husband made redundant - what notice is he entitled to?

lollipop_28

Hi
My hubby was made redundant almost 2 weeks ago now. He's worked there for less than 2 years so isn't entitled to any redundancy payment. His last day is on 31st Dec.
Now on his contract of employment it says that if redundancies are made he would be entitled to a meeting with a rep of his choice to join him. This did not happen and occurred completely out of the blue. It also says that the notice period is 4 weeks in writing. Well he has had nothing in writing from them, it has all been verbally. Does this mean that he could go to them now and request it in writing and they would have to pay him 4 weeks from the date of the letter?
Thanks

starsinmycrown

i'm sorry your hubby was made redundant- my partner was too. pretty much the same happened- out of the blue, but he was at least given a letter saying so. i read somewhere when i googled redundancy rights that they should give you a fair warning that redundancy is going to happen before, but you know what these companies are like- they cover their backs. my partner was at work normally when he got called into the office. his warning was "oh yeah by the way we're thinking of making redundancies" he said " so are you saying i'll be made redundant?" "yeah." then they gave him a letter after theyd verbally told him hes to finish this week. has he any outstanding holiday, because i think they have to pay you that too. acas are a good organisation to help with employment rights, you can google em and ring their helpline and talk to a work advisor, they will be able to tell you your legal rights. hope hubby gets work soon. good luck!

sarahs999

Legally, if it's on his contract, he should have a case to argue. But you'd need the advice of a proper legal bod, of which I am not one. There may well be someone along soon to advise, but if not, try the DFW board or somewhere that's more frequented than here.

GOod luck

lollipop_28

Thanks to both of you for your replies. Its just the worst time of year isn't it!! Luckily the mortgage has gone down thanks to the base rate been cut so thats one consolation but its irrelavent really if we haven't got any income coming in!!
I'll take a look on that other board and ask there.

Ignite

Check your household insurance. If you have legal cover on this, they normally cover you for employment issues and you can call the legal helpline and get legal advice. If the company is in breach of the law, the legal cover will help you with a lawyer etc for a claim against your employer.

lollipop_28

Hi Ignite
Thanks for that I didn't realise that. In fact I think with my employer I have a law club that I can ring for advice too.

hardwick

Hi Ignite, sorry to hear about the redundancy... same thing has happened to me. In my opinion I was put in the wrong selection pool. I worked for a law firm and they are absolutely the worse people to deal with. I was given a warning letter, then a letter saying I had been selected and offered a meeting to discuss it to which I went (not member of union so was only able to take a work colleague to the meeting with me). The meeting was difficult and intimidating as it was with the HR director and a senior litigation partner. Anyway after that meeting I received a letter stating I had been made redundant and enclosing my last pay slip (worked there less than 2 yrs so not entitled to statutory redundancy payment) which was a month's money in lieu of notice and my P45 and saying I could appeal the decision if I wanted to. I have done this and am having another meeting tomorrow with the chairman and hr director- fat lot of good it will do I'm sure. For info if you intend taking it to an employment tribunal as unfair dismissal you need to go through this process as if you don't it could weaken your case. Oh and btw I am covered on my household insurance so hopefully you will be too. Good luck.

2boysmum

Reading your post Hardwick has made me really worried for my husband, he is in the same position, all called to a meeting on Monday told there would be redundancies, msot of them have been there for 15-20 years and hubby has been there for 2 years, he has a meeting tomorrow morning to discuss it, I think he will be one of the ones to go. I am so proud of him though, on Monday when he found out he was straight on the internet applying for jobs and phoning for a few jobs the next day

mymatebob

The ACAS site is very good for information