ABSTRACT
It is anticipated that an increase of compromise agreements will accompany the latest reforms towards ADR in employment law. For this reason, the ER(DR)A 1998 made some changes to the requirements surrounding their validity. The compromise agreement procedure was introduced into employment law by the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993, which provided a mechanism for the settlement of claims in respect of certain statutory employment rights, including unfair dismissal, discrimination, equal pay and unauthorised deductions from pay. The settlement would be binding on the parties only if certain conditions were met; however, the agreement had to be in writing and the complainant was required to have received independent legal advice from a qualified solicitor or barrister as to the terms and effect of the agreement, in particular, its ability to bar an employment tribunal claim. The procedure became popular and was widely used, although the legislation as initially enacted left a number of ambiguities. These were addressed by the 1998 Act and several other important changes were introduced.
