Settlement Agreement vs PIP (high earner dismissal)
I’m a junior lawyer in a UK firm (England) working in a niche practice area, and recently had an informal chat with a partner & HR member that things aren’t working.
Her reasons were that my utilisation / busyness is too low (I have screenshots of a partner that I work with not reply to me for weeks across multiple deals, meaning I can’t bill hours until they sign-off on my document drafts), and that my performance is poor (I have very recent feedback from partners that I work with which is very positive). It was a very wishy washy meeting.
The team has (allegedly) been loss-making last month, whilst other teams in this firm are profitable. Employment lawyers that I’ve spoken to suspect it’s a cost related redundancy but packaged as performance related.
The offer is 3 months notice period + 1 month ex gratia salary. The alternative is possibly a PIP (which sounds like a sham process leading to dismissal).
I have just over 2 years continuous employment, and really disagree with their grounds.
I’m liaising with an employment lawyer, but what can I do? What sort of negotiations can I ask for? People say 1 month salary on top of notice is fair, but how can it be fair when I have written evidence of very very recent positive feedback from established partners?