Signing a settlement agreement without getting proper advice from a lawyer is a mistake. While your employer may be assuring you that you’re getting the perfect deal, you can’t know for sure until you get legal advice. In fact, legal advice is part of the employee benefit package, and a highly valued one for that matter, as you can see here.
You may have already thought about getting a lawyer to advise you on your settlement agreement, as well as to renegotiate the terms that the employer proposed. Yet, one thing is probably stopping you from doing that. Basically, you don’t know how much all of this will cost, and you don’t want to rush into anything before figuring out how much you’d have to pay.
Completely normal, isn’t it? After all, rushing into things and then winding up quite surprised with the costs of the overall service doesn’t really lead to a vast experience. While you want your settlement agreement to be perfect, you also want to understand what to expect when it comes to the fees you’ll have to pay for, getting legal advice in the process. So, let’s make this clear.
The Employer Can Cover the Costs
Sometimes, the employer will cover the costs of you getting legal advice once the settlement agreement has been drafted. Does this mean what you think it means? Yes, it does. Basically, in these cases, the employee won’t be charged anything. If, however, you want to hire an additional lawyer of your own accord, you should expect to be charged a certain fee.
You’ll Be Charged for Renegotiating the Terms
The same goes when you’re looking to renegotiate the terms and you need a great employment settlement agreement lawyer to guide you and try to get a better deal for you. While the employer can cover the costs of the initial advice, they certainly won’t cover the renegotiating ones. If a professional advises you on renegotiating, claiming it could be quite beneficial for you, don’t hesitate to do it.
But remember, choosing to do this means you’ll be responsible for paying the legal fees. Meaning, of course, that you’ll want to know precisely how much you’ll have to pay for those services. The precise fees, however, are different from one professional to another. Their fees vary, so you’ll know exactly how much you’d have to pay only after contacting different pros, presenting your case, and letting them give you their quotes.
No Win – No Fee Is Sometimes a Possible Scenario
Just like the fees do vary from one professional to another, there is also one possible scenario that could be offered by some lawyers and not the others. Furthermore, this possibility can sometimes be offered by a particular lawyer and for a particular case, only to not be possible for a different case with the same lawyer. Put simply, I’m talking about the no win – no fee scenario. If you find a lawyer offering that for your case, it means that he or she will waive the fee if they do not manage to get an increase on your deal.
Offers like those tend to be rare these days. Although, that does not mean that nobody offers them anymore. Checking which professionals do and which ones do not is a good idea. It is preferable to pay a fee and receive an increase, rather than forgoing the fee and not securing a better deal compared to the initial offer presented by the employer.
In case you are unclear of your rights as an employee, you should learn some more about them.
Common Fees: 15% to 33%, including VAT
When you decide to renegotiate the terms of your settlement agreement and thus, hire a lawyer to help you out, the fee you will pay depends on the actual professional you’ll hire, as explained already. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to find a few great ones and compare their fees. In any case, you should expect to pay anything between 15% and 33% – VAT included, of the compensation payment for these services. That’s a big range of percentages, which is exactly why you won’t know the precise fee until you choose a great lawyer and discuss it.
