Potential Redundancy / Unfair Dismissal

[BugBear4]

Hi everyone, I need some advice please!

I have been at my job for almost 7 years now, started working as a office manager/secretary, did this for two years up until 2005, and since then have been the operations manager.

The company is small (6 employees – Managing Director, Commercial Director, 2 Operations Managers, a Financial Controller and a Secretary ) and deals with exporting chemical products to south Asia in bulk. The products are exported via Letters of Credit, through banks here in the UK and S Asia. The operations managers’ job is to fulfil the obligations under the Letters of Credit and receive payment for each shipment (one letter of credit per shipment). The faster and more efficiently the job is done the better for the company’s cash flow and profitability.

As mentioned previous I have been at this particular position (operations manager) since 2005, and all except for the years of 2005 till end of 2006, have done the greater amount of the work i.e. more shipments and consequently more letters of credit. In my time at this job I have worked with two other operation managers, one which moved on in 2005 and one which retired in 2009.

In January 2009, after the other operations manager retired, the MD brought in his son (fresh out of Uni) to fill my retired colleague’s role as the second operations manager.

Subsequently our new shipping season began in July 2009 and the Commercial Director announced a completion between me and the new employee, to see who would be more productive and make less mistakes. Due to this completion I have been keeping track of my and the other operations managers success. The season is now over, but the Commercial Director seems to have forgotten about the said competition and buggered off on holiday.

The results of the completion are:

Me: 55% of shipments done, 87% success rate (i.e. no mistakes)

The MD’s son: 45% of shipments done, 37% success rate

So, from the above it is quite clear who the more productive and efficient worker is.

Anyhow, to get to the point. Sorry for the long explanation.

Yesterday, 07/04, the boss called both me and his step son to his office and announced that our supplier has cut volumes available to us for the forthcoming season and as a result the company will have far fewer shipments in the following financial year (April 2010 - April 2011), consequently the company no longer requires 2 operations managers and hence one of us will be made redundant. Furthermore, the decrease of business means the company cannot afford to keep 2 of us on. I know this is garbage because in the last season we had made more profit than in the past two years combined and never had any financial difficulties and don’t now. (I don’t know if this grounds for redundancy is fair, as the work has not disappeared, nor has the company, merely a decrease in volume for this one year)

The MD further stated, that tomorrow (09/04) he will provide us with a letter explaining the situation and stating the assessment criteria for redundancy.

Now, as I mentioned earlier I know for a fact that I am much better at my job than the colleague and have the means to prove it, but I have a feeling that the MD wants to get rid of me. I certainly don’t think he would be getting rid of his own step son, surely his wife would not be pleased.

So today (08/04), when I went in to the MD’s office to discuss some correspondence I had to send for work, I noticed on his desk some Redundancy Criteria Forms (don’t remember the exact title, but something along these lines). Later on in the afternoon I observed as my colleague (the MD’s step son/other operations manager) after a phone call from the MD, print out his CV and take it to the MD’s office emerging again 10 minutes later, without said CV.

Now, call me paranoid, and I definitely am! But, it seems to me that the MD wanted his step sons CV to formulate the Redundancy Criteria around it and put me at a disadvantageous position. I guess I will find out tomorrow either way. Though, I definitely feel stressed and like I am about to get screwed over.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Jim

P.S. I am going up north to see my folks for 2 weeks on Monday 12/04, a holiday I pre-booked and had agreed with the Directors a few months back. It seems to me that the MD may have picked this time specifically to present this news to me, as I would be out of town and busy with other things.

 

P.P.S. Sorry for the long explanation, needed to get it off my chest.

[Bigredbus]

Hi, and welcome to the CAG...

 

You are absolutely right in saying that the selection will be down to the selection criteria... and they will have to be fair... keep an eye on those...

 

As per the CV, there is a myriad of possibilites and I just don't want to extrapolate on this one fact...

[BugBear4]

Hi Bigred,

 

Thanks for the welcome!

 

Yeah, it is a bit premature at the moment, but the stress is really driving me up the wall.

 

I will report back tomorrow once the MD hands me this redundacny criteria thing.

 

Cheers!

[Bigredbus]

Do not worry too much...

 

You are the profitable employee... they would be making a tactical mistake by getting rid of you...

[BugBear4]

Thanks! I'll try my best

 

I just don't see how the MD would get rid of his step son over me. Plus, he also shafted me for about £ 6-7 k before with false promises and unpaid work. Unfortunately, I was a lot more trusting then and did not gather enough evidence to support any solid accusation. So, I dont really trust the MD to say the least.

 

But yeah, lets see. Fingers crossed.

[honeybee13]

Hi bugbear and welcome from me too. I don't have any comments to add at this stage, but will be keeping an eye on how you get on. Please keep us posted and ask any other queries you may have.

 

If you want some further reading to do [good cure for insomnia], you could try having a read of the ACAS and directgov websites that have some useful information.

 

Good luck, HB

[BugBear4]

Thanks Honeybee. I will check out the info you suggested, should be helpful one way or another!

[BugBear4]

Hey folks, sorry for the 2 week delay. Been away with no web access.

 

Anyhow, so the friday after my last post, the MD gave me a letter basically saying if I or my colleague volunteer for "voluntary redundancy", the chosen volunteer will get a half a years salary tax free vs about 1/8 a years salary as calculated by the redundancy calculator I used on the directgov website.

 

Yesterday was my first day at work, I went ahead an volunteered myself for the "voluntary redundancy" as otherwise the payout would be pretty meagre.

 

I am pretty sure this whole redundancy business is aimed at me, as the majority of the work and specifically the more important aspects have been given to my colleague. On top of this, such a settlement re: half a years salary would be unnecessary for the other colleague as he has been employed just over 1 year and his performance is not good.

 

Well, I guess I better start looking for a new job now.

 

In hindsight, I am thinking maybe I should have negotiated for more money, but ... well that is hindsight... half a years salary should keep me covered for a good while or at least I find a new job.

[Bigredbus]

Well... it ended up quite alright for you... the company might find, in the near future, that letting you go was probably not the best tactical decision they made as you were, potentially, a more profitable employee than the one left there... despite his connection with the 'boss'...

Edited April 27, 2010 by Bigredbus

[BugBear4]

Thanks Bigred!

 

Yeah, I have a feeling they definitely, will. I am actually withholding the performance figures for this season for the time being. I will present them to my boss after I get paid and get all and any required documents. That should be a good laugh at the least.

 

I spoke to him again just now, and it seems his lawyer only just informed him about a "compromise agreement", which he also did not inform me about earlier. Funny enough, I recorded my conversation with the boss regarding this “compromise agreement” in our conversation he stated that I would have to pay for a lawyer to act on my behalf. So, I went and saw a local lawyer, who in turn informed that the employer is obliged to pay for this or at least make a significant contribution. At the moment the compromise agreement procedure is being sorted out, so once it comes through I guess I will go consult the lawyer who is acting on my behalf and see what he has to say.

[Bigredbus]

He he... that will not come as a surprise for him, I believe... although he tried to make you pay for your solicitor...

 

[honeybee13]

Hi Bugbear. I'm pleased you've got something worthwhile, even if it's not necessarily what you thought you wanted. I really hope you move on, find that there are better jobs out there, and realise you wouldn't want to go back. Well done.

 

HB

[BugBear4]

Thanks for all the advice and support, much appreciated!

 

I will update if anything weird or worthy of note happens.

 

All the best!