Gah. Quick pointers please. H has till 4pm to decide whether to volunteer.

ButterPie_2

Bit of background:
H has worked for the same company for two years, however he has been on an actual contract with them for 10 months or so. (before that he was agency staff, although it is more than a year since they offered him contracted hours, they just didn't actually get the contracts sorted out for months)

He is the only person with his job - he started off on the lowest rung, but they quickly realised he could do much more, and so created a mid level job just for him, putting him on around 20p an hour more than the bottom rung. He is doing an NVQ through work (it is well below his qualification level, but his qualifications aren't in anything practical, so it is useful, and a very transferrable one, whereas everyone else is doing an NVQ that is more limited to the industry the company is in) and the assessor was astonished at how lowly he is paid for the work he does.

Howver he has had a writtern warning in this time for being late to report a sickness (he only rang in mid morning when he woke after a night of illness).

Anyhow, just before Christmas, the company stopped using agency staff, which was around a third of the workforce. today they have announced they are cutting the remaining workforce by a third. They have offered the choice of volunteering by 4pm today, or they will pick people, who will be told on Monday and asked to leave immediately (but will be paid for the legal notice period).

The company are refusing to reveal whether or not they will offer any kind of redundancy package to the staff who volunteer.

H works on a team of three, although each has a different job title. One (the supervisor) is related to management, although much higher paid than everyone else. This person is on an unplanned holiday break today and next week, without mentioning previously. The other team member is on lower pay, but has unique and useful skills also. The majority of the rest of the workforce are in either manual labour or a call centre, although a few have useful qualifications such as forklift licences. H hates his job, and is pretty convinced that he is the most expendable member of his team - he has designed new systems for them (not his job, but the old system was getting on his nerves) but now they are designed, the company has them, if that makes sense.

I run a business from home (a direct selling party plan thing, where I am a team leader and looking at the next rung soon), and am about 75% confident that I could ramp it up quite quickly (with Hs help) and cover our bills, with the help of tax credits, but it would be a tight squeeze. I could however use my experience and contacts to help H set something up, but, like all businesses, it could be a gamble.

However, I'm presuming that if nobody volunteers, then the people who are made to go will have worse conditions, or am I just making that up? Also, do they have to give him any kind of payoff? If my business doesn't quickly start paying for both of us, where would he stand benefits wise? Does it count as being intentionally jobless?

I can't get through to the CAB - is there anywhere else I can try?

(Also, one of his workmates got her contract at the same time as him, but is (just) in the second trimester of pregnancy - does she have any additional rights?)

We are looking at 30-odd people being laid off, and we are in an area not known for faring well in recessions Is there anywhere I should be telling DH to point people? CAB are rushed off their feet, but a lot of DHs workmates will struggle with forms etc.

Nobody is in a union. Some people are from the new EU countries - where do they stand?

Googlewhacker

Unfortunately as he has only worked for them for 10 months then he is not entitled to statutory redundancy if he is made redundant.

So if it was me I would look at getting pushed before volunteering especially if they are not willing to show any offerings.

The people they make redundant will be the people that score the worst in a points system however most companies will bias the scores to get rid of who they want to get rid of.

I *think* that your DH's friend who is in the second trimester may be covered in that the company maybe scared to get a tribunal against them for discrimination but as long as they follow the same procedure for her as others then they will be ok if she is made redundant. Also she has much better protection when on maternity leave but not before.

Quick answer so don't take it as gospel, hopefully SarEL or Daisy or Uncertain or Kiki will comment on here as well

getmore4less

We are looking at 30-odd people being laid off


This should require 30days consultancy

Ask what is happening about that first and make sure every ones knows about it.

ButterPie_2

Looks like they have massaqged the figures. 19 people will be laid off at the same time, others have been gradually not replaced or encouraged away, and they will wait 90 days before doing anything else. Dh mentioned consultancy and they said that they will make sure the figure for actual redundancy does not go above 19. Grr.