Royal mail office closing

redken99

I work at a mail center which is about to close ,they are offering voluntary redundancy to those over 55 only.

RM want other staff to travel 70 mile round trip to the new office
even those who want VR and dont want to go to the new office.

By employment law is it reasonable for RM to expect people to travel that distance.

Have we got a case for constructive dismisal.

Googlewhacker

redken99 wrote: »

I work at a mail center which is about to close ,they are offering voluntary redundancy to those over 55 only.

RM want other staff to travel 70 mile round trip to the new office
even those who want VR and dont want to go to the new office.

By employment law is it reasonable for RM to expect people to travel that distance.

Have we got a case for constructive dismisal.

Talk to ACAS but I can't see constructive dismissal, if they are shutting the store they can offer alternate reasonable work but the reasonable is probably not 70 miles so you would expect to be made redundant

987654

It is likely to be considered a reasonable job offer - especially if they are assisting with travel expenses & the work still needs to be done at another location.

Not constructive dismissal at all - but you can always test it by resigning!

Starrystarrynight

I dread to think how much a 70 mile round trip each day would cost in petrol and I imagine that RM won't be offering a fuel allowance.
Is there a Union rep that you can speak to about it.

Googlewhacker

Starrystarrynight wrote: »

I dread to think how much a 70 mile round trip each day would cost in petrol and I imagine that RM won't be offering a fuel allowance.
Is there a Union rep that you can speak to about it.

I always use 10 miles to the pound plus a bit for the calculation so say £7-£9 each way

redken99

Starrystarrynight wrote: »

I dread to think how much a 70 mile round trip each day would cost in petrol and I imagine that RM won't be offering a fuel allowance.
Is there a Union rep that you can speak to about it.

their is an allowance for travel for 3 years, but who wants use the M6 10 times a week for a postmans wage

Judas

So the new office is 35 miles away from the old one. That in its own is borderline reasonable however you need to bear in mind somepeople may be 15 miles away from the existing office and 20 from the new one.

If you dont want to go you could push for redundancy but I think you may struggle to state 35 miles is automatically unreasonable; especially; if they offer some sort of recompense for travel.

987654

Starrystarrynight wrote: »

I dread to think how much a 70 mile round trip each day would cost in petrol and I imagine that RM won't be offering a fuel allowance.
Is there a Union rep that you can speak to about it.

There is support with travel costs - for 5 years - or they are providing a bus service. I'm sure that would be considered reasonable.

Googlewhacker

I meant £3.5-£4.5 each way.....it is becoming a more reasonable offer I have to say

dktreesea

35 miles to work is par for the course. Thousands of people who live in Edinburgh make a longer journey than that into Glasgow every day for work (40 to 50 miles each way to their city centre, depending on which side fo Edinburgh you live). A three hour round trip, and that's by a relatively fast train, I might add. Driving it would be a nightmare.

redken99

987654 wrote: »

There is support with travel costs - for 5 years - or they are providing a bus service. I'm sure that would be considered reasonable.

You seem to know alot