Redundant today, and sent home immediately?!! Is this legal?

sandiep

anniehanlon wrote: »

It is legal to do this as long as they pay you in lieu of your normal notice period. Yes it is cruel, but can you imagine the mayhem that someone who resented the fact could cause if they stayed in the company for a week or a month.

That reminds me of when Bluebird toys shutdown in Swindon, kept the staff on for 8 weeks to facilitate the closedown, most of whom spent those 8 weeks looting the warehouse!:rolleyes:

sandiep

The company may actually be in adminstration, what you are describing sounds very like that, whereby the majority of staff etc will be made redundant and a skeleton staff kept on to run the company whilst either a new buyer is found, or whislt the copany goes through the winding up procedures.

Mumolulu

sandiep wrote: »

The company may actually be in adminstration, what you are describing sounds very like that, whereby the majority of staff etc will be made redundant and a skeleton staff kept on to run the company whilst either a new buyer is found, or whislt the copany goes through the winding up procedures.

Is there a way to actually find out? I have no idea at all re administration. Is it listed in a paper or online or anything?

Shame they are not a company that has 'useful stock'

epsilondraconis

In the scenario described by the OP, it seems feasible to me that the guys being made redundant now may get the better deal than those continuing to work. If they are being awarded something higher than would be awarded through statutary redundancy, they will have that money in their back pocket. Those being kept on to effectively wind-up the company, could ultimately find that when the company is placed in administration, there isn't enough money in the bank to pay the salaries / redundancy packages (perhaps the MD is looking to pay him / her a dividend / bonus just before the administrators are called in), thus forcing those to take statutary redundancy. As the OP's partner has only worked there for 1 year, that doesn't help.

Perhaps the MD would be able to make a written personnel guarantee that the remaining guys will receive their money.

I don't wish to alarm the OP, I'm just thinking of the worst case scenario (as that is what normally happens to me!).

Popsicle

Hi. I am sorry to hear about your husband's situation. In answer to your query, legally it depends on a number of things to decide whether the company is acting legally. For a start it would depend how many people are being made redundant (eg if it is over 20 people they must allow 30 days consultation, if over 100 this raises to 90 days). If however they go into administration and can argue that they did not know it was going to happen (eg if their suppliers didnt deliver over xmas or orders cancelled etc) it would explain why they didnt consult beforehand. If however they had plenty of warning and didnt bother to consult with the workforce, then you may have a case. I agree with the post above though, I'd definately call ACAS. They have been very helpful when I have called.