redundancy protocol?

gremlin

I hope somone with knowledge of redundancy law can answer a quick question thats come up in conversation today.

This is the scenario:

C went sick from her job with mental health issues.

After a few weeks her job was offshored and she was sent a letter offering her either re-deployment in another part of the company or redundancy, make your choice and please sign this form.

C was pretty ill by then and didnt sign the form but was then sent a letter saying as you have opted for redundancy this is what happens next etc etc. Again C was just mentally incapable of doing anything about this. Eventually a small redundancy settlement was made into A's bank.

The question was did the company act legally,is there a protocol that should have been foloowed? Were they right in assuming that A was to go redundant or was there something she could have done at the time?

Thanks in advance

pawpurrs

Was there something in the letter that said, if we dont hear back from you we will take it you want redundancy?
How big was the company?
There surely should have been some form of consultation process, where there others made redundant/offshored at the same time?

Advocatus

gremlin wrote: »

,is there a protocol that should have been foloowed?

Without a more detailed understanding of the exact circumstances it is impossible to tell if the company acted fairly with a reasonable degree of accuracy. However, in answer to your general question (quote above), there certainly is a protocol to be followed.

There are two types of redundnacy, individual and collective. The information below refers to individual.

Step 1: establish whether there is a genuine redundancy situation

Step 2: consider pool and selection criteria and list any alternative vacancies

Step 3: first meeting - Meet with all of the employees who might be made redundant (as a group if there are that many and then collective redundancy rules apply).

Step 4: first letter confirming details of first meeting

Step 5: company need to have done some sort of scoring of each potentially redundant employee using the selection criteria and scoring guidelines.

Step 6: second letter which basically involves writing to those employees that have been provisionally selected for redundancy, inviting them to a meeting to discuss their provisional selection.

Step 7: first individual meeting where company consults with each employee individually about their scores, the proposal to select them for redundancy and the terms of the redundancy. Consider any comments from the employee, particularly in relation to their scores.Discuss details of any available alternative roles within the group (including those which would require some retraining and posts on a lower grade).

Step 8: follow up after the meeting, follow up any suggestions made to avoid the redundancies and consider any representations made on scores.

Step 11: second individual meeting Where a decision has been made to make an employee redundant, invite that employee to a further meeting. Assuming that nothing has changed, confirm that the employee has been selected for redundancy.

Step 12: dismissal letter - Write to the employee confirming the decision to dismiss them as redundant and specify the termination date (termination may be with immediate effect if the employer is paying the employee in lieu of notice). Explain the calculation of the redundancy payment and any other payments to be made.

Step 13: appeal should be made available and should be made if the employee has doubts.

This is a very basic outline and like I said, this is a complicated area. Nothing is set in stone and while each case needs to follow the broad guidelines above, there is a lot of fluctuation in real terms.

gremlin

Firstly let me thank you bothe for taking time to reply. I'll answer as best I can.

Advocatus wrote: »

Without a more detailed understanding of the exact circumstances it is impossible to tell if the company acted fairly with a reasonable degree of accuracy. However, in answer to your general question (quote above), there certainly is a protocol to be followed.

There are two types of redundnacy, individual and collective. The information below refers to individual.

Step 1: establish whether there is a genuine redundancy situation This was a bank who offshored their contact centre to India)

Step 2: consider pool and selection criteria and list any alternative vacancies The whole department was offshored

Step 3: first meeting - Meet with all of the employees who might be made redundant (as a group if there are that many and then collective redundancy rules apply). Team meetings were held ( after unioun negotiation) and all employees were promised a choice of redundancy or other employment this was confirmed during a telephone call from co-worker.

Step 4: first letter confirming details of first meeting she cant remember this letter tbh

Step 5: company need to have done some sort of scoring of each potentially redundant employee using the selection criteria and scoring guidelines. again whole department offshored

Step 6: second letter which basically involves writing to those employees that have been provisionally selected for redundancy, inviting them to a meeting to discuss their provisional selection. No letter - no meeting. Thats a definate as this was all done during sick leave

Step 7: first individual meeting where company consults with each employee individually about their scores, the proposal to select them for redundancy and the terms of the redundancy. Consider any comments from the employee, particularly in relation to their scores.Discuss details of any available alternative roles within the group (including those which would require some retraining and posts on a lower grade). No meeting was conducted

Step 8: follow up after the meeting, follow up any suggestions made to avoid the redundancies and consider any representations made on scores. No follow up - just letter confirming that she had apparently opted for redundancy and how much severance was to be paid

Step 11: second individual meeting Where a decision has been made to make an employee redundant, invite that employee to a further meeting. Assuming that nothing has changed, confirm that the employee has been selected for redundancy. Nope

Step 12: dismissal letter - Write to the employee confirming the decision to dismiss them as redundant and specify the termination date (termination may be with immediate effect if the employer is paying the employee in lieu of notice). Explain the calculation of the redundancy payment and any other payments to be made. letter as above

Step 13: appeal should be made available and should be made if the employee has doubts.

This is a very basic outline and like I said, this is a complicated area. Nothing is set in stone and while each case needs to follow the broad guidelines above, there is a lot of fluctuation in real terms.

Thanks - I have answered as best as I can on the details.

Just to confirm that there was a meeting held while she was there where centre was shut down and announcement made ( 2 mins before news report on this) that all jobs were redundant etc. etc.

Then C went sick and her only other contact was a home visit to confirm illness, a letter requesting her choice ( this didnt say if you dont reply then youwill be made redundant) then a letter confirming her severance.

many thanks

gremlin

pawpurrs wrote: »

Was there something in the letter that said, if we dont hear back from you we will take it you want redundancy?
How big was the company?
There surely should have been some form of consultation process, where there others made redundant/offshored at the same time?

There was nothing in the letter to say that, no.

This was a major offshoring of a large bank. There were a few hundred people. She was not privy to any consultation process as she was pretty isolated due to mental health issues

Just to confirm this was about 4years ago so there is probably nothing that could be done but there has always been a niggle there that maybe she was just bumped so she wouldnt be a problem to them.

thanks

pawpurrs

Sorry, Just reading back, if its four years ago its now too late to take any action at all, it does sound like she would have had a possible case, but the payout would be limited as although they didnt follow all the correct procudures the end result would have remained the same. You have only three mths to take an employer to an Industrial Tribunial.

gremlin

thanks for taking the time to reply.

The gut feeling was that there may have been a case as I feel that her illness was taken advantage of but at the time she was just in no position to take it any further. She suffered a major breakdown.

We do appreciate your input even though there is no real outcome as it was so long ago.

Weirdlittleman

If the person simply ignored the company then they have no case. What was the company to do? wait indefinitely for a response.