Can a Settlement Agreement resolve workplace Personal Injury Claims?
- Employment Law
- 9th Jun 2025
Settlement Agreements can be used by employers to resolve ongoing workplace disputes with employees. A Settlement Agreement can also waive employees’ rights to bring personal injury (PI) claims, such as for physical or psychiatric injury arising from the workplace. If an employer believes that that an employee has any specific PI claims, provisions can be […]
By Sasha Brine
mlplaw
Settlement Agreements can be used by employers to resolve ongoing workplace disputes with employees. A Settlement Agreement can also waive employees’ rights to bring personal injury (PI) claims, such as for physical or psychiatric injury arising from the workplace.
If an employer believes that that an employee has any specific PI claims, provisions can be made in the agreement to waive the right to bring these claims. The employee’s adviser will usually seek to specify any specific claims the employee wishes to bring. Employers need to be aware that there are exceptions to the PI claims which employees can waive the right to bring in the future.
Employees are unlikely to waive their rights to bring future free standing PI claims that the employee is unaware of at the time they signed the Settlement Agreement. Even if a PI claim is included as a part of the Settlement Agreement, employees may be able to bring future PI claims and argue that the waiver is void under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Employers ask employees to agree that they are unaware of any incidents at the time of entering into a Settlement Agreement which may give rise to PI claims against them.
- Employers must include wording within Settlement Agreement stating that any latent free standing PI claims are to be excluded from the list of settled claims.
If you would like assistance with Settlement Agreements and seek advice on the claims that can and cannot be waived in such Agreements, please contact employment@mlplaw.co.uk.
About the expert
Sasha Brine
Partner - Employment Law
Sasha Brine is a highly effective Solicitor with 15 years’ experience advising on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law . Sasha has provided crucial expert advice on a wide range of employment matters providing clients with timely pragmatic advice and the giving clients their desired outcome.
Sasha has worked closely with employers from various sectors including financial services, insurance, professional services, educational establishments, technology and health care environments delivering practical and strategic guidance on complex employment issues. Sasha covers all aspect of restructures and reorganisation working closely with commercial teams to ensure the best possible outcome for clients.
Sasha has spent a number of years with well-known corporate commercial firms and FTSE 100 organisations, assisting with large scale projects, buyouts and disposals prior to moving to mlplaw.
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