Enforcing an agreement

If you and your employer agreed to settle your case, and your employer is not doing what they agreed, for example, pay you an amount of money, you may be able to enforce the agreement if the terms of settlement are in writing and are signed.

Generally, if you and your employer come to an agreement, you will put the terms of the agreement in writing and sign the agreement. This is call a 'settlement agreement'. The terms of the settlement agreement can also be made into court orders. These are called 'consent orders'.

If your employer is not doing what they agreed to do, you may be able to rely on the agreement as evidence of a contract. If your settlement agreement is a contract, you can take your employer to court if they don't do what they agreed to do. The settlement agreement is written evidence of the terms of the contract.

 If you have a written agreement settling your case, you should get legal advice about whether you can enforce it as a contract or recover what is owed as a debt.

If some or all of the terms of the agreement were also made as orders of the court, called 'Consent Orders', you may be able to have your case brought back to the court. This is called having your case 'relisted'. You should get legal advice about any orders made by the court.

What if there is n​​​o written agreement or consent orders?

If you and your employer agreed to end the case, but you did not put the terms in a signed settlement agreement or consent orders, you may still be able to enforce the agreement. You would need to have evidence of what the terms of the agreement were. Evidence of the terms could come from:

• any unsigned or draft settlement agreement
• records of conversations between you and your employer about settlement
• emails, faxes, letters or other correspondence about settlement.

 You should get legal advice before trying to enforce an unsigned or verbal settlement agreement.