Husband made redundant ~ Unfair dismissal

ElisesMummy

After various hearsay going around the work place, the manager told staff that he would not be making anyone redundant.
So we were very shocked when he was called into the office 2 weeks later and told he had 4 weeks notice to work before being made redundant.
He has worked there for just under 5 years (in Jan) 3 people were employed after him.
My Husband was the only one laid off from his department, and an old lady from the office dept volunteered.
The reason given at the time & on his letter was that business was bad, also said they would glady re-employ him should more work come along.

We've spoken to CAB who say what has happened is wrong and we have grounds for unfair dismissal.
On their advice my Husband requested a meeting with his boss to ask for the reason he personally was chosen over anyone else, he was told it was because he cannot drive. This is ridiculous right?
There is nothing in his contract saying he has to drive. He couldn't drive at the time of employment and the redundancy letter states he would be re-employed should a job arise, but why would they if not driving is such a problem?
There is one other non-driver in the dept who has been there for longer (also happens to be my Dad!) Would this be fair selection process?
The boss was asked to put this is writing but so far he hasn't, was asked for it within 7 days which has now passed.

So we think
* No warning of redundancies (quite the opposite)
* No offer of other employment, other ways explored before making one person redundant - reduced hours for other staff etc (Boss says he cannot force staff to drop hours if they are not willing?!)
* Unfair selection process

Husband is looking for work but is pretty cut up about this, he lost his dad 9 months ago and has been struggling with it. We also have a 3 month old son and 5 year old Daughter. Would he be able to claim anything for stress caused by unfair dismissal the same time as taking them to the tribunal?

Quite a few questions there but any outside opinions welcomed.
Thanks very much

jazzyman01

You are correct, even when there is only one redundancy there has to be a fair process ie consultation. From your post it would appear that there has been no consultation, your husband has been selected and told on the same day.

Second point is their reason for selection. If there is more than one person doing the job, then there has to be a selection usually made through a matrix scoring all who could be affected. Although Companies can use a variety of criteria in preparing their selection matricies, they will need to be able to justify that selection in ET if necessary. FYI given that your father is also a non driver then they may well have included him in the selection but his time with the organisation gave him additional points and therefore was not the one selected. In any event, your OH should request and be provided with the selection criteria and the scores, even if the names have been omitted for the other potential candidates.

Did the letter advising him of his redundancy give him the right of appeal against the decision?

ElisesMummy

Thank you Jazzyman. My Husband has just phoned to say he has 'the' letter.
It details the selection process used was two non-drivers and length of service between the two. Is this an acceptable way of doing it?
There is nothing in the first letter or this one about appeal, this doesn't mean he doesn't have the right to appeal though does it. This is an independent company, not a chain or a big company.

Thanks again, much appreciated

Jarndyce

I think those would be seen as reasonable selection criteria, to be honest, in a small workplace such as this.

However we would need more information about the workplace before we are able to judge whether or not it was a fair process -why weren't other staff part of the selection pool for example?

But he certainly has the right to appeal, and the fact they haven't mentioned that right in his letter, as well as the apparent lack of consultation, might in itself render the process technically unfair.

However, just because the process might have been unfair, if the employer can show that the outcome would have been the same had a fair process been used, any compensation awarded at a Tribunal might be reduced accordingly.

So the appeal is his best shot at obtaining a positive outcome - ie keeping his job. Sad though that it could be at your Dad's expense - how awful for you.

patman99

As your husbands employers have not had a full 30 - day consultation period, it looks like he is in line to claim another 90 days wages on top of his redundancy.

It looks like they have 'massaged' the training matrix to force the issue. This happened when I worked for Trane UK, the Production Manager decided who he was going to get shot of in the first round of redundancies. Trouble was, 3 of the intended victims could do 5 jobs within the factory, so he simply disregarded anything on the training matrix over 3 months.

SarEl

patman99 wrote: »

As your husbands employers have not had a full 30 - day consultation period, it looks like he is in line to claim another 90 days wages on top of his redundancy.
.

How do you work that out? From the OP it appears that two people were made redundant and one of them volunteered! If less than 20 empliyees are being made redundant ther is no legal timeframe for consultations, and I am completely lost as to why you think that there should be an additonal 90 days wages on top of the redundancy.

Milkshock

dont think your husband has much of a case here at all tbh