grievance and redundancy

greenflamingo_2

I had a meeting with HR manager, divisional manager and union rep last week when I was told I was "provisionally redundant" in practically the first opening sentence of this first meeting. My HR manager said he was treating my department as having 3 separate jobs - one divisional manager (Present at this meeting), and two other entirely different jobs . Prior to the meeting he had sent me a letter saying that all 3 employees in my department were at risk of redundancy. Yet at the meeting i was told tht these two jobs would now be retained and my job was felt to be the one the company could manage without and therefore there was no selection pool or criteria - they had removed the divisional manager out of the pool "because he "is the divisional manager!" and the other guy because he had skills needed by the company that I didnt have. I have nothing in writing concerning these statements. When I asked whether there were any other jobs available he said that no-one had come forward to volunteer for redundancy; bear in mind that the company has said there are "no voluntary redundancies" they are all compulsory so how could someone volunteer ! It was left to me to mention that as far as I understood it I could bump someone out of a job - the HR manager said he didnt know what "bumping" was and would have to look into it.

I want to bump the divisional manager out of his job as he is in a word "useless", costs the company a fortune in salary and has a charmed life by creeping to senior management and getting up to all sorts. He has been there at the company for approx the same number of years as me, is only 4 years younger than me, earns twice my salary and has poor technical skills and less qualifications. He has also been involved directly in getting rid of two other people prior to this redundancy exercise by having them sacked. I have outstanding appraisals and have had many pay rises as I am good at my job so there are no disatisfaction issues with me.

My approach is to say that the role is not needed and I should be retained in my existing role - and the company saves £70K+ and retains more skills.

I would say as a parting shot that I am one week into my maternity leave by getting rid of me the company avoid paying me 100% of my salary for 26 weeks as contractual maternity pay. Prior to the pregnancy I suffered low level harrassment by the divisional manager (due to participating in industrial action last Xmas as the only union member in the dept) which escalated when I announced my pregnancy. I suspect this was an attempt to get me to leave so a redundancy payout could be avoided.

I am in the process of raising a grievance (passed to Union rep) over the harrassment but there seems so much involved I dont really know what my next steps should be?

Horace

Raising a grievance is the best way to go - your union rep should be advising you. It hasnt been made clear to you that you are actually redundant and have made vague suggestions that you are - an employer has to give a person written notice of intended redundancy and they shouldn't just select one employee but should look at all employees.

By raising the grievance this starts a process that can lead to an employment tribunal where you would probably take a case of unfair dismissal because you have been unfairly selected for redundancy. It is difficult to bring the case to the tribunal without this so hence the need to submit the grievance. Your rep is doing his/her job correctly and is, from what I can see giving you the correct advice.

Try not to fret too much and speak to your union rep - he/she should be able to advise you more.