Part time role redundant to make way for full time position

Daddy's_Girl

I came back to work early in the year from having my baby, returned on a part time basis. Since then I have not been managed in any way (bad senior management), not been doing what I was originally told I would be doing (no one talking to each other meant one person said I would be doing one thing and another lower manager believing I should be doing another thing) and basically have been messed about for months.

Told this week I am "at risk" of redundancy as my role is being made redundant to make way for a slightly higher paid, full time position. This role will be exactly the same as the role I was doing before I returned part time, and although they will deny I am being made redundant due to being part time, I can't help but feel that this situation would not be happening if I had returned full time, so therefore it blatently IS the reason?:mad:

Can anyone advise on where I stand or what I should be saying in my next consultation? Do I just agree that I am not able to do a full time role and take redundancy or do I fight it because it is unfair to discriminate against me for being part time?

Thanks in advance.

zzzLazyDaisy

First things, first. You are in a consultation period. I'm assuming that you would prefer to keep your part-time position?

One of the purposes of consultation is to see if there might any alternative to redundancy. So you might want to suggest a job share, or that they advertise for a second part-timer to compliment your current role.

You should also consider giving ACAS a ring (you'll find their number in the phone book or on the internet). They give free impartial information about employment rights.

Is there a colleague at work who would be willing to sit in at the consultation with you? This isn't a disciplinary meeting, so there is no statutory right to be accompanied, but many employers allow this anyway. If not, as soon as the meeting has ended, make sure you make a full note of what was said. You may even think about typing up any suggestions you may have and handing the written note in at the meeting (this makes it more difficult for them to later say that you didn't make these suggestions).

hope this helps

fastbargins

Totally agree with the above from lazydaisy, but would point out that if you were employed on a full time contract and are now not able to work full time hours, then your employer may well have a case for dismissing you. BUT if they are talking about redundancy, then they have probably lost any case for dismisal due to frustration of contract (i.e. you cant do what they hired you for and they can't do without that).

It sounds like your employer doesn't actually know what they are doing in this case, you can't make someone redundant in order to hire someone else to do the same job with more money! So I would suggest that you get some proper legal advise from an employment law solicitor, many of whom will give you a half hour consultation for free in order to give you an idea of where you stand.

Totally give ACAS a call, their advice is golden and once your employer knows that you've taken proper advice on this, they will likely stop and think a bit more carefully about what they are doing.

Lastly, sounds like the jobs a bad one, I would start looking for another post somewhere better now in any case!

Good luck!

FairyElephant_2

OP - I 2nd (or 3rd!) everything which Lazy Daisy says, except that I think you DO have a statutory right to have either a fellow employee or a TU rep with you in consultation meetings.

My situation (I won't go into it all now as it would take pages!) is a little similar to yours, and I was told by ACAS that the above was the case. When I pointed this out to my employers they agreed that I did have the right to representation.

I would def. give ACAS a call, and make sure you get a name and a case ref from them, even if they only give you some basic advice at this point. This will show your employers that you are serious about the matter and they will know that they have to be careful to 'do the right thing' (unfortunately my employer has now gone the other way and become so concerned with the tiny details that my situation is dragging on into almost 4 months now GGRRRRR!).

Best of luck!

FE