer should agree to pay a contribution towards that advice. Compromise agreements are being used more commonly within the workplace in all sorts of scenarios including redundancy and issues with performance.

"If your employer has provided you with a compromise agreement, it is essential you seek legal advice firstly to ensure it is fair and secondly to ensure it is legally binding.”

Battens is a Legal 500 firm with offices in Yeovil, Dorchester, Weymouth and Sherborne. Its dedicated service BattensHR provides fixed-fee human resources and employment advice. For more information, contact Battens on 01935-846000.

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