Possible Redundancy - What Procedures Should my Employer Follow

missb1981

I work for a small company who employ an external HR company. I am actually the Office Manager but because of the size of our organisation i am responsible for obtaining advise from the external HR company.

I was called into a meeting today by my Manager who asked me how the redundancy procedure should be carried out and I explained what I knew but said that I would confirm this with the external company as my knowledge is very limited or employment law. After I told him what I believed to be the process he asked how quickly the process could be carried out.

I was then told that my job was at risk and that he would follow it up with a letter. I asked him when he was planning on having the 1st meeting and he told me that this was it. I told him that I did not think that it was appropriate to start my at risk meeting by asking me the redundancy process and he said but that is your area of responsibility and expected me to continue to obtain advise and right my own letters for my potential redundancy.

He then agreed after the finance manager intervening that the finance manager would write the letters and obtain advice if I didn't wish to do so.

The above is my first issue however I do have another problem which is that previously when the company has carried out redundancies they have always decided what the end result will be so I know for a fact that even though so far I have been told my job is at risk that I will be made redundant.

I also have found out that I am pregnant which I told my boss at the meeting and he said that didn't effect what the company had to do as they still had to make cut backs.

Can anybody give me any advise on what procedure he should be following. Should minutes be taken at meetings as none where taken today and whether it was appropriate for him to ask me how he should carry out the meetings and then to tell me I was at risk.

Another question I have is when we made redundancies previously one of the ladies had a trade union rep with her although our company isnt registered with a union .... how did she find this person as I thought the company had to be part of a union?

Sorry lots of questions and hopefully it is clear ... my head is all over the place at the moment.
Any advise would be much appreciated.

Charlie_Manchester

I have just been made redundant for the first time and my employer didn't follow the correct procedures, which my solicitor very nicely pointed out and I got a larger settlement.

This is only me experience so don't just take my advice.

Firstly they have to identify a pool of employees who are at risk and they should inform all of these employees that they are at risk. My employer didn't. Like you I attended a meeting and they said that I was to be made redundant and that this was the start of the consultation process. They said that the criteria was based on three things and that from this I had been selected.

They should have revealed the number of people in the pool, the exact scoring criteria, the scores of other people etc so I could have challenged them. My solicitor pointed out that none of this had taken place and therefore it was a 'defective process'. Make sure you ask for all of this.

More importantly as nobody else was informed that they were at risk and I had been given a Compromise Agreement and enhanced settlement at the initial meeting the solicitor pointed out that the selection was predetermined no matter how the consultation process went.

I challenged a number of other things including performances figures they had used that they admitted, after investigation, were wrong.

They acknowledged that the process was defective and thet I had potential claims against the company. The result was a payment three times what I was initially offered.

Make sure they follow the process. I worked for a multinational that you would assume knows what they are doing but in my case it cost them more to get rid of me than it would to employ me for another year!

Good luck.

sagalout1954

Start here by finding out what the statutory requirements are.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/RedundancyAndLeavingYourJob/index.htm

Different companies may have different policies for redundancy so best start with the statutory obligations.

DO write up your own notes of the first meeting straight away as thoroughly as you can (& EVERY subsequent meeting). Make notes as you go along at the meetings if needs be and make them wait while you do so - I just jotted a few memory joggers then wrote up very precise/detailed notes for my own benefit later. Don't think there's any obligation for them to supply a proper notetaker.

I had our company Employment Stability Policy and also anything I considered useful from the Directgov site with me, every bit of email or letter correspondence (theirs/mine), used to go along to each consultation with la neat ringbinder full of info and lists of questions etc. Always followed anything I'd verbally asked up in writing - so they couldn't 'forget' I'd asked and therefore forced them to find the answers. The onus is on you to make sure this is done properly, if not you may have good unfair dismissal case (and all your properly kept notes will reinforce your case).

As for springing the first consultation meeting on you, well, my employer did the same and I absolutely FLATLY refused. You are entitled to take someone along with you (may have to be union rep or someone who works at the company), they aren't allowed to ask/answer questions but can comment if proceedings aren't being adhered to.

Send an email or letter stating clearly that you do not regard that meeting as being your first consultation given that you had no advance notice and were not offered the opportunity to bring a colleague, though I have to say that I think this was 'just' a meeting to advise you that your job is at risk rather than the first formal consultation. In which case, after hearing that your post was at risk, you should really have been told that you could go home if you needed to. This was badly handled. Frankly, I'd get all the info from the external HR you can lay your hands on - be useful for you if they muck this up.
Good luck (my employer kept getting things wrong, good job I'm not vindictive or instead of correcting them I'd have left it and gone down the unfair dismissal route later)

missb1981

Thank you sagalout1954 and Charlie Manchester your comments are much appreciated.

I will have to wait and see what they do next.

I know our Finance Manager has been in contact with our external HR company as he asked me for the details to call them! I presume they will follow the meeting up with a letter but I may just do a letter to them confirming that I am pregnant as this was only briefly mentioned at that meeting .... although I am sure they havent forgotten but best to get it all down in writing and also to say that I do not consider the meeting yesterday appropriate due to the fact that he asked me how to carry out the redundancy first.

He did not offer for me to go although I did go home as my head was all over the place so I just told him I was leaving for the afternoon.

Have come back in the office today and he hasn't spoken to me at all not even to say hello!

Weirdlittleman

missb1981 wrote: »

Thank you sagalout1954 and Charlie Manchester your comments are much appreciated.

I will have to wait and see what they do next.

I know our Finance Manager has been in contact with our external HR company as he asked me for the details to call them! I presume they will follow the meeting up with a letter but I may just do a letter to them confirming that I am pregnant as this was only briefly mentioned at that meeting .... although I am sure they havent forgotten but best to get it all down in writing and also to say that I do not consider the meeting yesterday appropriate due to the fact that he asked me how to carry out the redundancy first.

He did not offer for me to go although I did go home as my head was all over the place so I just told him I was leaving for the afternoon.

Have come back in the office today and he hasn't spoken to me at all not even to say hello!

It's not very professional asking you to perform your own redundancy but is it actually illegal?

Interesting concept as how could people go to ET if they were responsible for the process in the first place.

As for the rest, until you are notified of the next stage you should continue to act professionally and within contract. If you need to notify of the pregnancy then do so.

However do not attempt to abuse the pregnancy to skew the process

I would also suggest walking out emotional without permission is not a good idea again as your leaving yesterday was potentially a disclipinary situation. Do not give them this help.

missb1981

Well my employer has now been through the process of the redundancies and I have just had my redundancy appeal meeting.

Throughout the redundancy process my employer has shown that he is clearly just following procedures and then none of my alternative suggestions would be considered.

The reasons for my appeal were:
= Unfair selecton as I feel I was selected as his wife wanted me removed from the business ( it is a small company) due to his inappropriate emails and actions
= Suggestions were not considered as an alternative and even though my boss owns 2 recruitment businesses of which I am also company secretary he did not offer for them to help me find suitable employment.
= His spending in the last month alone through the company for personal items has been over £15,000 which clearly would have paid salaries and also giving 2 employees pay rises.

After my appeal meeting I had a doctors appointment as I am pregnant at which point I was discussing what was happening at work as I have been feeling very stressed and I have now been signed off work which takes me up to the end of my notice period.

I emailed my employer and told him that I had been signed off because of the stressful working environment which I am in as he and his son now feel that they cannot talk to me and that I felt the redundancy had not been handled correctly.

My boss has now contacted me and asked if I would like these comments to be dealt with formally through the companies grievance procedure and I am not sure if I do as I had covered all of these things in my redundancy appeal meeting.

I do plan to take this matter further so am wondering do I need to raise a grievance as well or is having gone through the redundancy appeal procedure enough?

Sorry quite a lot of info there, would welcome any comments about whether I should raise a grievance.