question about a friend

pammie39

hi all
i hope this is ok, this question is for a friend not myself.

her problem is - she was made redundant at the end of july (same as my oh, and same company). she was given optional days and hours instead of redundancy, but due to being a single parent, she couldn't do these days or hours (family and friend all work), and the company knows about this. she also found out that they had already advertised the days and hours with agencys etc, before advising her of the redundancy.
she has appelled about this, and awaiting their reply.

question-- is ther any thing else she should do? or go to the tribunal, if appeel no good???

many thanks

Debt_Free_Chick

Unfortunately, she has no grounds for complaint, as far as I can see. She was offered alternative suitable employment and turned it down. It only has to be "suitable" when compared to the nature of her existing job - it does not have to be suitable to her personal/home/family circumstances.

It's worth an appeal if she wants to back to work there - provided there's still a vacancy, but if the process was fair, then she has no Tribunal claim - sorry

pammie39

hi many thanx for your reply

she has appelled and awaiting their reply.
does it matter that they advertised the persition they were offering her, before they made her redundant?
i think the company are changing everyones hours and days, but only 2 people are made redundant,(but offered different hours and days).

BlueIsTheColour

No they can advertise it, they have offered it her as a suitable alternative role, her role is redundant this new one is not, that's perfectly normal. Sounds like the company has restructured and offered new contracts/roles to people and made redundancies where necessary, so can see nothing wrong from what you have said.

On what grounds has she appealed?

pammie39

hi blueisthecolour thanks for your reply

she is appealing because of the above----offered redundancy or new hours and days (even though the company know she couldn't do them), and that the position was advertised before she knew about the redundancy.
my oh was with her at the apeal, (he was the other person offered redundancy or different days and hours), he said that the HR person looked quite nervous and so did the manger.

so were they in their right with this?????
thanx again

BlueIsTheColour

Its hard to say without all the info, it may be worth her seeking legal advice if she wants to know more.

In a redundancy situation, the company are saying that the job that is currently being done has ceased or is diminishing to such an extent that either the persons hours have to be changed or they be made redundant.

When redundancy comes up, a company then has an obligation to offer suitable alternative work if there is any, so clearly this job they had advertised, could be that, hence it being offered to her. Just because a company is making redundancies doesnt mean that they cant recruit people at all so them having an advert bears no relevance as far as I can see....

There could be the potential of indirect sex discrim I guess, depending what the hours are, ie if they were saying they had to be full time only, that potential discriminates against women as more women want P/T hours than men, but if the company could show a business case as to why it had to be full time then they could do it.

Seems that if the job that has been offered isn't suitable for her cos of the hours etc then she becomes redundant.

As for HR and manager looking nervous, I think that is perfectly normal in these types of situations, most people dont do it very often and dont like doing it, hence the nerves..... Certainly wouldnt read too much into that.

But like I say, for a definitive opinion, she would need an employment law solicitor.

jazzyman01

You say that she was offered different days/hours - was this the same duties?
If so, what was the reason behind changing the days/hours?

pammie39

hi jazzyman01

the change of hours/days is to save money! (even though they have recently opened a new chain of shops with a diffrenet name as well as the same one) . my friend and oh work in the distribution side of the company.
the job title and job and office are all still the same.

thanx again all

jazzyman01

Try a different track. Are all the jobs the same? The reason I ask is that if there were a number of people all with contracted hours etc that were changing, was your friend given the option of selecting hours etc that were better suited to her situation? Or did they just sit down and say this is all that is left? Was any consideration given by the company to individuals working out their own hours to meet business needs as well as their own?

One confusing issue - you say she is awaiting the appeal but state your OH attended the appeal?

pammie39

morning jazzyman01

when you have an appell, you can take a work college with you for surport, so my oh when in with her.
the hours she was offered were what they wonted, they knew she couldn' do them due to child care resons.
all staff hours are changed.

my friend and oh were the only ones offered new hours or redundancy though.


hanx

Pete111

Doubt this one will fly I'm afraid

Your friend was still offered the role - The company was being pragmatic and advertising at a similar time as they suspected she would turn it down (they were right)

If she had taken the role they would have ceased recruiting and your friend would have been installed in it. If I were running the process I would have probably advertised (overtly anyway...) after she had confirmed she did not want the role but I don't think the company has really done anything that a tribunal will hang them for here..

I think your friend is feeling cross and lashing out at the company as they advertised prior to her being aware her job was at risk (which is not an unnatural reaction) Can you tell us what she hopes to get out of the appeal? It's unlikely the company will suddenly throw bags of cash her way given the low risk to them