Most Qualified But, Made Redundant! Now What?

mangle101

After working for a Company for the past 18 years, holding many, many different positions within the Company. I was informed 2 weeks ago that the Company were restructuring again & my job role was being made redundant. 4 'new' job roles ( 1 Quality Manager & 3 Quality Auditor's ) were created & i along with others were encouraged to apply for these jobs & after various one to one meetings & an interview i was finally informed yesterday by telephone ( Due to being off sick ) of the Companies decision that i had failed in my application & therefore would indeed be made redundant. I am currently on 12 weeks gardening leave where at the end of this period i will receive 19 weeks redundancy money. Now, my bugbear with the Companies decision is that i am, in my honest opinion the most qualified ( Having Certification & Experience of all aspects ) person who has been doing most of what the job role entails for the past several years & to not be deemed good enough for one of these 3 roles beggars belief. When informed of the decision i took it gracefully & without complaint or argument but, the more i thought about it the more irate i have become, i have decided to telephone the individual who carried out the interview & ask for a one to one to ask the reason(s) why i was not chosen & then to appeal the decision & then if need be claim for Unfair Dismissal.

At the present time this is more of a rant & to vent my frustrations than a thread asking for advice ( Unless someone has any advice which they would like to offer )

Thank you for listening.

marybelle01

You are getting ahead of yourself talking about making claims for unfair dismissal when you have no idea yet why they didn't select you. Your opinion that you are the most qualified person for the job doesn't mean that you are the most qualified person for the job or that you performed better than others in the selection procedure. Obviously the employer doesn't think so. It requires more than your opinion to claim unfair dismissal - it requires some evidence that it was unfair.

antrobus

See:

Redundancy selections and notice periods
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/RedundancyAndLeavingYourJob/redundancy/DG_10029832

mangle101 wrote: »

... Now, my bugbear with the Companies decision is that i am, in my honest opinion the most qualified ( Having Certification & Experience of all aspects ) person who has been doing most of what the job role entails for the past several years & to not be deemed good enough for one of these 3 roles beggars belief. ...

The cynic in me feels obliged to point out that 'most experienced and qualified' = 'most expensive' = 'most likely to be made redundant'.

mangle101

marybell01 Thank you for your opinion but as i have stated this was just a rant to vent my frustrations & the likelihood of it getting as far as putting in the claim for unfair dismissal is distant. The fact of the matter is as i have already said, each & every responsibility for the Job description was met by myself with both experience & certification to back up my claims, i am more than confident but not to the point of arrogance. The other candidates ( All internal applicants ) had many years less experience in all aspects of the role & this is what i do not understand. Hell some of them don't even have the required certification to enable them to do the job!

mangle101

antrobus - I have already spoken to one successful candidate ( and congratulated him ) who was doing the same role as me & he's earning a further £2000 more than myself so, money doesn't seem to be the issue as such here.

getmore4less

Being off sick at times like this is not a good idea, what's the rest of your sick record like?

it will not just be qualifications and experience.

they can use just about any selection criterea they want.

sick records often come up as does "do you fit in", flexability etc.

appeal ask for the selection criteria, your scores and the others scores, allthough for a small group they can refuse if it will be obvious from the scores who they aplly to.

You will need to go through the appeal/grievence to collect evidence.

mangle101

getmore4less wrote: »

Being off sick at times like this is not a good idea, what's the rest of your sick record like?

it will not just be qualifications and experience.

they can use just about any selection criterea they want.

sick records often come up as does "do you fit in", flexability etc.

appeal ask for the selection criteria, your scores and the others scores, allthough for a small group they can refuse if it will be obvious from the scores who they aplly to.

You will need to go through the appeal/grievence to collect evidence.

In almost 19 years i would say you could count the amount of days i have taken off sick on both hands. The selection criteria used were a series of questions asked at the interview, seemingly knowledge & previous experience at actually doing the tasks laid down in the job description counted for nothing.

nomoreboomandbust

I feel for you, I had one day off sick in twelve years, didn't stop them "booting me out " some like some dirty rag, unfortunately I was up against someone who would have proved more expensive to be made redundant and would be retiring in three years, so even though he was "expensive" they only had to put up with him for another 3 years.

Andy_L

antrobus wrote: »

The cynic in me feels obliged to point out that 'most experienced and qualified' = 'most expensive' = 'most likely to be made redundant'.

but conversly could also be "most expensive redundancy package" if they do better than statuatory redundancy

jamesmorgan

I am not sure that you would be successful in claiming for unfair dismissal on the basis on your failure in securing one of the new roles. Your old job appears to be redundant. There may have been multiple people doing this old job - your claim for unfair dismissal would only apply if you have been unfairly selected for redundancy from within this group.

Separate from this, the company are recruiting for new roles. You have been unsuccessful in this process. The company may be in breach of employment laws if the recruitment process was unfair. This, however, can be quite difficult to prove especially for senior roles where soft skills tend to be as important as qualifications/experience.

Regardless of the legal aspects, you also need to decide where it is best to focus your energies. Are you ready to fight a potentially complex and lengthy compensation case or are those energies best invested in looking for a new job.

I recognise from personal experience of being made redundant after 20 years at one company that it can become a painful process. However, it is sometimes best to simply move on and accept that a change of scenery may be best for both parties

mangle101

The Company have so far appointed 1 of the 3 required Quality Auditors & he is unable to carry out audits as he does not hold the required certification & clearly stated in the job description, so much for this section of the Company handbook which states that : The associates attained are those best matched to our future requirements. But, at least he can talk highly of himself during the interview to ensure he meets the selection criteria!