Displaced from job, advice please

justontime

Yesterday my husband and about 7 or 8 other people in his department were informed that they have been displaced from their jobs. Other people in the department have been left in post but have had some adjustments made to their their jobs and job titles. There will be jobs for all the displaced people, two of those jobs are better than the rest but all but one of the jobs amount to a demotion in terms of role and job title. They have been told that they will not lose salary, but it may be frozen to gradually bring it down to the correct salary for the new post.

My husband has been with the company for 14 years and in his present job for around 10 years. He has a very good work record but since a new head of department joined the company in January he has suffered bullying and harassment because of his disability. He took a formal grievance against the head of department, this was eventually upheld (three weeks ago), the head of department was disciplined and measures were put in place to protect my husband.

Now he has been told that the same head of department will decide which of the displaced people gets which job and there will not be a formal application and interview process. This means my husband's future is in the hands of the person who treated him so badly. Is there anything he can do? I would appreciate your advice please.

getmore4less

Depends on the contracts and how flexable those allow the employer to be.

Maybe a potential redundancy situation.

If the jobs have gone then this should be looked at as a redundancy situation with consultation and the new jobs being offered as potential suitable alternatives.


I think his first action should be to go back to the person(s) that investigated the grievance and point out that with this current situation might result in retribution.

The manager may however be on the back foot and might try to protect themselves from another investigation by avoiding any obvious discrimination..

anamenottaken

justontime wrote: »

Yesterday my husband and about 7 or 8 other people in his department were informed that they have been displaced from their jobs. Other people in the department have been left in post but have had some adjustments made to their their jobs and job titles. There will be jobs for all the displaced people, two of those jobs are better than the rest but all but one of the jobs amount to a demotion in terms of role and job title. They have been told that they will not lose salary, but it may be frozen to gradually bring it down to the correct salary for the new post.

My husband has been with the company for 14 years and in his present job for around 10 years. He has a very good work record but since a new head of department joined the company in January he has suffered bullying and harassment because of his disability. He took a formal grievance against the head of department, this was eventually upheld (three weeks ago), the head of department was disciplined and measures were put in place to protect my husband.

Now he has been told that the same head of department will decide which of the displaced people gets which job and there will not be a formal application and interview process. This means my husband's future is in the hands of the person who treated him so badly. Is there anything he can do? I would appreciate your advice please.

I'd wait and see. Personally I'd expect the departmental head to be very cautious if they were thinking of acting in a manner detrimental for your husband. If they have any sense they would expect to be watched on this.

justontime

getmore4less wrote: »

Depends on the contracts and how flexable those allow the employer to be.

If the jobs have gone then this should be looked at as a redundancy situation with consultation and the new jobs being offered as potential suitable alternatives.

The jobs haven't gone, the head of department just wants to restructure. Exactly the same work is still there to be done, he just wants to allocate the work differently. This is very specialised and technical work.

justontime

Are there any rules covering this sort of thing? Do you know where I could find more information please?

justontime

I really need some advice now please.

The 8 or so people displaced gradually dwindled down to 2, my husband and another manager doing the same type of job. There were two senior jobs available equivalent to the work they were doing. They were told they would have to apply fore these jobs. My husband was interviewed by his line manager (the one who was previously disciplined for harassment on grounds of disability and bullying). There was a representative from HR there, but she openly said that she was over ruled and it was a put up job. My husband has been told that he will remain on the same salary but will now not be a manager and his laptop and phone will be taken away because his new grade doesn't justify either. He will challenge this as he has a formal arrangement to work from home when necessary due to his disability and he can't do this without his phone and laptop.

I am confused as the job that he has been displaced from still exists, so it is not a redundancy situation. He has an excellent work record but it seems that he is being forced out. He still has a job of sorts and they are still paying him, but it is deeply humiliating and of course he will have to explain it to future employers. It just seems so unfair that he can be treated like this without having done anything wrong.

Please can someone offer some help re what to do next. Thank you.

ohreally

He should have joined a trade union when this was on the horizon and engaged their help if and when the situation came to this (who could have seen this one coming).

You inform us, "HR openely say they are over-ruled", how openly are they stating this as there appears to be a whiff of potential discrimination and individuals being held to account over decision making and process application. Hr exist to protect the employer against this.

justontime

He belongs to a trade union, he always has been he contacted them for help but they have done nothing, there is no on site union rep.

justontime

The person from HR told my husband today that "she wasn't a part of the decision making process" and that "it stinks". As his line manager and the HR person were the only two people present at the interview it means that the Line Manager was the only one making the decision. He has a record of bullying my husband from the day he joined the company and he has been disciplined for Harassment and bullying against my husband.

justontime

The reason the union were no help is (according to the union) that there is no collective bargaining agreement for people on my husband's pay grade.

DVardysShadow

justontime wrote: »

The reason the union were no help is (according to the union) that there is no collective bargaining agreement for people on my husband's pay grade.

If there is no collective bargaining agreement, they are correct - there is no place for them to intervene in the restructuring and collective bargaining or not, no place to intervene in the interview. More contact with the union required - the comment from the HR rep is quite telling - it can't be used, but it delivers the message that HR are of the view that this manager is out of line. HR don't like what he is doing. I would suggest discussing placing a grievance with union representation, covering the following aspects

• your OH has effectively been singled out at the end of the day to be the only one to be downgraded which appears to be vindictive retribution for the earlier grievance
• disability discrimination in taking facilities off him which allow him to accommodate with his disability.