What you need to do will depend on the seriousness of the breach and whether you may have to go to court to rectify the issue.
Have a word…
If the breach is something like non-payment of the settlement monies or failure to provide a reference or P45 or similar you might find your first best option is to go back to the solicitor who advised you on the agreement and ask them to have a word with your ex-employer or their lawyers. Sometimes a swift solution can be achieved and in some cases the breach may be an oversight rather than anything deliberate.
But what if the breach is major and I need to take legal action?
In this case you also would be best advised to consult a lawyer. It need not be the lawyer who assisted you previously and indeed in some cases it may be that that lawyer cannot help you depending on the circumstances.
Which court do I complain to?
This will depend. It depends largely on timing although note also that the Employment Tribunals only have jurisdiction to hear breach of contract claims up to £25,000 so if the breach is valued higher than this cap you will have to go to the civil courts.
If the agreement is breached before your effective date of termination or contemporaneously with the termination of your employment the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 confers jurisdiction on the Employment Tribunals.
A relevant case is Rock-It Cargo v Green from 1997.
Where a settlement agreement is entered into after the termination of the employment a claim for breach of contract cannot be brought in the Employment Tribunals. It must be brought in the County or High Court (the civil court jurisdiction). This was affirmed by the Employment Appeal Tribunal in Miller Bros & Anor v Johnston in 2002.
As with any dispute trying to find a non-court solution is always advisable not least because it will be a lot quicker. Recourse to law should be a last resort.
This blog was written by Yavnik Ganguly, Senior Solicitor at didlaw.
