"Unfair Dismissal"?

[trundlecat]

Hi Folks,

I'm rolling up my sleves for a fight here but I'm having a bit of a problem re the 1 year rule so hoping someone can clarify.

My DH is a manager for a medium sized construction comapny. Said company decided before xmas they would bring on baord another director & expand the company. At this time a memo was sent out to all staff outlining the plans & staing very clearly that "no employee" would loose their jobs to this process. Yes, you've guessed it, my DH has lost his job to this process.

He got home early from work on Tuesday minus company car, phone & lap-top & with 4 days notice. How nice of them. Nicest thing of all is it would appear the descision to let him go was made that very morning. A 10am meeting for all staff was cancelled & he was called in to the office. His line manager was then called in after him (he lost his job too, he'd been with the comapny 11 months).

Anyway, this is aparently redundancy due to there not being enough work to keep the two of them on. I'm pretty sure they've gone about this all the worng way & would love to hear from anyone who can clarify that for me.

To add insult to injury they're now hanging on to monies owed. £400 expenses DH is owed should have gone in the bank today. Nothing has gone in. On phoning the accounts manager it will aparently go in on the 28th along with his last mnth's salary which will be a day late (so I now have to alter upteen direct debits).

We know DH can always find work (tradesman before he went into management) but it's the principal of this whole thing that is really getting to us. The reason we think this descision was made is that next month is bonus month & we know the bonuses are going to be paid. Onviously doing what they have has saved them 2 people's wages & their bonus (equivalent of a months wage). We really & honestly do think it is a simple as that. A snap descision made that morning & action taken on that descison immediately. Does my DH have a leg to stand on here regarding unfair dismissal or are his employers correct in assuming because he's been there less than a year he's an easy cost cutting option with no rights?

Many thanks for reading,
TC

P.S. Please excuse bad spelling & grammar, trying to quickly batter this out before I pick the boys up from nursery.

[trundlecat]

Quick update, I am preparing a case for breach of contract as said contract clearly states 1 months notice from either party. Unsure yet as to weather this has to be via ET or county court, I'm hoping to go down the small claims route as it should be cut & dried (have all the paperwork needed). Will update after a bit more research.

[Sidewinder]

Very sorry to hear about the situation - can you clarify exactly how long he has worked for this company and what, in writing has been explained to him about the reason for his dismissal? What (if anything) is in his contract about bonuses and how much notice is he being paid for? Who will now be doing the job?

Sorry - was writing my post whilst you added a second.....breach of contract is certainly the first angle to look at.

[BeauBrummie]

Hi TC,

Sorry to hear about the trouble with this employer, as well as info that Sidewinder has asked of you, you will need to get hold of the companies greivance procedure and then raise one in writing. You need to be seen to follow the correct path and let them make the mistakes. You already have a fair bit of damming evidence so you need to build the case logically. Should this get to ET you will then have all the evidence for your claim.

Most ET cases are lost by either party by not following employment legislation procedure so take your time, and you should be ok.

BB

[caro]

Hi Trunny. I hope your DH's company realise they picked on the wrong person to cross.

Can't offer any advice but we both know others will be able to and this link looks useful Redundancy: Introduction : Directgov - Employment

Go get 'em girl.

[trundlecat]

Hi Caro! Very nice to see & familiar & friendly face around. Hubby's employers don't have a clue the wrath they have just unleashed.... but they WILL rue the day lol. Big P*ss off factor about all this is that DH had 3 job offers last Oct & chose this one as they swore blind they were up to their eyes in work & they seemed to be the safest bet out of the 3. We live & learn. It seems inherent in the industry that if the books look like they might not balance the 1st option taken is to lay off employees who have been there less than 12 months, it's terrible.

Hi Sidewinder & BB, thanks very much for your responses. DH started work on 7 Oct last year so it's 7 months in. Probationary period was 3 months so we're well out of that. Contract states 1 month notice. Letter of termination of employment states "for various reasons the company has had to make the difficult descision to give you notice to end your employment with us". Verbal reason was due to not enough work to justify his position. There are still contracts running & we think the new contracts director (& instigation of this cost cutting exercise) has taken on the work DH was doing. Now, here is where it gets "iffy". New contracts director was taken on due to him aparently bringing with him a LOT of contracts, however, none materialised so the general frame of mind is that to justify his position DH & his manager have lost their jobs to lower the wages bill & give new director something to do.

Dilema: DH is on gardening leave for his notice period, his official last day is Tue. He has been promised a letter of reference but if he starts the grievance procedure on Tue I think we can kiss bye bye to that. So, is he allowed to start the grievance procedure after his employment is terminated?

My train of though: I would rather not go down the ET route as I have the hard facts of a breach of contract in front of me. DH doesn't want to work for them anymore, we just want the extra months cash & car compensation to which he is entitled. To hell with them, he'll have a new & better job within the month. He & his manager were axed to show an immediate drop on outgoing accounts so we just want to hit them where it's gonna hurt most (on the accounts), pocket the procedes & run. As far as I can see it's a simple fact of them oweing money so I should, theoretically, just be able to issue a request & if it isn't paid take them to court for it..... or am I being too simplistic here?

Thanks,
TC

[trundlecat]

Here I am again posting as my mind is going lol (by heck, it's just like the old days with YB).

This actually happened to hubby back in 2005 with a different company so I'm gonna test the water & theory by sending a demand for monies owed due to breach of contract from back then. 5 year limit for the county court so may as well give it a go. Heck, all the judge can do is laugh & tell me to get lost & you never know, they might just pay up before we get to that. Either way it'll test the water for dealing with this bunch of clowns cos they're the one's I'm really after. I'll be looking up points of law over the weekend & a letter will be sent registered post on Tuesday. Shy kids get no sweets!

[caro]

LOL Trunny. Sounds like a plan. I can't imagine you ever going without sweets!