Been told last Thursday at a unified departmental staff meeting in London that 28 of my colleagues out of 95 colleagues are to be made redundant. We essentially all do the same job, but in 3 regions in south. Concerned that my employer may well not fully adhere to good employment practice ..or the law. I think most of their approach is fine, but some areas appear questionable : 1) We have for past year had 4 pre-existing so called staff reps , barely even elected - in effect nobody else wanted to be involved . There was no secret ballot etc. Anyhow the so called reps attend quarterly meetings with management and report back to us to explain department wide issues etc. Reality is that the staff reps are considered to be no more than "brown nosers" who the majority of other (now vulnerable) staff do not trust. We feel they no longer truly representative the democratic interests of many of the remaining 91 colleagues, in particular as they were never truly appointed by a robust "election" in the first place . In particular we certainly do not trust them to genuinely represent us during a so called "collective consultation" process re redundancy. So my first question is - can management simply tell us (as they have done) that we cannot democratically vote for who should act as our employee representatives during collective consultation ? Management said , "you already have 4 staff reps and we (and them) have already decided that they are to be your designated employee reps re redundancy collective consultation". The majority of the affected staff do not trust these reps anymore. I am sure that none of the reps will be selected for redundancy ..yes, to trick us, they may be shortlisted, but they will not eventually be selected. Worse still, such "brown nosers" are to coordinate with management re how the redundancy scoring system will be established. Again, we do not trust them (ie man't and pre-existing reps) to do this fairly. That said, i don't think there's much we can do to prevent that specific issue. 2) Pre-determined outcome - The points scoring system and the entire candidate selection will be subjective. I and twenty of my colleagues have already made a shortlist of the 28 pooled employees who will be selected. We know this list in part because one colleague was told by a manager (when latter was drunk) that there are 25 staff who are "taking the p..s, and they have to go". Hardly a transparent and objective approach. 3) Staff who are on sick leave - 18 of my colleagues are on long(ish) term sick, many with work related stress. We were told that our 30 day collective consultation period started on the day of the unified staff meet ..ie last Thursday. To date none of the staff on sick leave have been told anything about potential redundancies or that they are at risk. Management said they have been in contact with absent staff. That is a lie. How can collective consultation start when twenty percent of the affected employees have not even been informed or even invited to the afore-mentioned unified staff meeting ? 4) We also have to re-apply for our jobs ... we will no longer be allowed to live more than 15 miles from our place of work !? Thoughts please re whether this sounds like par for the course, or may management be in breach of either good practice (presumably that's no big deal) or employment law (presumably a bigger deal !) Ta

Thread should read - "Pay in lieu of notice; (unscrupulous) employer avoiding exceeding 2 year employment term & related redundancy pay". My partner along with 12 other staff engaged at end Feb 2012 - all aged in early to mid 50's- have worked for her employer for 1 year and approx eleven and a half months. Her department (approx 35 staff) is no longer needed and thus the department is to close and the positions are to be become redundant. My query relates to rights/ tactics available to my partner and the above 11 colleagues who are at the cusp of their key 2 year term of "continuous employment". Her/their employer will (lawfully)attempt to do whatever they can do to "contractually" avoid having to pay statutory (albeit modest - 3 weeks x £450 = £1350) redundancy pay. That assumes the employer can (conveniently) make the effective employment termination date to be on or before end Feb 2014. That may be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve if there has by law to be a minimum 30 day consultation period !? Nonetheless, reference has been made by her employer to "pay in lieu of notice" (PILON). The employer's believe that a payment in lieu of notice clause is included in their employee's employment contracts. Thus they claim they may (conveniently) be able to end staff’s employment with no notice on or before end Feb 2014. They can then make a payment to cover the notice period my partner and her colleagues would normally have had to work. I have, however, read my partner's employment contract and looked at the section entitled "Notice". The only reference to PILON is as follows - " Your employment may be terminated without notice or PILON if you commit any act of gross misconduct." Such wording makes no reference to PILON and redundancy. Despite currently being allegedly employed for less than a full two tear term the employer will presumably have to offer redundancy candidates alternative employment . That said, it is rumoured that this will comprise a (joke) position in London with no relocation allowance. My partner and her colleagues currently work form home in Scotland and the North West of England. Any feedback warmly appreciated. Have liaised with ACAS, but they could offer no guidance re above . Said ask a lawyer, who when asked they wanted £500 on account. Based on previous harrowing experiences we have little time and respect for solicitors.

Hello everyone, Need some advice please. I was made redundant from my work just before christmas. I was the only person in the company made redundant and the company is still trading. I received a letter telling me the day which will be my offical last day of employment which is 20/01/2014. It states how much I will receive which was broken down ie £x for notice period etc. It however does not have a date when this will be paid. It was in my understanding that I should be paid any monies owed on my last day of employment which is today. Am I correct? I emailed the company director today asking where my payment was and he replied saying "I will chase your payment up but its more then likely going to be next week" Now, he is the person who makes the payments so I dont know how someone chases up a payment that is done by that person if you get what I mean! I emailed back saying the following "Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I cannot wait until next week for the payment. The law states that I should receive the following on my last day of employment Any redundancy pay, wages, holiday pay and other money due to you Job references from your employer. A letter stating the date of your redundancy. A written statement showing how your redundancy pay has been calculated. Your P45 (to give a new employer so you are taxed correctly). I have made financial commitments on the belief that I would receive my payment today. I kindly ask that the payment I am owed is sent to me by close of business tomorrow on the 21/01/2014. I look forward to your response " Is this something I should have done and if so, have I worded it ok? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

2 of my family members are soon to lose their jobs due to the outsourcing at NPower, The redundancies were announced in November and a 60 day consultation period was announced. The consultation ends next week and then both of these people expected to work their respective notice periods and then be paid any monies due. It now seems that no actual date for finishing their jobs will be forthcoming and so they are unable to commit to a new employer without losing substantial amounts of money via redundancy. What should really happen in these situations? Should NPower have given finishing dates so that they could sort out their futures without having to lose out on many thousands of pounds? Or is what NPower are doing proper practice?

Hi, Not sure if I have posted in the correct forum. At my work I am one of 4 shift team leaders we also have a team leader whois a training team leader. My manager called the 5 of us to a meeting sayingthat one of the 5 team leaders would be made redundant. As they need the 4shift team leaders it is the training team leaders job that is no more. Mymanager has now said that HR have said that they have a similar job at headoffice which is 5 miles away from our location they want volunteers for thejob, if nobody is interested then they will pick someone who's skill fit thejob. So Redundancy is no longer an option. We have were told that the pay is £10.79 at head office, my current wages is£10.62, but on 1st feb in my current job we get a pay rise to £10.90. They wantthe changes all made before 1st feb so who ever goes won’t get the payincrease. Tonight I had a meeting with my manager no one has said they want the job sonow someone will be pick on capabilities, also I was told that they had told usthe incorrect pay rate at head office & that the pay is £10.59 which is apay cut only slightly but still a cut. Does anyone know if they can do this & enforce a pay cut?

Hi, I would be grateful if someone can give me a better insight into this matter. I will try to simplify it.although its a little complex: I have a Full merits hearing set for next Thursday. The respondent's team tried to strike out both my claims: Unfair Dismissal- due to lack of continuous service I only received a contract in May 2012, although I have written evidence that I was to receive a 'salary' from April 1st..and my April pay is not a round figure..suggesting deductions were made. I had prior to that, been working full time, self-employed. Unlawful Deduction of Wages-due to the claim being Out of Time My claim relates to a proportion of commission that was not paid. My argument is that the contract did not set a deadline for payment..and even after part of it was paid, the MD at least promised to look into it. I made the claim within 3 month of my final salary payment. Last week, they turned up to the Preliminary Hearing late and unprepared, so the judge decided to proceed to a full hearing which would deal with the preliminary issues as well. I have irrefutable written evidence that my commission claim is justified. (due to a last minute witness whose participation in effect forced disclosure). The other side have offered to settle on a figure based on this commission..but not the Unfair Dismissal.. My original ET1 claim and subsequent settlement proposal amounts to about 1/5 of the total schedule of loss...so I think its pretty fair. The original bundle included meeting notes that had been altered by the Respondent... Upon hearing that the original note-maker (currently still working for the Respondent) may be appearing as a summonsed witness, they resubmitted the notes in their correct version...both sets are in the bundle:further indisputable evidence of dishonesty... The danger is, that I may not win on the preliminary issues, despite the evidence confirming my claims are justified.. If the preliminary issues are borderline, would the actual facts regarding the veracity of the claim and the dishonesty of the Respondent have an impact on the panel ruling in my favour (on the preliminary issues)? The commission issue is a formality if the Judge rules that it was In Time. Unfair Dismissal is more complicated: Despite being Head and the most experienced member of my Academic department, I apparently came bottom of a dubious test, that the Respondent designed himself, meaning that I was chosen for redundancy despite being willing to take a teaching role at the same pay rate as my staff. The test showed that other staff had 0% lateness and 0% sickness and also scored me lower on teaching skills, despite no actual observations having been done. I did question the scoring, but never got a clear response. The Respondent has included many documents in the bundle to try to discredit me. Some of the allegations are fair, others are not. Can I perhaps use those allegations in my favour to suggest (as I believe) that I was made redundant because of these issues? I have other evidence to back up my credibility including an excellent reference from my current and previous employer..and an award won by the dept I managed... Many thanks!

Hi all, I'm hoping for some advice on this. In January this year my team got told we were going to be made redundant. Because I was on secondment at the time my end date was deferred to November 30th this year. In the meantime I managed to find a job I'm the same company. Unfortunately HR have paid me both a redundancy payment and a one off payment in lieu of a bonus. I'm absolutely fine to pay this back but with the overpayment in excess of £6500 I have paid a lot of tax, NIC and student loan. If my employer takes this back off me immediately I will be left short this month. Can anyone offer any advice on the way payroll or myself should handle this? I have contacted HR to highlight the error but that's all so far. Thanks

Hi hope someone can help. I'm taking redundancy money soon and I want to take a year out to set up a project I have in mind. I have enough money to live on for a year so I won't be accessing any benefits as I don't want any hassle to get another job. I'm concentrating on getting a grant for this new project and going out promoting it. Someone's told me they think I will still have to sign on else it might affect my state pension. Does anyone know anything about this? Thank you.

My girlfriend has been told her dept is being dissolved and employees face redundancy, she has decided to accept the redundancy as she has a new job lined up, she has been told because she is in the consultancy period which ends 27th November and if she leaves she will get no redundancy pay. Is this correct, she has been there over three years, what are the laws concerning this. One more thing my girlfriend has an interview tomorrow but has been told she would have to work out her month's notice is this fair as she is being made redundant, what is the minimum she has to give in notice, her contract states a month but surely if faced with redundancy she shouldn't have to work it if a job comes up

Good Afternoon CAG. Whilst our current situation is complicated and tediously long, i'm going to try and stick to the basics, and hope that someone out there can advise me on what to do next. Very long story short. Partner and brother both work for same employers, which up until spring of 2013 had an equal 50/50 share in a company (boss B bought half the business in 2008). Boss B, bought out Boss A with a regular transfer of undertakings. With all of the rules and rights that go along with TUPE. Boss A, confirmed this to me last night, and is going to help us out with a solicitor if it comes to that (there's a long back story here which i'll get into if necessary) Boss B already has another company, doing the same work, with a different name and premises and more staff. Employees were all told that continuation of employment would carry over, as well as their T&Cs and contracts etc, and everything would remain as it were (bar a change in logo on the overalls) The business was left sound, no insolvency, bad credit etc, and no redundancies were necessary. Everything started off ok, they stayed at the old premises a few months, moving equipment things over to the new bigger premises etc, and finally moved to new location about 3 weeks ago. My partner was given a sheet with a choice of flexible hours on (he's always been allowed those) and he chose them, and seeing as they moved premises, they were all told (3 of them) they could figure out between them how it would work best for them, as 2 of them have no transport (was never needed before) and my partner picks them up, and takes them home, which is out of his way, and out of his pocket, but nonetheless, it all seemed to be ok, despite much pessimism over what will happen with the new boss due to events widely publicised over the past 3 years, some of which are on this forum. Must mention, my partner has worked the for 20 years, with an 18 month break in 2003, he went back because he loved his job and they'd always been on good terms, so 9 years of continuance, and my brother has been there for 5. Over the past couple of weeks, things have changed, when leaving work one day at 4.00 (already 1/2 hour over time) they were stopped at the gate and not allowed to leave, called into the office, where the PA basically told them "No, you work 8-6 here, and don't forget, all we have to do is OFFER you a job, we don't have to do anything else for you." Cue lot's of confusion. So, after a couple of weeks lying low, and seeing what comes next, they were told yesterday (monday) that on friday, they'll not be paid, and that salary is now monthly, and they'll get it on the 31st. This is out of the blue, they have always been paid weekly, and stressed that they all live week to week, and can't possibly be expected to accept this with 3 days notice. They've been told that if they are desparate for money in the meantime, they can ask for a discretionary advance, but they want to know what it's for. (excuse me?) As well as this, they were all given envelopes with "job offers" inside. They already have jobs, they weren't made redundant, laid off, and haven't had a single day off since any of this started. What is basically happening, is that they're hoping they will accept these offers, which will start their employment from scratch, thus losing all of their rights etc, and not even realise what's happening...which to be honest, they probably would have, because they've gone from 20 years working for a man who was a friend, with 5-6 people, to a millionaire with 180 staff, who is well known for his questionable business practices. It's a big change. I had a lengthly talk with Boss A last night, who confirmed that he left with the provision that everyone would be ok, and that nobody would lose out, and he will back us up with this, and has all relevant contracts and documentation if we need it. I would like to not involve him in this if possible, as he's fighting a court battle of his own with boss B, and I don't want to overcomplicate things more than they already are. So, my questions are: Is their continuance of service still valid under TUPE, as well as the contracts that they had? If not, then shouldn't they have been given redundancy? Can they tell them out of the blue that they have to wait 3 weeks without being paid, despite this being another thing against the contract? Can they deny their requests for flexible hours, (we have young children) even though this was previously verbally agreed and encouraged by the manager, not to mention in the contract. Can they dismiss them with only 1 weeks notice? (as outlined in the 'job offer') There's a lot of back story surrounding this particular company, and as I stated above, issues have been highlighted on this forum, as well as other publications etc. I won't name them, because I am certain there will be consequences. (this lesson was learned the hard way) but I believe a moderator called 'Conniff' was involved in some of those threads, although they were mainly customer grievances. They aren't in a union, and i'm guessing at this stage, it'd be pointless to join one for this particular matter. Any advice is greatly appreciated, and i'll answer any questions or give more details if it helps. Thank you.

Hi Guys, need some advice/help if poss - I have several issues/questions so I will try and keep brief initially and ask away if you need anything I havnt put in. Could also do with knowing if ACAS/Tribunal or employing a solicitor is the best way to go? My son has been an engineering apprentice since September 2011 - it is a 3 year apprentice and was due to be completed July 2014. He does have a signed Apprenticeship Agreement. He attended college one day a week. On 22/08 (after a day off to attend a family funeral) he was told 1 hour into work that a meeting had taken place the previous day and the decision made to make him redundant - he was told he could leave immediately as there was no work and that he would be paid 1 weeks notice. (This redundancy came 2 weeks before he would have completed 2 years with the company and therefore be entitled to a longer notice and redundancy). He was asked to come in the following day to go over details. This never happened as two of the bosses were on holiday and the other person he needed to see (who told him of the redundancy) was 'busy' and then later 'out the office until after the bank holiday'. My son was due to have a pay increase on 03/10 when he turned 19 onto the minimum wage rather than apprentice wage - a message was left to see if it was possible to discuss staying on apprentice wage in order to keep their costs lower and for him to be able to complete the course. No reply was received. After the bank holiday he received the letter saying he was being made redundant due to shortage of work and he would be paid what was owed on 06/09/13 - that was it. I called ACAS who said there were 2 issues, unfair dismissal and breach of Apprenticeship Contract & that I should write to them detailing this. At this same time my son was attending interviews and later managed to get a trial at another company to see whether he could complete his apprenticeship there, he is still on trial there and still attends college 1 day a week. I did a lot of research and sent a letter to the previous employer. It basically outlined there being no selection meetings, no appeals process listed, loss of wage, no contact with training provider to inform them, basically way it had been dealt with, breach of Apprenticeship Agreement, failure to complete his training without loss of wage. No reply to requests to meet even though they had stated he go in the following day etc. His training not being upto date because they had not had him on right machines (something I found out from the college, another breach of the Apprenticeship Agreement). As he had been given a trial at another company I asked for a settlement Agreement of £4000. I was advised he was at the least entitled to loss of wages for the remainder of the course (12 months) however with him starting a trial at a new company I reduced this by more than half for an out of court settlement. Today we have received a reply - it states the following: they apologise for no appeals process being included on redundancy letter, oversight on their part and they would happily accommodate and appeal meeting if he wanted one after reading the letter. They refute that he was unfairly dismissed 1; several meetings had taken place in the 6-8 weeks before where decreasing workload was discussed in detail. 2; My son was in attendance at the meetings. 3; It was discussed that as a result of lack of work that short-time work was being considered. 4; 6 roles have been been made redundant, a mix of skilled and unskilled. I have a couple of issues, first no redundancy was discussed in the meetings and also not mentioned in their points above, my son was present at the first meeting where short-time was discussed in as much as overtime was banned, that was it. He had a day off for the 2nd meeting so was not in attendance, he was told about the meeting from a collegue and that work shortage meant they may have to reduce hours, he was not told about the meeting by a manager upon his return just a collegue. The third meeting took place the day before his redundancy when he was at a family funeral, he was told of the meeting upon his return and that the decision had been made in that meeting to make him redundant. He left immediately. It then goes on to say 'all other measures have been considered and as you can see from the above points have indeed been applied' - no they were not - my son nor anyone else there has been placed on 'short-time' to try and help them keep their jobs. It then states...'As you have stated in your letter you were the least skilled person onsite and in order to protect the business for the future our priority is to retain the most multi-skilled people'...first i didn't state that, it said - they had not kept his training up to date as advised by the college & also is the second part not discrimination?? ...it goes on....'We would clarify for you that a redundancy situation arises when there is a diminishing requirement for an employee to carry out work of a particular kind, it is therefore irrelevant that you were on an apprenticeship'...my question is, how can a training position be diminishing if the training is not complete?? They refute that they are responsible for any loss of wage to my son - 'the company always paid you more that the basic apprenticeship rate in any case'....they are responsible for loss of wage as my son cannot earn the minimum wage for a 19 year old now and what difference does it make that they paid him more than the minimum apprenticeship wage, that was their choice!!?? They state they have not breached employment law in any way. They state they will not be entering into any discussions of any kind regarding a financial settlement as it is wholly inappropriate and not applicable....why state you will be happy to set up an appeal meeting if his job is 'diminished' and no financial settlement will be discussed - whats the point of an appeal meeting then?? It then just says 'if you have any queries please contact us to arrange a meeting. So, sorry, not that brief...but has he a case, I think so, acas think so but my concern is that as he has a trial at another company now that this will go against him - as it reduces the claim for his loss of earnings substantially - a claim for just loss of earnings would be pretty much pointless if he gets taken on permanent at his new company, is there an unfair dismissal case, acas said yes but didn't elaborate, his ex employer say no. Thinking of going straight to acas,, no point having a meeting with them as far as I can see or would I be better getting an employment law solicitor?? Does anyone know exactly whats been committed here: breach of apprenticeship agreement, breach of employment law, unfair dismissal - all of those??

Hi, Anyone know the answer to this question? We have been told that we are going to be made redundant and we have to reapply for our jobs. There are only 4 jobs going and there are about 30 of us in the company. The job specification requires higher qualifications than we all have (apart from 1 person) so that means that we can't apply for jobs that we were previously doing because the company now asks that we have to be more qualified. Can this be right?

Please could someone offer some advice. My fiancee has been working as a receptionist for a company for 9 years (since 2004). Four years ago (2008), she fell pregnant with our first child, and had nine months maternity. She could not work as a full-time receptionist, so they offered her a part-time weekend job, which she accepted at a reduction of her salary (apparently her responsibilities were less so they reduced her wage from £7.50 an hour to £6.80 an hour). Last year, she fell pregnant and has taken nine months maternity again. This time, she has had a couple of meetings, and they have told her that they cannot offer her the weekend job back, but there is a role in the canteen (which are at awkward hours). They have also offered her redundancy, but apparently they can only offer her redundancy of her new job, since she's been part time, so they are only paying her 4 years redundancy (£750). Are they in their rights to offer her a redundancy to her new job? I would have thought it's when you have been employed, regardless of what role?? It seems to me that they want to get rid of her, and they want to pay as little redundancy as possible (hence paying part-time wage than full-time). Any help would be appreicated.

Hi guys got my redundancy letter it says Redundancy Pay _______________ made you redundant on 16 July 2013 You were 26 and had 2 years service and therefore you are entitled to 2 weeks redundancy payment. I have actually been working for the company for around 3.5 yrs. in the 1st year and half it were a partnership. In the latter 2 years it was ltd. Does this mean i cant claim for the 1st year i were there? Or will it be a over site of the redundancy apartment and should ask for them to look into it? any help would be appreciated. many thanks

Hi there, I know that the statutory minimum redundancy payment is one week per year of service but I assume a lot of charities may pay more? I was just wondering what the people here in the sector have in their organisations? Thanks, R

My Single parent daughter (now with 2 boys) was made redundant a couple of weeks after she returned from maternity ( another thread on here:evil:). Since then she has been chasing all the gov /council departments for here benefits/credits etc , there has been a ridiculous amount of delays/backlogs in getting this resolved and its still on going. So My question is : .. during this time she has spent her meager redundancy pay and some family borrowing just keeping the council house and associated payments going, Should she not have her benefits backdated to the time of her original claims,( which is the 4th Feb this year), to get all or some of this money back ? . take care all .. Chris.

Hi I have just been made redundant due to insolvency What happens to my statutory redundancy and pay in lieu notice if I either start a self employment pretty much straight away or if I can get what I think is available another job virtually straight away. Regards Roe

Hi There, I'm seeking some advice on an issue I'm having with my employer. I have been off sick with anxiety and depression since march - in this time I was also made homeless which my employer was aware of. Occupational Health services advised my employer at the end of June that as long as they created a supported return to work and followed their recommendations I would be ready for a phased return to work by the end of July. The subsequent meetings with my direct line manager was a conversation about why he feels I'm not ready to return back to work, some of the reasons being that 1) Conflict might cause me to breakdown 2) Not enough has changed in my personal life to support my return back to work 3) My reasons to return to work cannot be financial (specifically in regards to me being homeless). My line manager has also shared my fit note with one of my colleagues who has then asked another employee what the address on my fit note was to me (basically trying to see if I was lying about being homeless). I have since raised a grievance and advised there have been serious breach of my mutual trust and confidence with the employer and as such it would be impossible for me to return to work. I have advised I am seeking to resolve this with a compromise agreement which I feel would be fair at a 12 month settlement. Unsurprisingly - my boss's line manager has come back and said that this is unrealistic. She has advised me that if I didn't want to come back to work (not that they have offered for me to come back) that they would be looking to offer me redundancy and the legal minimum - she has advised at a stretch they might extend this to 3 months. During the grievance process - I have not been asked at any investigation meetings to define my grievance. I also feel they are going to try and say I have created a "consipracy" with other members of staff in regards to the breach of my data protection rights. Does anybody have any advice at all? I don't believe they can offer my redundancy instead of a CA? Especially since my role is not redundant - they have someone covering me as a secondment at the moment. I also have had no disciplinary issues and have always been high achieving - is 12 months salary unreasonable? Thank you for help here

Hi all, just a complicated question, after splitting from the ex(not married) 3 years ago, I had to fight to get my share of the equity of the house which I finally got 4 weeks ago to the sum of £80000. (the ex has £300000 in a bank account) I have paid CSA from day one but also all the mortgage. (I switched from repayment to interest only. She had her new boyfriend move in 2 years ago and basically he lived there scot free. She is paying day to day bills.I have had to live on families sofas in this time. Last week I was handed my redundancy at my job. Now as I have been given 3 months continuous pay then the lump sum at the end, my understanding is that I will have to carry on paying the full amount until the 3 months is up. question 1 Can the CSA take a lump sum out of my £80000? 2 will I need to be reassessed at the end of 3 months 3 is there and upper/lower limit on savings i can have? I know that as soon as she finds out i have been made redundant she will inform the CSA about the money she had to give me, But ideally I want that money so i can put a deposit down on a house at some point. If this is posted in the wrong forum sorry!! Pete

Hello Can my employer change the hours on my contract to suit themselves. Have been informed that if we dont work overtime our hrs will be changed from 7.45-4.45 to 7am to 4.45. The contract says we must do a reasonable amount of overtime to suit the buisness. Thanks in advance

Hi All, Really hope i can get some good solid advice here. I work for a Electrical company & redundancy only applies to site operatives. Not Supervisors or office staff. 18 Months ago the company i work for put out a risk of redundancy to staff and cut the hours to the basic (38hr), Thankfully things picked up and everything returned to normal with only 1 lay off. After that scare i thought i try and start my own business while still working, was working nights so it made it possible to do so. Spoke to the MD of the company about my plan and he seemed fine. Requested to be kept on night work and have been on nights ever since which is a year now. Last week redundancy happened again but overtime is still being worked. Is this right? Contracted hours are 38 people are working 43 hours. I was called in the office explained the process again asked if i wanted a rep present etc.. and received a letter in the post confirming you will know by the following week. I had the call so returned to the office but this time no offer for a represntive when i turned up and then heavliy grilled and spoken to quite rudely about having my own company by the Managing directors wife and the consultant (Human Resourse). She asked me to resign or be suspended to further investigation (to see if im trading) due to having a company which now im told is against company policy/rules!! I explained that i had told the MD and not once did it seem a problem so cant see why all of a sudden it is? if it was why would he of kept me on night work for so long? The Company is Registered with J.I.B (Joint industry Board) which aparrently does state you are not allowed to do electrical work other than the company you work for. I never knew this until now but have spent money and a heap of time setting it up with a website paid advertising etc.. so really feel robbed by this. I feel they are doing it so they can fire me without have to pay redundancy. Can they do this to me? How can they prove im trading? nothing tax related has been filed to HMRC Should my suspension be full pay as nothing was said regareding it ? Sorry its long but tried to cover everything. Hope someone can help Thank you. EDIT: JUST TO ADD 6 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN MADE REDUNDANT THIS TIME

I raised 4 important issues with the Chief Officer during the redundancy process on procedure and suitable alternative employment but she chose to ignore dealing with them so I followed it up with a grievance during the redundancy process to her boss. The day after i raised the grievance I was made redundant so i put in a second grievance to say i had been unfairly dismissed. I was told that if i raised the grievance before the end of the consultation period and my my notice period which was one week after my dismissal notice letter they should halt proceedings until my issues and grievances were dealt with - is this true? and where will i find the info in print for my ET case. On my termination letter they made a presumption and said they assumed i was going to take redundancy without calling me in for a final consutation meeting, they did not put on my letter the date i was to be made redundant and they did not put i had the right to appeal. 6 weeks after the grievances were raised they said that i had to treat it as an appeal against selection for redundancy but these were never my issues - i was only advised of the change of title 1 working day before the meeting- i saw a free solicitor and had advice from ACAS and everyone said it was a grievance because they were raised prior to me leaving the employment - i am now going to a tribunal and need some advice in writing to back up my claim as ACAS do not keep notes and the free solicitor also doesn't unless you decide to employ their services which i cannot afford. Everyone legal i have spoken to say i have got a good case

Hello all, My friend's mum is 62 years of age and has worked in her company for over 30 years. She has recently been informed by her employers that all staff over 60 would be asked to leave the company. Her employers are offering her only 3 months pay as compensation. That doesn't sound right to me. Any advice you could give on what she should do would be appreciated. Thank you.

I work for a company which is a subsidiary of a much larger company, having been bought by it a few years ago. It has recently been announced that there will be a 45 day consultation period about closing down the site I work in, and that there may be redundancies. I have a couple of questions: - The employees at the site wish to be represented in the consultations by a union official, but the parent company wants them to be represented by three fellow employees, selected by a staff vote. Does the parent company have the right to prevent us from being represented by our union? - The redundancy terms of employees of the subsidiary are inferior to those given to people working for the parent company doing the same jobs. Could that situation be challenged legally? Thank you in advance. Jeff

friend is being made redundant worked for the company for 12 years @ 39hrs however after going back to work after maternity leave about 3/4 months ago her hours were reduced to 23 hours her redundancy payment after 12 yrs service is only £1,200 because they are assessing it at 23 hours for the full 12 years can someone confirm if this is correct