Employer "laying off" but telling staff they're "still employed"??

CRH71 · 16 July 2011 at 8:29PM

Just recently, my daughter's BF and his mate (whom share a house) we both told, out of the blue one Tuesday afternoon, that the Company they worked for was closing down and they had half-an-hour to clear their desks and leave - obviously this affected more than just them - the office had around 50 employees in it at the time.

Since then, one of them has received a letter saying that they are "still employed" by this company and should not get themselves another job - however, the letter mentioned nothing about whether the guys were still being paid, or made any mention of when work was meant to be starting again (it's a call centre).

Subsequent phone calls with their former Team Leader lead to the response being that work could start up again "any time between the middle of August and December" - they simply "don't know" when it's starting again (it looks as though the company, which was an LLP, is closing down and re-opening under a different name).

Obviously, these two guys have rent to pay and food to keep on the table - we all know that these things don't get paid by hot air - work is needed to pay for them, so they've done the sensible thing and got another job.

Question is - are they in the right to do this? In my opinion, they are - their former employer is really giving them no steer at all as to what is going on, or even whether they are to get any pay this month, and rightly the guys are concerned.

Is the employer right here? I think they've been treated shockingly and I personally feel that the company is trying to avoid redundancy payouts.

What do you learned folks make of this?

SarEl · 16 July 2011 at 8:36PM

Well I can't blme them for getting a new job - but they have certainly helped the company to avoid redundancy payments in their cases as they have effectively resigned! It isn't clear whether this was a lay-off (which has it's own rules about payment) or a straight redundancy, or even possibly a potential TUPE - we don't know enough about the circumstances behind it. And it probably isn't relevant any more, since they have made their own decisions. Which as I said, is probably sensible if they could find work that quickly - but I am afraid they have probably given up any right to any payment in doing so.

CRH71 · 16 July 2011 at 9:05PM

SarEl wrote: »

Well I can't blme them for getting a new job - but they have certainly helped the company to avoid redundancy payments in their cases as they have effectively resigned! It isn't clear whether this was a lay-off (which has it's own rules about payment) or a straight redundancy, or even possibly a potential TUPE - we don't know enough about the circumstances behind it. And it probably isn't relevant any more, since they have made their own decisions. Which as I said, is probably sensible if they could find work that quickly - but I am afraid they have probably given up any right to any payment in doing so.

Thanks for this, from such an experienced individual (I recognise the name from a different board).

It is a straight lay-off but the sad thing is, very few of them have been there more than 12 months, therefore normal "redundancy" rules don't apply, do they?

They have claimed for HB and CTB because they've been out of work for the last couple of weeks, but I didn't really want them to "play into the ex-employers hands" if the DWP contacted them and the ex-employer to say they'd effectively "walked out" and thus dis-entitle them to any help.

I've got to say, though, full credit to the two lads for getting out there and finding work so quickly. I admire them for that.

SarEl · 16 July 2011 at 9:14PM

Yes, if they have less than 12 months employment they have done the best thing they could have done - at most they would probably have got a weeks notice! Neither HB nor CTB are based on "fault" - that's only JSA, so the employer couldn't do anything to these payments as they are entitlements based on income, not whether they walked out or whatever. To be on the safe side of everything, I would just suggest that they formally resign on the basis of breach of contract by the employer. I am not sure whether the employer actually had the right to lay off in the contract, but it is pretty much irrelevant I suspect. Just do it to make the break clean, then if there is money owed it would be easier to chase it.