My job is becoming redundant and I need advice

susie1974

I am due to lose my job in my present role, which I have been in for 20 years and I've been offered to do another role in a different department (which I do not want to work for) It is the same hours and same rate of pay, the new role involves weeks of training. How can I tell my employer that the new role is not a suitable, alternative role?:mad:

marybelle01

Unless they really want to pay you off, then I doubt you can. It's the same hours, the same pay and they are willing to train you - in other words they are doing exactly what the law requires them to do in indentitfying a suitable alternative and not making people redundant. So if you refuse you could lose all your redundancy payments unless they are willing to let you go anyway. If there are others at risk who would be grateful to stay in employment, then they might be willing to let you go anyway and give the job to someone who wants it - but they also might not be.

susie1974

Thank You, but I'm looking for advice for 'reasons' for the Job not being 'suitable'. I'ts a horrible, mundane job and I have no interest in it whatsoever!!!!:mad:

anamenottaken

susie1974 wrote: »

Thank You, but I'm looking for advice for 'reasons' for the Job not being 'suitable'. I'ts a horrible, mundane job and I have no interest in it whatsoever!!!!:mad:

Is your current job out of the ordinary and really interesting to you? Would it appear that way to someone who hadn't done it? If the alternative job requires "weeks of training" how mundane can it be?

susie1974

anamenottaken wrote: »

Is your current job out of the ordinary and really interesting to you? Would it appear that way to someone who hadn't done it? If the alternative job requires "weeks of training" how mundane can it be?

Yes I work in a laboratory, I do lots of analysing and testing, but now I have to go and work on the shop floor (Factory work), very mundane.

anamenottaken

susie1974 wrote: »

Yes I work in a laboratory, I do lots of analysing and testing, but now I have to go and work on the shop floor (Factory work), very mundane.

In that case, if you want to reject the alternative work as not suitable, I would suggest you need to concentrate on the skills needed for your current role and compare them with the alternative.

That said, you could appear to be trying to avoid redundancy by saying you are willing to try the new role. If you do this there is a time limit (sorry, can't recall what it is right now) after which you would be deemed to have accepted the alternative. So you need to keep an eye on it.

Of course, you might even discover that the alternative work is actually just as interesting - perhaps quality control? (Just a guess but repeatedly testing and analysing things in a lab might seem very mundane to an outsider until they tried it.)

Is your actual aim to take the money and run? If the option of staying in your current role were available, would you want to stay for the next ten years?

marybelle01

In this day and age, with a recession and people actually getting cuts in pay (and that being perfectly legal too), then it's not really all that likley that a tribunal is going to support a claim for redundancy payments when you will be getting the same pay and conditions, just because you think it's boring and mundane. Boring and mundane doesn't exactly feature amogst the really good reasons to refuse a job.

The trial period that anamenottaken was trying to recall is four weeks - but that still doesn't absolve you of having to have a good reason for refusing, and boring and mundane are still unlikely to cut it. The only really safe way of refusing is knowing that your employer is willing to pay up regardless of what you say. If they aren't then you are taking a huge risk because truthfully, you don't have a good reason for refusing.

susie1974

anamenottaken wrote: »

Of course, you might even discover that the alternative work is actually just as interesting - perhaps quality control? (Just a guess but repeatedly testing and analysing things in a lab might seem very mundane to an outsider until they tried it.)

Is your actual aim to take the money and run? If the option of staying in your current role were available, would you want to stay for the next ten years?

Yes that is my aim, to take the money and run and have a total change of carreer, attend college to get the skills I need for my 'ideal' job, which I know is available.
Yes, I would stay in my current role for the next 10 years if it were available, I enjoy my Job, and have done for 20 years

getmore4less

I think you need to negotiate a longer trial period, since there is "weeks" of training.

It is unreasonble to have a trial period shorter than the training.

It might be that there is a particular aspect of the job you can't get the hang of.

Focus on the reason the job is different and not a suitable alternative.

in the absence of location and pay

Status
use of qualifications

Perhaps there is a H&S issue if there is some repetative aspect that will effect your health. change in routine might give you a bad back!

gibson123

Susie

The areas I would look at

Are my prospects as good in the new job as the old job.
Is the status of the new job equivalent to the old job.
Is the type of job similar to the previous job.

marybelle01

gibson123 wrote: »

Susie

The areas I would look at

Are my prospects as good in the new job as the old job.
Is the status of the new job equivalent to the old job.
Is the type of job similar to the previous job.

Job prospects are not a vaild reason for refusing a suitable alternative employment, and as I said before, status and type of job (and even pay cuts) are very thin these days. I really do think that finding out the law of the land, in terms of the employers likely response, is the best way forward. If they have a few people looking for jobs and are going to have to make some redundancies, then they are more likely to be willing to let an unwilling employee go and keep one who wants to work for them.

But any decision to refuse has to be taken in light of the fact that it is a risk - if they don't pay up and you lose a tribunal claim, then your 20 years is gone for nothing. It's no different from gambling.

Of course you could lie through your teeth and claim you have a bad back caused by work within a matter of weeks at the new job, as suggested. Just be careful what you lie about - lies can come back and bite you in the backside.