Please help, think I'm being lied to???

Keishabear

Hi,
Bit of a strange one but I'm hoping someone can help me, my Polish brother in law came back a couple of weeks ago on a Friday afternoon and said he had been made redundant (no notice given) and that they just called him into office as he was leaving Friday and said don't come in Monday as your now redundant!
I think he is lying and suspect he has left (I'm concerned he is trying to piggyback a easy life from my sister)
He has now said the job centre have refused him to claim jsa due to the fact he has not been in continual employment for the last three years??? He had been in his current job 23 months and has was only out of work for one month in the last three years, him and my sister aren't married just live together in her owned house.
Could he be telling the truth??? I thought that he would've been entitled to jsa if he had of been made redundant!
Any ideas???
Thanx

aveylee

I'm an ex specialist adviser for the Jobcentre - until I came to my senses and left.
From my knowledge I have to say he might be telling the truth. As a Polish national he is an A8 EEA accession claimant. The Government restricted the rights of certain new EEA migrants (including Poland) from claiming a number of benefits.
Until April 2011 an A8 claimant will normally only be able to receive contributory benefits which in this case would be Contributions based JSA.
Contributions based JSA is based on the national insurance contributions paid over the last two complete tax years (April 08/09 - 09/10). Which is where the Jobcentre was going with with him not being in work for the last 3 years.
Additionally in today's job market it is sadly becoming more common for employers to get rid of people before having to pay them redundancy (after 24 months) so being sacked after 23 months has a ring of truth.
Admittedly I have no idea whether he is telling the truth, but what he told you does make benefit and redundancy law sense.
Finally I would advise him to check whether the company paid him any notice, I would have thought that he should have received at least one weeks notice even if he does not get a redundancy payment?

happy35

your brother in law would need to claim JSA Cotribution Based, JSA income based comes with special rules for customers from the A8 countries and your sister would need to be working less than 24 hours per week

if a claim to jsa contribution based was made now they would look at tax year 08/09 and 09/10 to see what NI credits he has to see if he qualifies

jazzyman01

If he was made redundant without any consultation or notice, then this would be in breach of the redundancy requirements. Perhaps you could help your sister by checking whether he has any claim against the Company?

Any

OP, is there any chance you don't like him? Isn't it your sister's issue? He has worked for the past 3 years - he definitely sounds like he just wants to piggyback! How can he be your brother in law if they are not married?

Aveylee - brilliant post!!