Settlement cheque

At a little before 4pm yesterday, my solicitor e-mailed me in work to say the cheque was ready. There was a new light-hearted tone to his e-mail. I imagined him smiling and waving the cheque back and forth triumphantly, pretending he was just drying the ink.

I popped in on my way home to pick it up. We had an amicable chat, swapped pleasantries.

He recommended, with a note of kindness, I should put it all behind me. If I ever regretted not having my day in Court I should definitely take the time to visit the Tribunal, particularly if there was a sexual harassment claim listed, to see first-hand how Claimants are treated. He thinks I did the right thing.

He also reminded me again, if I was going to write about workplace bullying I would have to be careful to stay completely anonymous. I couldn’t tell anyone about any of this. It’s too small a world.

I left his office and got swallowed up in the heavy swell of commuters, the hundreds of office staff leaving for home.

I want to be anonymous. I’m used to it now. There’s a real freedom in no-one knowing who you are. I want to be any one of these people in the crowd, rushing from the office.

I figure some of them will be wondering what they can do about their boss who made their day utterly miserable yet again.

I'm going to be here waiting.
Lots of love,

Eva x

Jarndyce v Jarndyce

There was a delay. The first time round Howard and his pals signed the Compromise Agreement, but they forgot to date it, rendering it invalid until it was sent back. Would you want Howard and his pals to act for you? They can’t even get the ‘sign and date’ section of a legal document right first time. Still, we got there in the end. It’s now legally binding.

My solicitor is getting his £7,050 fee for three months work. Can you believe this includes a slight discount? It’s the biggest bill I’ve had in my life. I’ll never complain about council tax again.

In a few weeks time, if the case had gone on, my solicitor’s fees would have shot up again. By Christmas I might have owed my solicitor a small fortune and had no settlement left to pay him.

My solicitor and Dickens’ fictional Chancery lawyers share the same advice about Chancery Court and the Employment Tribunal:-

"Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!"

It’s a £7,050 lesson. You can put a price on education.

Lots of love,

Eva x