Redundancy Advice Please

coltux

I am currently employed as an Electrical Site Supervisor dealing with routine maintenance. I have been thru redundancy as was offered an alternative role. The role is on less money but it's protected at my original salary for 3 years. I am now responsible for Electricians, Decorators, Plumbers & Carpenters and deal with rennovations. Can I refuse the job within the trial period and request redundancy on the basis that the job is an unsuitable alternative?

getmore4less

What aspects of the job make it unsuitable.

zzzLazyDaisy

By law you are entitled to a four week trial period. If the job is significantly different (and this may include if it is significantly less money) then at any time during the four week period you can decide not to continue with the job and take redundancy instead. In that case you would be entitled to the same package as if you had been made redundant at the time you accepted the trial period.

The killer blow is that if the new job amounts to 'suitable alternative employment' in law, then the employer can with-hold the redundancy payment. There is no legal definition of 'suitable alternative employment' and each case is decided on a case by case basis.

Also you have to bear in mind what your contract says - written contracts these days tend to have a clause saying something like 'your job is x, but the employer reserves the right to require you to undertake such additional duties as the needs of the business may dictate'. In that case, a change induties would fall within the ambit of the contract and would probably not amount to a significant difference. Normally a large drop in wages would amount to a significant difference but even then it does depend on the circumstances and the wording of the contract. If there is a union, then any agreement with the union about alternative work/wages will be deemed to have been incorporated into the contract.

Sorry to make this sound complicated. Unfortunately it really isn't straight forward.

The first questions to ask are

1 how many years have you worked for this company?
2 are you in a union?
3 has the employer given any indication of the likely response if you seek to leave within the four week trial period and accept redundancy instead?