Bathgate -v- Technip UK Limited
In Bathgate -v- Technip UK Limited, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) was faced with a settlement agreement – a special form of legal agreement used to settle claims between employers and employees.
As is common in these agreements, the employer had sought to exclude claims against it by this employee, including claims in the future.
In other words, the claimant had agreed to sign away their right to pursue what was in this case a claim for age discrimination, even though at the time the agreement was entered into, such a claim had not arisen.
Could the claimant sign away his rights to a claim that he did not even know he had?
The EAT said not. It was contrary to the purpose of protecting claimants (who might unknowingly sign away valuable rights) to permit a settlement agreement to settle future claims.
This is a significant decision. It may impact on rather more than only future claims, and we shall await with interest further decisions of the courts in relation to settlement agreements.
