I 'won' my redundancy appeal

SJ_Jones

I recently 'won' my redundancy appeal - and I thought that may be someone could benefit from my experience.

I worked at my company for over 4 years. My branch of my office was 'temporarily' relocated due to financial reasons, to our larger office in the heart of London. I was the only admin in that office. This was in October. I worked in that office until December when it was decided that that office and another would merge. There were about 10 admin in each office. I was then told I was at risk of redundancy. No one else was put at risk.

I prolonged my redundancy process as long as possible - at each consultation meeting I suggested a new role I could perform, which meant they had to go off & give it due consideration. I used this time to research everything I could about redundancy, the company & the way they were carrying out the redundancy process. I put a file together, documenting everything, including copies of minutes from every meeting. I also raised a (valid) grievance against one of the people holding the meetings, for breaking confidentiality. (I later lost this, and didn't bother appealing - I did it in case it went to Employment Tribunal later on down the line, and it might help). I disputed everything, haggled everything & basically was the biggest pain in the @r$e I could be. I wanted them to know I wasn't going to give up. Eventually, the inevitable happened & I got made redundant. I appealed as soon as I could.

In January I had my appeal with HR. They spent weeks afterwards looking into it. Basically, they were saying my branch had been closed, and therefore I no longer had a job. But they'd messed up; every piece of paperwork I'd collected stated that my branch was being relocated for the foreseeable future. Therefore I should have still had a job. I also made sure during every meeting I'd had I got this reconfirmed so it kept showing up in the minutes. I should have been put into a pool with other members of admin, and had the selection process from there.

So, last week I got told they were going to send me a compromise agreement, which, simply put, entitles me to a nice amount of money (on top of my statutory redundancy which I already received in Jan), if I promise not to take them to employment tribunal for Unfair dismissal. I have actually found new employment (which I kept a closely guarded secret from my old employer), in the job of my dreams, so I don't think I'll be doing that. But I have my solicitors appointment tomorrow (legal requirement of a compromise agreement), and he will advise me - but I will probably just take the money.


So the moral of the story...?
1) Know your rights - I ended up knowing more about Redundancy & the correct process than the people who ran the meetings. And that was a global company, not a little business. Learning everything I could was what won it for me, and I got it all from websites.
2) Don't be scared to stand up for yourself - be loud, be annoying, make it worth their while to want to pay to shut you up.
3) Be positive - this redundancy was the best thing that's happened to be. I'm stronger & happier now than I've ever been (and it's not just down to the money!)


Good luck to all of you who are still going through it - keep your chin up!

u109230

Great result SJ!:T :j .

I too work for a multi national & am in a similar situation to how you found yourself in.

I'd like to be as forearmed as possible before the inevitable strikes - you mention researching & learning your redundancy rights - what sources of information helped you the most in this respect?

Thanks & well done again.

SJ_Jones

thanks. It was hard work - but worth it.

My main source was a PDF document from ACAS that became my bible! It's meant for employers rather than employees, but it contained more info than anything meant for us!
http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=877&p=0

I used other people's experience from on here - that helped me alot with staying positive, and why I wanted to contribute with my story.

I also looked up any documentation of successful court tribunals that I could quote at them, to show I was serious.

And the rest was just lots & lots of googling! It's amazing how much time you have...

Good luck!

Numpty_Monkey

Well done SJ:T

You are right with the "know your rights":D

ceridwen

Good for you:T

It really is annoying how often employers lie to their staff - so very disconcerting to find that an office one has been told is relocating is actually closing. We have seen so many examples recently of lies having been told to staff - in one way or another (even if just by omitting to say anything).

I really do hate, loathe and detest the way employers do this - as I believe that there should be transparency in the way any organisation is run (including firms). I understand that firms have to be a bit "opaque" when it comes to withholding information about their products/services that competitors would like to have - so that they can "steal their thunder" - but, apart from that, everything should be run totally transparently.

So - good on ya - and I've kept a note of that link.

All further info welcome...

One tiny point for people to be aware of in similar circumstances is the tendency for vital documents to get "lost"......so always keep a copy of everything possible.

EDIT: One further point I would make - and its not a tiny one - is never ever put down your intuition. Intuition is your best friend - so act on it. You do have to be clear that it IS intuition leading you into some action re your job - for instance DONT DONT DONT walk straight out of a job - no matter how much you long to - that wont be intuition telling you to do that. But if you get an impulse to do anything and can do it - WITHOUT GOING AGAINST COMMON SENSE(!) - then do it....even if you dont see a reason for it at the time - do it. The reason will become clear later....eg you just took it into your head to walk into a certain room you hadnt planned to - in time to overhear a conversation you needed to overhear or see a document you needed to see...I've lost count by now of how often that has happened - and very helpful it is too. Once it has happened enough times that even your employers have noticed you seem to do this and they cant figure out how come you seem to be so well-informed - thats also helpful I find....

SJ_Jones

After buying a new tv, laptop & treating my parents to a break in a hotel I have....

· Paid off my Credit Card & Set up a DD that pays off full balance each month. (It’s a Tesco CC, so if I pay for all my weekly shopping at Tesco with it, I get extra clubcard points)
· Put the maximum initial amount into a new regular saver & set up a standing order (I know it doesn't make as much interest - but I can't touch it!)
· Put the maximum allowance into my existing ISA, and set a reminder to transfer more at the start of the new tax year.

Have I missed anything? Would Martin Lewis be proud? (Well he wouldn’t, cos I could probably shop round for better interest rates, but frankly, HSBC seem to be pretty safe at the moment, so I’m sticking!)