With the price of oil dipping below 47 dollars a barrel, marking a new five-and-a-half-year low, and the North Sea oil and gas industry set to suffer a net loss of 23,000 jobs over the next five years – more than 4,000 a year, every year to 2020 – these are challenging times for employers and employees alike in Scotland.
With difficult economic decisions to be made, one route that HR departments across the country should be looking at is the use of Settlement Agreements. Angela McCracken, employment law solicitor for Balfour + Manson’s Aberdeen office advises:
“A Settlement Agreement is a contractual document that sets out the terms between the parties for the agreed termination of the worker’s employment. The employer pays the employee a sum of money in return for the employee agreeing not to bring any employment claims against the employer for any breaches of employment legislation. This ‘trade-off’ should not be agreed without serious consideration and legal advice on both sides.
