Quinn, meet Perry Mason

Guess what happened last night at 7pm!? Well, we finally got a message from "their" lawyer suggesting a settlement. Finally! This is one week before the case is scheduled to begin. AND, he wanted a reply by 10 am! Ridiculous. We didn't fall for it. We told him he'd have to hold his horses and not screw with us. We ain't lawyers, but we aren't going to roll over either.

So this morning I drafted this reply. We hope you enjoy it. It represents the kind of bull we've been having to deal with for 6 months now.

Of course, Quinn is sensing all this (and probably consuming a fair dose of adrenaline or something like that), so he's been a fussy crying mess all morning so far. Our fault, so we feel really bad about the whole thing.

Wish us luck on the negotiations, which will go for the next couple days I presume. Hopefully, when Jill arrives on Saturday, it will be for a week of celebration rather than a week-long trial where she has to help me keep Quinn settled while Jenny plays Perry Mason.

XXX, (cc:ed to XXX)

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

I have been in contact with Mr. XXX of ACAS and he has provided me with the information I required concerning the COT3 agreement and the conciliation process. Upon receiving that information, I have made every effort to consider your offer as quickly as possible, and can offer the following in reply.

As you have likely observed, I feel that I have an excellent case against your client. There are a large number of incongruities in the claims that she has made against me, which makes the grounds for her side of the case quite dubious. I have done a lot of research, and despite being unrepresented, I am confident that my views would be looked upon well at a tribunal hearing. I have no doubts that she was in the wrong for dismissing me due to my pregnancy. Still, I understand that both parties (as well as the Employment Tribunal Service, insomuch as they must support a hearing of this kind) might benefit from a negotiated settlement. Such a settlement would still provide me with the compensation I feel I deserve, while affording all the other parties a benefit from avoiding the emotional and financial costs of a trial. I can therefore offer the following as grounds for a settlement which we would be willing to accept.

My first point in response to your offer concerns the hypothetical condition that if I had continued employment I would have been made redundant around the end of January. At this point, I am unwilling to consider this as a plausible reason for a reduction of our claim. The general issue of difficult economic conditions does not seem justified, particularly as such conditions are quite abstract and not related directly to XXX, and as this has never been mentioned in any of our correspondence to date, much of which occurred after January.

The other main point concerns the award for hurt to feelings. As a basis for deciding an appropriate claim, we have used information provided by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (see link below), citing the Vento case which Judge XXX and yourself recommended. According to this source, £XXXX is a median amount for pregnancy-related dismissal, and £XXXX is the average. There is no question in my mind that the injury which this event has caused me is anything but at least average.

In considering the state benefits I have received, I now realize that you are correct on this matter, and understand that we would need to deduct this from the total. In addition, the amount of SMP, which was calculated beginning a week prior to our son's forecast date of birth, though an amount which we are entitled to claim, seems a reasonable place where we would be willing to compromise on similar grounds.

Based on this consideration of the points you made in your offer, and considering the fact that I will have an emotional benefit from not having to proceed to trial, I am willing to make the following offer, which would need to be agreed upon with the assistance of Mr. XXX and a COT3 document.

£XXXX for lost normal wages, plus
£XXXX for hurt to feelings, totalling....
£XXXX

I think that you will find this offer to be very reasonable and grounded on a principled set of grievances. I will await your reply, and hope that you will also try to reply as quickly as possible.

Regards,
Jenny

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/foradvisers/EocLaw/EocLawSco/GuidesandLegislation/Compensation/Pages/Injurytofeelingsandinjurytohealthcompensationawards.aspx#1092