Making somebody redundant - where do I stand legally?

Lifeisbutadream

I have one Employee - an Apprentice Joiner. He is not very good and in the past few months has gone downhill rapidly - he had a written warning last week.

I am at the end of my patience now and I want to end his contract. I don't really want to sack him as I know it will affect his future Employment, so can I make him redundant? we won't be replacing him, so his job is redundant really - although we may take on another Apprentice in September.

Where do I stand legally? I want to make sure that I do everything right as the last thing I want is for him to sue me - he has cost me enough money as it is!

He has been with us since September 2008.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

hippyadam

I reckon this linky at business link will help

Horace

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

I have one Employee - an Apprentice Joiner. He is not very good and in the past few months has gone downhill rapidly - he had a written warning last week.

I am at the end of my patience now and I want to end his contract. I don't really want to sack him as I know it will affect his future Employment, so can I make him redundant? we won't be replacing him, so his job is redundant really - although we may take on another Apprentice in September.

Where do I stand legally? I want to make sure that I do everything right as the last thing I want is for him to sue me - he has cost me enough money as it is!

He has been with us since September 2008.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

He is an apprentice ergo he isnt very good at his job because he is still learning. If I were you, I would be talking to acas as well - https://www.acas.gov.uk

Lifeisbutadream

Horace wrote: »

He is an apprentice ergo he isnt very good at his job because he is still learning. If I were you, I would be talking to acas as well - www.acas.gov.uk

Thank you - it is not only that he is not good at his job - he costs us money and has a bad attitude. We believe that he is only interested in getting his qualification, rather than actually listening and becoming a good joiner.

DCodd

Might be worth looking at a "compromise agreement" Where by you agree to the terms of the ending of his contract and he agrees (signs away) his rights to an employment tribunal?

http://www.infolaw.co.uk/partners/compromise_agreement_solicitors.htm

But take advise from your solicitor before going down that route.

Is this the lad you gave a written warning to recently? if so can you not just terminate his contract? maybe even with his agreement?

Horace

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

Thank you - it is not only that he is not good at his job - he costs us money and has a bad attitude. We believe that he is only interested in getting his qualification, rather than actually listening and becoming a good joiner.

Sorry I missed the bit where you said he had cost you money, that combined with a bad attitude isnt going to get him very far. Have a chat with businesslink and with acas as they should be able to come up with a way to get rid of him.

Good luck.

markandkate

If you are not happy with his performance/ attitude then you should discuss with him and give him the opportunity to improve. If you cannot afford to keep him then you should just say so. If you make him redundant when he is not then if he qulaifies he could take you to a tribunal as the reason that you have dismissed him is not true.

If he is on a pprenticeship then there should be an element of training and the trainig provider should also be able to advise you and may be meet with you both to see whter performace can be improved.

You do not say how long he has been employed but he will need to have been employed for 1 year to claim unfair dismissal and 2 years to claim a redundancy payment. If there is a formal apprenticeship there are rules which will have been written into the agreement whichyou should be able to use but I beleive that it is better to be honest

Lifeisbutadream

DCodd wrote: »

Might be worth looking at a "compromise agreement" Where by you agree to the terms of the ending of his contract and he agrees (signs away) his rights to an employment tribunal?

http://www.infolaw.co.uk/partners/compromise_agreement_solicitors.htm

But take advise from your solicitor before going down that route.

Is this the lad you gave a written warning to recently? if so can you not just terminate his contract? maybe even with his agreement?

Yes it is the same one. After much deliberation we have decided that we just can't take any more!

Lifeisbutadream

markandkate wrote: »

If you are not happy with his performance/ attitude then you should discuss with him and give him the opportunity to improve. If you cannot afford to keep him then you should just say so. If you make him redundant when he is not then if he qulaifies he could take you to a tribunal as the reason that you have dismissed him is not true.

We have given him numerous opportunities to improve - he has been in and out of the office for over 6 months - this was my question really as I do not want to sack him as it would obviously affect his employment opportunities afterwards. Its not necessarily that we cant afford to keep him, but I do feel that we are wasting our money on him as I cannot ever see him becoming a good joiner unless something changes dramatically. I am not sure what you mean by that he is not redundant - I would not be replacing him, so his job would not exist if he was not there.

If he is on a pprenticeship then there should be an element of training and the trainig provider should also be able to advise you and may be meet with you both to see whter performace can be improved.

Have already gone down this route.

You do not say how long he has been employed but he will need to have been employed for 1 year to claim unfair dismissal and 2 years to claim a redundancy payment. If there is a formal apprenticeship there are rules which will have been written into the agreement whichyou should be able to use but I beleive that it is better to be honest

He has been employed since September 2008. There is a formal apprenticeship in place, but we employ him, they don't.

markandkate

If you have documented any meetings and followed it up with letters then it would be fair to dismiss any employee who is not performing and causing problems but you need to separate this out from redundancy either he is being asked to leave because he is not suitable or because you do not need that work doing/ you need less people to do that work. If you muddle the two you are hading for an employment tribunal

Mudd14

Dont go down the redundancy route, the post is not redundant and using i as a way of getting rid of him will fall you in hot water.

The discplinary procedure is there to deal with issue slike you have mentioned. You say that you have given him previous warnings. I assume that these are verbal so you now need to follow it on to official displinary procedings.

I suggest you write to hime inviting him to a discplinary meeting. The letter mus state that the meeting is a discplinary, the reason for the meeting ( as much detail as possible, I would suggest refering to previous warnings also) and his right to be accompanied by a fellow colleague or TU rep.

I would suggest the meeting should state you expect an improvement in his work and attitude and you will monitor it for say 2 weeks and if no improvment is noted you will continue with the discplinaruy procedure.

A letter should follow the meeting of what was discussed and his right to appeal within 5 working days.

The discplinary procedure should go:

Verbal warnings
First written warning
Final written warning
Dismissal

Although you can enter the procedure at any point.

Jus remember to write letters at each point with the statutory procedures. If you write to him to finally dismiss remember to note that the meeting may result in his dimissal.