Date Error In Notice of Redundancy Letter

DrStrange · 29 December 2016 at 12:07PM

Hi,

I recently received my Notice of Redundancy letter. I have 10 years service. Letter states my notice period begins 23/3/17 with 10 weeks notice. The letter then states that termination date will therefore be April 13th 2017.

The company have repeatedly stated throughout consultation that they wish to have the process completed by 13/4/17, so the 23/3/17 date is clearly an error. The whole process has been rather clumsy and lacking in empathy, so this letter was likely a cut & paste with minimal checking.

Everything I can see online points to the termination date being defined by the start date of notice and the length of notice. Do they have to pay me up to 1/6/17 at the expiry of 10 weeks notice beginning 23/4/17, or can they just revise this letter as a 'typo'?

Basically - Is the Notice Of Redundancy letter legally binding regarding these dates?

Thanks You,
Dr S.

tacpot12 · 29 December 2016 at 1:00PM

They have given you notice in the letter so your notice is effective as of the date of the letter so they are giving you four months notice of a termination date of 13/4/2017; more than they need to contractually.

You need to ask for clarification on what the notice date in the letter relates to. I think they will just revise it if it wrong.

DrStrange · 29 December 2016 at 2:07PM

Thank you for the quick response. The letter states that 10 weeks notice period starts 23/3/17, not the letter date of 23/12/17.

The exact wording is -

You are entitled to 10 weeks' notice which will commence 23rd March 2017 of which you will be required to work 10 weeks. Your termination date will, therefore, be 13th April 2017.

That seems pretty clear regarding the 23/3 date and implies ('therefore') that the termination date is contingent on the commencement date and length of notice.

lincroft1710 · 29 December 2016 at 4:24PM

Whatever part of the letter is wrong, they can simply revise and re-issue.

DrStrange · 29 December 2016 at 9:20PM

OK thanks. Odd that such a letter is not legally binding and easily revised by the employer..

Oh well, never mind. Worth asking the question.

Thank you again.

Dr Strange

getmore4less · 29 December 2016 at 10:21PM

don't say anything,

Wait till 23/3 or later, then point out they need to pay PILON for the remaining notice if they want you to leave 13/4.

Also make sure they use the correct date for the service for redundancy if you will clock up another year in early 2017..

DrStrange · 30 December 2016 at 9:46AM

So once past 23/3/12 they cannot revise? I understand the letter is legally binding, but there seems to be differing advice on whether the detail can be amended. This seems odd as this is a process of terminating a contract so I would assume that the devil is in the detail?

An additional 7 weeks PILON would almost double my statutory redundancy - even after tax - so well worth clarifying the position even if I need to pay for specialist advice.

Service date is December so that is not affected, but a good point.

Thank You,
Dr Strange

getmore4less · 30 December 2016 at 11:00AM

Genuine mistakes can be amended but retrospectively they become more difficult.

In practice they can change the start of notice date to a new ones as that will still be in the future and won't change the termination date.

Also note they can remove the redundancy right upto the last day, you can still keep them to the notice and leave but not get the redundancy pay.

With that in mind look up "counternotice" as if you get a new job before you leave you have to be careful.

DrStrange · 1 January 2017 at 8:53AM

One last question if I may? My contract of employment states a notice period of 3 months vs Statutory notice of 10 weeks. Which one applies?

Once again, thank you to everyone for the advice received. Wishing you all a happy healthy and prosperous 2017!

tacpot12 · 1 January 2017 at 9:49AM

You are entitled to be paid your contractural notice, but your employer doesn't have to let you work during this period, they just have to pay you to the end of your contractual notice date.

Given what they ah e written in the letter I would put it to them in writing that you are entitled to three months notice, not 10 weeks.

getmore4less · 1 January 2017 at 12:34PM

Full contractual notice due.

I would just wait I see no benefit in alerting them early.

Date Error In Notice of Redundancy Letter

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