Compromise agreements are an effective way of handling staff severance in a
manner which works for both the employer and the employee. Almost all large
companies and organisations use them, and they allow an agreement over terms of
severance to be made when the employee is leaving through no fault of their own.
Generally they save an organisation money, while not disadvantaging the
employee: as the title says, they are a mutual compromise, and avoid the
substantial legal fees which can go with a dispute.
As part of that compromise, both parties undertake not to pursue their
disagreements further. It is a mistake to regard this as a "gagging clause", and
it certainly does not prevent legitimate whistle-blowing - as we have seen
recently in relation to the NHS.
The difficult circumstances of the recession of the past few years have meant
some difficult decisions have been taken. Costs at the Council have been cut and
staff reduced. At the same time, we have tried to treat fairly those staff who
have had to leave. So while the overall level of staff costs has been brought
down substantially, there has been a much smaller amount of one-off charges
incurred in that process. You can be confident that your local Conservative
administration has been best placed to manage this fairly and effectively.
Roger Hirst
Deputy Leader, Brentwood Conservative Group