Made redunant but offered alternative employment BUT.........

[M64]

I was made redundant from my position of 5 years. I was offered alternative employment. I took a part time job, the only job on offer on reception. I have gone back to work in my new role. I no longer work for the same person. However i returned to work with numerous tasks from my old manager. I emailed him and his wife (who doesn't work for the company) to say i no longer deal with his work and pointed them in the direction of the person who is doing his work now, my ex-boss is well aware of this and who is doing his work now. I have continued to get work requests and have reffered this to the HR manager who confirmed he had spoken to my old boss but stated that he needed me to email my old boss, by way of reminder, that i no longer work for him!!!!!!! I am gob smacked, angry and very upset. I have all the emails relating to this and want to know waht i should do now. I am grateful for the new job offer but cannot do both jobs especially as my boss made numerous statements in meetings to say he no longer has need for me. Any advice would be very welcome as i feel humiliated and very upset that i am being treated like this.

Edited January 13, 2009 by M64
typo

[godpikachu]

well, the simple answer is DONT DO IT, if you dont work for him any more, and now have a completley different job, then you are under no obligation whatsoever to do anything for him.

 

besides, if you were made redundant from your old job, how come they still need you in it?, no doubt you had to take a pay cut for going part time, is he going to reinstate your old salary??, are you going to get your old job back?, if the answer to either or both these questions is no, then he has no business asking you to do it, and you have no obligation to do as he asks.

[M64]

He owns the company. I took a huge paycut. I cannot tell him "no" as you don't do that to him - he is bully and i put up with it for 5 years. I have a new contract but my point is can he get away with asking me to send him a "reminder" that i don't work for him, isn't this harassment in some way, i know it is very very upsetting and humiliating for me and the thought of going in today and facing yet another day of emails is stressing me out to the max.

[vexlitigant]

I was made redundant from my position of 5 years. I was offered alternative employment. I took a part time job, the only job on offer on reception. I have gone back to work in my new role. I no longer work for the same person. However i returned to work with numerous tasks from my old manager. I emailed him and his wife (who doesn't work for the company) to say i no longer deal with his work and pointed them in the direction of the person who is doing his work now, my ex-boss is well aware of this and who is doing his work now. I have continued to get work requests and have reffered this to the HR manager who confirmed he had spoken to my old boss but stated that he needed me to email my old boss, by way of reminder, that i no longer work for him!!!!!!! I am gob smacked, angry and very upset. I have all the emails relating to this and want to know waht i should do now. I am grateful for the new job offer but cannot do both jobs especially as my boss made numerous statements in meetings to say he no longer has need for me. Any advice would be very welcome as i feel humiliated and very upset that i am being treated like this.

 

I would say that what you have here is a situation where you ARE in work. Personally i would try to preserve that status for now, especially if you have a need to pay bills with that income. That is the first point.

 

Secondly, i would negotiate around the HR person very carefully, and retain a certain amount of suspicion. You must remember that right now, many many people are very concerned about their positions, and HR personnel are NOT immune from the axe should cuts be needed. I advise you to assume that the HR person and your former manager speak perhaps more frequently than you might suspect. THERE ARE NO LOYALTIES THERE.

 

Yes I am surprised that the HR person asked YOU to email ex boss (the owner as i am reading from your third post). The HR person should act as a conduit in these sorts of situations, but now that you say your ex boss is the owner, i can see whay the HR person has shirked their responsibilities.

 

Here is what you need to do before you play your hand. I would continue to carry out your instrustions and the demands of you old boss for a period of time that allows you to ensure that you have compiled enough evidence (copies of paperwork, emails, verbal instruction - keep a written diary) that you are continuing to carry out duties that you were doing under the old job that, was made redundant. (remember that YOU have not been made redundant - The ROLE HAS BEEN made redundant) You may need a week or two to satisfy yourself that there is enough to proove that your claim is true. In other words you are giving your ex boss more rope to hang him / herself when you decide to take action.

 

I am not sure here whether you would seek redress as you are doing work of equal value to the work your former colleagues are doing, and for which your ex colleagues are still being paid on the terms you were on.

 

I think there is enough to go on here for you to pick up the telephone to a firm of solicitors. You only want to speak with a specilaist in employment law, AND I SUGGEST THAT THE VERY FIRST WORDS YOU UTTER ARE: "Would you give me a free initial consultation so that i can discuss my situation with you, and from there we could make a decision as to whether there is any breach of law". DO NOT PART WITH ANY MONEY YET. If you cannot find a practice that specialises in this area, or one that will give you a free intial consultation, then drop another note in here and i'll suggest something - probably via the Law Society.

 

As i usually contribute to the debt section of this web site, i am not too sure what the normal practice is here in the Employment area, so i apologise in advance for suggesting that you speak to a Solicitor. I suggest this as it is my opinion that as you are currently in paid employment, and it would appear that your overbearing boss who, also in my opinion is certainly exploiting you, + could make your life rather unpleasant if you tackle this alone

 

If you are in a Union, that would be a call you should be making today.

 

I will keep an eye out for your comments and will be very interested in events from here on.

[vexlitigant]

Got your PM

 

Well done.

 

Good (or perhaps better) start to the New Year. Trust it will get better now you have taken control of this

 

Best, Vex