Basic rights at work & Redundancy 14 June 2012 at 2:10PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Basic rights at work & Redundancy 174 replies 119.8K views

CAB_Malvern_Hills_representative

cagreen13 wrote: »

Hello,

I wasn't sure whether I should post this on the redundancy thread or the benefits thread so I hope I've picked the right place. I was told earlier this week that my department at work would be facing massive cuts which were likely to lead to compulsory redundancies. However, I've not been officially told that I, personally, will definitely loose my job.

I have over £6000 in savings and I was planning to make a lump sum payment into my mortgage when the fixed rate ends shortly.

However I've heard that if I'm likely to have to take income based JSA after being made redundant, I shouldn't pay a big amount off my mortgage because I would be penalised for decreasing my capital? My question is: as I've not yet been officially told that I will be made redundant (though I know it's a possibility) can I still make the payment into my mortgage without penalty?

HI

Do hope you don't get made redundant . The question you have asked is really a benefit one but no worries.

If you get made redundant and have to claim means tested JSA any redundancy pay you get will count as capital and add to what you still have. You can have up to 6K in capital without it starting to affect your means tested JSA. The rules about depriving your yourself of capital state that if you do so in order to gain entitlement to benefit then you potentially will be treated as still having it - Called notional capital . However the benefits agency would need to prove that this was done in order to gain entitlement to benefit and if you were going to do this in any event then they may not be able to use this argument. It isn't possible to give a definative answer on this as each case is treated on its merits but given the situation you have described you it may not have much impact on you.

Suggest you visit your local CAB for a benefit check to see exactly what would happen if they did apply this rule. They could also discuss other ways to manage your mortgage costs.

CAB_Malvern_Hills_representative

whitey96 wrote: »

Hi there, i work for a small engineering company with me and one other employee. I turned up for work today and was told there is no work and that we were been made redundant. I've worked for the company for nearly 13 years and on reading various info online i should have had 12 weeks notice + 12 weeks redundancy. As far as i know the company isn't in any real financial trouble yet but, my boss said there is no money to pay redundancys. He has said he will pay us our week in hand and any holidays owing.

I've read about claiming my notice and stat redundancy money from national ins fund but i have a problem.
I started working for the company on 12 july 2000 (i have proof in his employment record book) straight out of school but when i spoke to his accountant she told me that he has put my start date down as mid 2002 which will obviously make a difference to my payout.
Is there anything I can do about this?
and could you give me an estimate on how long the claim will take?

Thanks in advance any help will be much appreciated

HI

Please follow the link below to adviceguide which explains the situation if you are made redundant and the employer cannot afford to pay:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/work_e/work_work_comes_to_an_end_e/work_redundancy_e/redundancy_pay.htm#claiming_redundancy_pay_if_your_employer_has_stopped_trading

In terms of proving when you started work your employer should have the correct records about this. Other proof could include the following : Letter of appointment, Contract of employment, wages slips, P60 etc , other letters from Inland Revenue. Any or all of these would be circumstantial proof of when you stated work. If they refuse to include the extra time ( and you might need to raise a grievance to get them to look into it ) then this is something that an Employment tribunal can address as you will see in the information above .

These are complicated issues and you might want help from your local CAB with the whole process so we would suggest that you go to them for help taking all the paperwork you have.

Embrace

Hi,

I hope someone can help me. My employers sent an email to the staff saying that the office will be shutting on Christmas Eve (it was originally meant to be a workday).

They then asked all of the staff to either take that as annual leave (the majority of us have not got any left) or to work in our lunch break to make up time (7 hours in total). We do not get any other breaks in the day and work from 9-5.

As the office is closed (rather than us choosing not to work) is this legal?

I hope that I have made sense. If you need anymore info, let me know.

Thanks in advance.

CAB_Malvern_Hills_representative

Embrace wrote: »

Hi,

I hope someone can help me. My employers sent an email to the staff saying that the office will be shutting on Christmas Eve (it was originally meant to be a workday).

They then asked all of the staff to either take that as annual leave (the majority of us have not got any left) or to work in our lunch break to make up time (7 hours in total). We do not get any other breaks in the day and work from 9-5.

As the office is closed (rather than us choosing not to work) is this legal?

I hope that I have made sense. If you need anymore info, let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Hi

As a general rule if you and your colleagues are willing and able to work but your employer is not providing any work on that day then you should really be paid unless your contract says otherwise. Your contract might allow your employer to vary the terms and conditions in certain situations to accommodate the needs of the business so you need to look at it to see whether it does indeed have such a variation clause specific to this situation.

In terms of working throughout the lunch hour - again your employer is proposing a short term change and your contact may allow them to do this. However if you are an adult worker and your working days are longer than 6 hours you must be allowed a 20 minute break by law. The best way to resolve these issues may involve raising a grievance either informally for formally perhaps with your colleagues and maybe you can then reach a compromise with your employers over this matter.. see the adviceguide information for more info on dealing with a problem at work . Follow the link below to the site:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/work_e/work_problems_at_work_e/dealing_with_grievances_at_work.htm

Fruityloop

Message deleted

Daydell

Hi,
The company that I work for is going through a very difficult period having lost a major customer and I am concerned that it may be forced to go in toadministration in the near future. I am 49 and have worked there full-time for justover 20 years. I am in the fortunate (or so I thought) position of having a 6 month notice period and I am also just in the higher tax bracket.

If the company is forced to go in to administration then I know there would not be sufficient cash for redundancy or similar employee related payments.

Can you please tell me what are my rights concerning redundancy payments and also payment for my notice period. I understand that I would only get statutory redundancy and that this is capped at a maximum weekly wage of £430? Is this true?

Is there a similar cap in respect of payments for the notice period? I also have quite a number of untaken holidays even some from last year which haven’t taken because it’s been all hands to the pump trying to keep the business afloat.

I guess I wouldn’t be entitled to any benefits and therefore every penny would count. Many thanks for any advice that you can give me.

roddycam

A friend has worked for a local firm for 8 years in a managerial capacity. She has broken her ankle in two places and has had an operation to insert pins and a plate, and has been signed off work for 4-6 weeks. When she told the firm, a director said they would only pay her Statutory Sick Pay, the result being that she plans to return to work within the next week, despite being on crutches and in pain.

I feel this is unfair. Does she have any rights in this matter?

NeedHoliday

I would really appreciate some help with this:

I've been working at a company for around 9 months on a zero hours contract. I have taken no holiday days whatsoever and have averaged perhaps 35 hours per week the whole time I've been there but more recently (the last two months or so) slightly more. I want to give my two week notice and leave and assumed that I would simply be able to 'cash in' my holiday pay accrued. After having a confusing conversation with my manager where they explained that I would be paid an average of my hours done per week over the last 12 weeks, I completely lost track of what I was trying to establish (mainly due to them talking to me as if I was inconveniencing them or was stupid). I understand the bit about the 12 weeks - fair enough(ish) but what I don't get is exactly how many weeks or days worth at that rate I'm entitled to if I leave without having actually taken any holiday? It's really done my head in as I just thought that it would just be calculated by taking into consideration the total hours I've worked since I've been there (it's within a leave year after all). To make it a bit clearer - When I leave (without having taken a single days holiday all year), will I be paid one, two or three weeks worth at this rate or am I obliged to actually take the holiday which I am due before leaving? I'm actually moving away so just want to hand in my notice and get what I assumed would be rightfully due to me and just paid as it was accumulated.

I really would appreciate some help. This is starting to look like a disappointing end to a really terrible, depressing job. One that I've worked very hard at too...

Thanks.

fin54

I have worked for the NHS for 23 years with a 30 hr contract , an amendment was made to my contract in 2005 for 20hrs night duty and 10 hrs day or night , I have worked 30 hrs night duty since 2005 having never worked day duty.
The unit I work in is now closing (residential care of the elderly) they are now saying they have no night duty posts within the trust and I need to take a 30 hr day duty post, this is not suitable to my needs as I want to remain on nights.
I would be grateful with any help on this issue

grizzzler

My team is currently undergoing a restructure. I work in the IT department of a department store and at the moment we support the computers and the tills. Our team is going to be split into a computer team and a till team. Out of 10 of us, 4 of us will go into the computer team and 6 will go into the till team.

But here is where things get dodgy. The computer team will work better shifts (9-5 mon to fri) and the till team will work silly shifts (which includes a late shift 1pm-9.30pm), the till team will work weekends, bank holidays will be required, "occasional" overnight shifts will be required, and travel to remote sites that are 2 1/2 hours away from where I live will be required. They've told us that our job no longer exist and we are to apply with a 1st and 2nd choice to these job roles.

In our current role bank holidays are optional, overnight shifts are not required and travel to remote sites are not required. Each of us has an individual meeting next week to consult with us. We requested a group meeting but they refused. We have all agreed that we will not apply for anything until we have greater clarification on what the new roles entail, as once we apply for a job if we get offered the poo job and turn it down we are not entitled to redundancy.

I think the reason they created a vanilla ice cream job and a poo sandwich job is to play us off against each other. Everyone will apply for the new roles with their fingers crossed to get the vanilla ice cream job but then they offer 6 of us the poo sandwich job and if we turn it down we are effectivity resigning.

I've been reading up a bit on redundancy and found out that they either have to offer us "suitable alternative work" or make us redundant, and that "suitable alternative work" has to be similar in terms of pay, hours, status and location to our current role. Given that our current job does not require bank holiday shifts, overnight shifts and travel to remote sites I do not consider this to be similar.

Can the company claim that this new role is "suitable alternative work" and claim we are resigning from our job if we do not apply for it? I am taking into account that the HR department has been doing this for years and we are all green to something like this.

What is likely to happen if we all only tick our 1st choice box and not a second choice given that we don't consider the other choice to be "suitable alternative work"?