Settlement agreements & future claims

Our employment experts look into a case surrounding settlement agreements and future claims.

Mr Bathgate worked for Technip Singapore PTE Ltd as a chief officer for over 20 years. In January 2017, Mr Bathgate accepted enhanced voluntary redundancy by way of a settlement agreement. The agreement also contained a clause which waived future claims in relation to age discrimination.

After the agreement was signed, Technip decided that they were not required to make an additional payment to Mr Bathgate because he was over the age of 60, in accordance with a collective agreement. As a result of this decision, Mr Bathgate brought a claim for age discrimination.

In the first instance, the Scottish tribunal held that the claim had been settled by the agreement. On appeal, the EAT found that no future claims could be waived under the agreement.

The Court of Session disagreed and found that the claim had been settled by the agreement because it specified that it waived “all claims… of whatever nature (whether past, present or future)” and that this applied in all scenarios where “it is plain and unequivocal that this was intended.”

What does this mean?

Despite this being a Scottish judgment, it is expected that this will take precedence in the tribunals in England and Wales. Therefore, it is important as an employer if you are wishing to settle future unknown claims that any settlement agreement wording drafted is precise and ensures your intentions to settle future claims are clear.

If your business needs help with settlement agreements, future claims or any other potential issue, our employment law team can help.

Our Legal 500-rated employment law team are experts in guiding businesses of all sizes and backgrounds through a range of issues that may arise, whether that’s redundancy and staff reorganisation, restrictions on competition post-employment, protecting confidential business information, employment and consultancy contracts and more.