Re structure advice please

sunshine_1988

Hello
I am currently employed as a full timer but my day is split between 2 jobs am and pm, this was because budget wouldnt allow for anyone to be appointed to the other full time role. Now the restructure is happening I am effectively 1/2 a person in each team. One review is likely to be finished before the other - if i was to secure a position in one review would i be able to be included in the other review also? I would probably have a preference thats all.
Im really worried that as I will only be seen as 1/2 a post I will be seen as dispensable and be got rid of. Very very worried and would appreciate any advice at all.

123benji123

Hi sunshine

Sorry to hear of your predicament. I can only tell you about law but cant guess what your employers are going to do. What I will tell you though, may help in knowing your rights as an employee. I just joined and have so far read so many horror stories from employees, so I just had to give some free advice which I hopes some.

Let me start by explaining redundancy:

Redundancy is a form of dismissal from your job, caused by your employer needing to reduce the workforce. Reasons may include:

• new technology or a new systems has made your job unnecessary
• the job you were hired for no longer exists
• the need to cut costs means staff numbers must be reduced
• the business is closing down or moving

But Sunshine, normally your job must have disappeared for you to be made redundant. However, it can still be a genuine redundancy if someone else's job disappears and they are moved into your job, making you redundant. This is known as 'bumping', but it may be difficult for your employer to justify it as fair.

If your employer is making 20 or more employees redundant in one establishment within a 90 day period, this is a collective redundancy.
If your employer is making less than 20 employees redundant in one establishment they must follow certain procedures:

• your employer should select the employees fairly
• you should be warned and consulted about the redundancy
• your employer should take reasonable steps to redeploy affected employees
• you should get any redundancy pay you are due, and be given the correct amount of notice
• your employer should consider any alternatives to redundancy

If an employer uses redundancy to cover up the real reason for ending your employment, or if they do not carry out the redundancy procedure properly, it may amount to unfair dismissal. The rights to redundancy payments and collective consultation are claimed separately from unfair dismissal.

You have the right to a redundancy payment if you are an employee who has worked continuously for your employer for at least two years and you are being made redundant.

You are not entitled to a redundancy payment if your employer offers to keep you on, or offers you suitable alternative work which you refuse without good reason. If you leave your job for a new one before the end of your notice period, your payment might also be affected.

If a method for deciding redundancies has been agreed with a trade union, your employer should follow it. Otherwise, there are some common approaches your employer could use and combine when selecting employees for redundancy.

In some cases there may be no need for your employer to follow a selection process because the group of employees to be made redundant will be clear. For example, if your employer is closing down a particular operation in a company and will have to make all the employees working there redundant.

One method your employer could use is to consider which group or section of the workforce the redundancies will be selected from. This is called the ‘selection pool’.

After identifying the selection pool, the employer should apply selection criteria to it, to narrow down the employees. Your employer should, as far as possible, use objective selection criteria that can be applied equally and fairly across the workforce. Examples of selection criteria could be:

• disciplinary records
• experience
• capability
• relevant skills and competence

Your employer cannot select people for redundancy based on the following grounds:

• gender
• marital status
• sexual orientation
• race
• disability
• religion or belief
• age
• trade union membership
• health and safety activities
• working pattern (eg part-time or fixed-term employees)

If your employer does select you for redundancy based on one of these grounds, then your redundancy becomes an automatic unfair dismissal.

Your employer can look at all employees’ length of service with the company, and select those with the shortest service (the last ones to join). This can sometimes be indirect discrimination on the grounds of age if it affects one age group more than another, unless your employer can objectively justify it.

If you feel that your employer has selected you unfairly you should appeal against the decision. Put your appeal in writing, explaining what you want the employer to do to put the situation right. The way in which you were selected will affect whether your redundancy is considered fair by an Employment Tribunal.

It is definitely unfair if you're chosen for redundancy for discriminatory reasons. These can be direct (for example, because you are on maternity leave). These can also be indirect (for example, more women work part-time so it may discriminate against women to choose part-timers).

It is up to your employer which reasons they use to select employees for redundancy, as long as they can show that they are fair. The most commonly used reasons are:

• last in, first out (where the employees with the shortest length of service are selected first)
• asking for volunteers (self-selection)
• disciplinary records
• staff appraisal markings, skills, qualifications and experience

Sometimes an employer may use a combination of criteria, perhaps using some kind of points system to get an overall score.

If you are being denied your rights, talk to your employer first of all. If you have an employee representative (eg a trade union official), they may be able to help. If this doesn't work, you may need to make a complaint using your employer's internal grievance procedure.

I don’t know if any of this helps. Please let me know how you get on.

Thanks

sunshine_1988

Hi Benji
Thank you for your advice I really do appreciate it. I spoke to our HR and apparently no one else is in the same situation so they dont really know the answer. Ideally I would like to be confirmed in post in which ever review happens first and then still be able to be included in the remaining review...I dont think it will happen like that though:(