Settlement Of A Future Claim

• Published date: 13 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Employment Litigation/ Tribunals
• Law Firm: Birketts
• Author: Ms Liz Stevens

Last month, we reviewed a case in which the Employment Appeal Tribunal considered the scope for settling future tribunal claims under the terms of a settlement agreement. The Court of Appeal has since handed down a decision dealing with the ambit of a COT3 settlement to settle a future claim.

Arvunescu v Quick Release (Automotive) Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 1600

Facts of the case

The claimant, Mr Arvunescu, was employed for a short period during 2014. After his employment was terminated, he brought a race discrimination claim against his employer (QRA). The claim was eventually settled in March 2018, under the terms of a COT3 agreement concluded via Acas. The COT3 included broadly-drafted wording to settle all claims that Mr Arvunescu "has or may have" against the company "arising directly or indirectly out of or in connection with" his employment.

After he had signed the COT3, Mr Arvunescu brought a further claim against QRA. He alleged that he had been victimised as a result of his previous race discrimination claim because he had been rejected for a job with a subsidiary of GRA in February 2018, before he had signed the COT3.

An employment tribunal held that the victimisation claim came within the scope of the COT3 and so had been settled. This decision was upheld on appeal to the EAT. Mr Arvunescu appealed to the Court of Appeal.

Court of Appeal decision

The Court of Appeal has upheld the finding of the employment tribunal that the victimisation claim had been settled under the terms of the...