Redundancy appeal lost- but a lot of lies in between

londoner1998

Hello

I filed my redundancy appeal two months ago and I got the latter with the result on Thursday. In it, the person dealing with the appeal went through the reasons why he wouldn't support any of my point. The process had been dealt in such a poor manner, than much of my rebuttal was based on how they failed to come back with answers to my proposals, how the re-deployment process has been non-existent and left me out in the cold (I had a particularly inept HR consultant that continuosly missed me from emails she sent, and disppeared as soon as the consultation was over, even though I still had another couple of months to go) and how even though there were two Voluntary redundancy applications in my team they still wanted to save 'significant' amounts of money by cutting my post, open just about 8 months earlier. To top it all off, my director displayed a behaviour that can only be classified as abusive during one consultation meeting ( I am also a union rep and I asked a few questions that made it clear he had no intention of engaging in 'consultation'; He questioned my presence in the meeting and went as far as saying' one of my senior statistitians is worth ten of you' and 'why the fuss, is just a band X job". To which I asked to respect my position as junior member of the team and conduct himself with more respect. I never ever heard an apology and in the letter following my appeal hearing it says he admits that comments were insensitive but that since he had apologised both in public and in private and that should be that. This is completely untrue, as it is the fact that I refused to do work that was asked from me (this was two pay bands above and it was asked of me with no support, or training when they were very short of people: I expressed my reservation and confusion, as they had taken all my workload away from me without a conversation- but I took the project on and worked with a colleague at that level, and delivered in a day, to a fantastic turn around). So they are now saying that I refused to carry out that work because I felt my ability was not up to scratch and that this man apologised to me in private when that has never happened. I am now in a different department on internal transfer earnt on my own merit through interview (but that works closely with this man's team. I am loving it so far.I am well looked after so far (we\ll see)and I think I could do very well there, there is room for me to show what I can do> they seem to be a much healthier group of people) and I am furious that he can get away with this- technically he will be working alongside my manager until January, when either I find something else or I will be made redundant. How do I play this? Being a Union rep as well, I can not let this go- they lied, like the cowards they are but they are also questioning my professional ability and my attitude. I have never refused to carry out work: in fact I took on work way above my level very often since January and they were very happy with it, when it suited them. They also implied that they haven't considered VR's in the team because they needed the expertise of my colleague two pay bands above mine. But one of then has just collected her money and left, at the eleventh hour... another lie. This, in an organisation that prides itself on its integrity and truthfulness... To say that I am revolted in an understatement.

I am not bothered about the outcome of closing the post: I really dislike these people (I worked really hard for them and saved their bacon many times in less than a year just to be treated like an animal by them), but the fact that they are embellishing the truth and have no proof of any of those things is really infuriating and I can't let that go. I need to set the record straight: any tips or advice?

mooks

I'm not a specialist by any means, but if there's one thing that my Tribunal experiences have taught me, it's one thing for you to feel you've been treated badly, but it's another thing entirely to have a legal case that can be taken further.

From the sound of things you're still at the company? If you genuinely feel you've been treated badly, there's always their grievance procedure, but while they may have done things 'wrong' I don't know that they've necessarily done anything 'illegal' in employment law.

You may well decide you've been treated so badly you had no option to resign - but if you're going to raise an Employment Tribunal case for constructive dismissal, you need to be able to evidence - strongly - what they did that was so bad that you felt you had to leave.

I'm sure there will be others more qualified who can cover the specifics though.

Emmzi

your post is a little rambling which makes it hard to find out what was going on. As a union rep I would hope your union is advising you?

I am confused about what exactly you want to "set straight"; and what you think this will achieve other than making you exhausted. Can you comment on that please?

SarEl

Emmzi wrote: »

your post is a little rambling which makes it hard to find out what was going on. As a union rep I would hope your union is advising you?

I am confused about what exactly you want to "set straight"; and what you think this will achieve other than making you exhausted. Can you comment on that please?

Yes I have to agree on all counts. But it seems to me that in essence the OP put in an appeal and lost on all counts. What else is there to do? The complaints have been heard and not upheld.

londoner1998

SarEl wrote: »

Yes I have to agree on all counts. But it seems to me that in essence the OP put in an appeal and lost on all counts. What else is there to do? The complaints have been heard and not upheld.

Hello all
thanks for answering, and sorry about the slightly incoherent post (a lot material there) Yes, the appeal was not supported in any of my points, which although of course I don't agree with, I accept. What I want to set straight is the fact that these senior managers are giving completely made up stuff as reasons to justify their decision: ie, that I refused to do the work I was asked to do and then the fact that after I was insulted publicly in a meeting, there was an apology to me, personally. That is what is really irritating me: that never happened, nor in public or in private. And this senior manager still works very closely with the team I am working with now. Several times this person in particular tried to get me out of meetings and tried to conceal information that the union asked for... now he is adorning the truth. For months I was treated like I didn't exist by my line manager and there are a few emails regarding this, a very subtly but rather constant bullying going on (excluding me from conversations, taking all the work away from me without any explanation, not making me part of things going on in the office...) and this to me is just one more example of this culture. It is separate from my appeal, but I feel I have grounds for a grievance because it says things about me that I never did and that never happened. That all goes on file, and as far as I understand, we all have an obligation to be truthful in these situations. IT is not the appeal result I have a problem with, os the fact that they lied to justofy their decision...
What I am going to do is to ask for a copy of all the emails and documents regarding me under the Data Protection Act, for my own piece of mind... and speak to my union rep regarding the grievance procedure- let's not forget I have to work with this man and he has lied about my actions and his own

SarEl

I may have misread your first post, but I understood that you raised all these things in your appeal? If so they are not going to accept a grievance on matters they have already heard.