Redundancy Questions and Advice

ihavedoneit

Hi All,

Been hit with the bombshell that my partner is at risk of redundancy. Four jobs will reduce to one, so three are going.

Partner has been told they have their first 121 interview this afternoon (told today).

Questions are :
Shouldn't the employee be given notice of their interview so they can prepare ?
HR will not be present for this or any future interviews (too busy) so interviews will be with line management only - is this acceptable ?
Partner has been in the job for years but was on a TUPE transfer about 5 years ago. Do they have to take into account all years of service or just from when the transfer happened ? I.e. would the redundancy payment be for 5 years service or longer ?
Apparently a decision will be made quickly and the leavers will go immediately. Do they have to pay holiday and notice period on top of redundancy ?

Any advice, guidance or help would be really appreciated. Really scared about all this as neither myself or partner are high earners and we both need to work to pay the bills.

Thank you all.

smileylondongal

ihavedoneit wrote: »

Hi All,

Been hit with the bombshell that my partner is at risk of redundancy. Four jobs will reduce to one, so three are going.

Partner has been told they have their first 121 interview this afternoon (told today).

Questions are :
Shouldn't the employee be given notice of their interview so they can prepare ?
HR will not be present for this or any future interviews (too busy) so interviews will be with line management only - is this acceptable ?
Partner has been in the job for years but was on a TUPE transfer about 5 years ago. Do they have to take into account all years of service or just from when the transfer happened ? I.e. would the redundancy payment be for 5 years service or longer ?
Apparently a decision will be made quickly and the leavers will go immediately. Do they have to pay holiday and notice period on top of redundancy ?

Any advice, guidance or help would be really appreciated. Really scared about all this as neither myself or partner are high earners and we both need to work to pay the bills.

Thank you all.

Do you think the 121 is the first consultation and not the actual interview itself? If it were the latter, I think your partner would be perfectly entitled to ask for some time to prepare! Even a first consultation should give you a bit of notice so you can ask them questions and much as they tell you what's going on.

I would have thought HR would want to be involved but some times this does happen. I think as long as they take proper interview notes and have been adequately trained then legally I think this is fine.

I'm sorry I don't know the answer to the rest as I took voluntary redundancy so I got my holiday, and notice period. I'd imagine they would but it may be worth a call to ACAS to find out.

Hope you and your partner are okay.

getmore4less

They need to clarify what they are doing since some meetings require them to notify you that you can take representation.

All service counts across a TUPE.

For redundancy statutory notice also counts if PILON is given so dates might be critical for an extra year if the aniversary of the start date is soon.

Notice is 1 week per year or longer if contractual and needs to be paid.

Acrued untaken holiday also needs to be paid.


Assess the situation, 4 jobs to 1 means either the workload is going to diminish/redeploy rapidly or the remaining person might be under a lot of pressure.

ihavedoneit

Thank you so much for your replies. First meeting was not the interview, just a management chat. Still annoying no notice but hey.
Interview is later this week.
Getmore4less - you are right, less work but definitely a lot of pressure for one but would be grateful just to keep a job.
Is the interview likely to be the same as a normal interview? I.e why do want the job, strengths and weaknesses, why should we give you the job? Trying to get lots of things together but I think it could be a done deal even before the interview. I think they already know who they want to keep. Thanks again.

ihavedoneit

Update - now being told no interviews, someone (a manager) will just make a decision on who has the job. Surely this isn't right ? Now what ?? There have been endless goalposts moved on this, this is just the latest. I think people don't want to get involved so they are trying to do it quickly. What rights do we have ?

jazzyman01

What should happen is that the manager will consider each candidate against an agreed matrix which usually looks at things like skills, flexibility, attendance etc.

The scores then indicate who will be the "successful" candidate.

Those whose jobs will go should have the right to see the selection scores and therefore the criteria used in selection and be able to challenge their scores and ultimately their selection for redundancy. Althought the names are likely to be omitted, the 3 unsuccessful candidates can get together with their scores and easily identify who scored what. If there are clear discrepancies in scoring, or concern that criteria is being used that is irrelevant to the job but would help out the successful candidate, there is a chance of being able to challenge the decision.

As there are only 3 jobs to go there is no set period of consultation. This has been going on since the start of July which would probably fall in the scope of a reasonable period of consultation.

SarEl

jazzyman01 wrote: »

Althought the names are likely to be omitted, the 3 unsuccessful candidates can get together with their scores and easily identify who scored what. If there are clear discrepancies in scoring, or concern that criteria is being used that is irrelevant to the job but would help out the successful candidate, there is a chance of being able to challenge the decision.
.

Just to note -if it is that easy to identify from anonymised information who individuals are, then it is also within the power of the employer to refuse to give individuals anything but their own score. That would be perfectly lawful, as even being able to guess at who scored what would be the release of personal data to a third party.

getmore4less

SarEl wrote: »

Just to note -if it is that easy to identify from anonymised information who individuals are, then it is also within the power of the employer to refuse to give individuals anything but their own score. That would be perfectly lawful, as even being able to guess at who scored what would be the release of personal data to a third party.

But surly I acan realse my own data to anyone I like.

So the 3 go into a room and share, the 4th may also be interested if they wanted redundancy and had to stay.

computerbuddy

Please help if you can, my husband who is 53 years of age is about to be made redundant after being with the company for 9 years. The company has gone into liquidation, Can you tell me what he is entitled to and will he receive his redundancy pay in his final pay this month. Thanks in advance x He works for TJ Hughes

Jarndyce

computerbuddy wrote: »

Please help if you can, my husband who is 53 years of age is about to be made redundant after being with the company for 9 years. The company has gone into liquidation, Can you tell me what he is entitled to and will he receive his redundancy pay in his final pay this month. Thanks in advance x He works for TJ Hughes

If he is entitled only to statutory redundancy pay (ie his contract does not entitle him to more) and if he earns more than £400 per week gross then his maximum entitlement is:

9 x 1.5 weeks = 13.5 weeks @ £400 per week = £5400

If he earns less than £400 then obviously substitute the correct figure in the calculation.

However given the liquidation, when and from whom he will receive his money is another matter.

May I suggest if you are going to continue this thread that you start a new one so as not to confuse answers on the existing thread?

computerbuddy

Thanks so much Jandyce. That is most helpful. x