Flawed process

LadyC

So,my husband is at risk of redundancy.... Of the group of people at risk, thereare four people and three new roles that will be available. One of the roles isrelatively junior, but also needs qualifications that only one of the four has.Another role is also quite junior but quite a general role, any of the teamcould do it. The third is more senior (effectively my husband's current role,but with other responsibilities) this one is going to be offered at £2k lessthan my husband is currently being paid.

So,there are 3 jobs:

J!!!: low paid role with specific skills needed

J!!!: More general role, still low paid

Job3: More senior role, incorporating OH's skillset with other general duties

Atcurrent there are two teams:

TeamA: OH and the only person with specific skills for job 1

TeamB: 2 people currently doing general type duties, both on low to mid levelsalaries



Theproposed plan is for the two teams to merge and will result in one person beingmade redundant. They have all beeninvited to express interest in one or more of the roles. However.....

Thejob specs have not yet been circulated but my husband was asked today by one ofthe directors if he was going to express an interest in the more senior role.OH said he wasn't sure as hadn't yet received job spec. Director said she hadasked another director to approve them and that they will be circulated onMonday (22nd Oct). She said they will expect OH to tell them onMonday of his intentions. (He has sincefound out that the director sent specs for approval on Monday of this week, the15th?!) However she alsointimated that the role will be more weighted towards the more general tasks,with only a small amount of what my husband already does, and that if they drawup a matrix to reflect that, it will be likely that one of the other members ofstaff will get the job.

Furtherto that OH said that one of Team B was in his office the other day andmentioned that one of the directors (a third director) told her ‘not to worry’and that she is ‘safe’. Doesn’t thissound a bit dodgy? Also, when OH wasdiscussing job specs and expressing interest with the other director, she saidthat they hadn’t yet formulated the matrix, that they would do this once theyknew who was going to express interest in the roles. Is this not flawed? Surely they should already know which skills,experience and qualifications are important to them for the roles they aregoing to offer?

Anunderlying issue to this situation is that OH and director (who told hiscolleague that she would be safe) don’t particularly get on. The company is a family business and all ofthe directors are related. The directorhe doesn’t get on with, doesn’t get on with lots of people and lots of my OH’spredecessors left because of him. Thedirector with whom my OH had the discussion with, despairs of the otherdirector (or so she has said in conversations with my OH – who, I hasten to addhas been very careful about what he says to her – they’re family after all!)

OHhas only been there for 8 months and at the end of his 6 month probationaryperiod, the (mean) director told the HR manager to tell OH that he was extendingprobationary period but didn’t say why. OH has letter from HR to confirm extension of PP, but requested ameeting with the director on several occasions to discuss further but this hadn’ttaken place before the redundancy situation came to light.

Anyway, OH doesn’t want to express an interest in the more seniorrole as it seems it is a done deal and doesn’t want the humiliation of notgetting the job he is already doing. Idon’t know if this is the best course of action. If he doesn’t, will it affect his right toJSA should he need to claim? Would hehave to prove that he did express an interest in the role? To be honest, he has such a long commute thatwe worked out we couldn’t really afford for him to take the £2k cut!

Sorry for the slight ramble, it’s hard to explain the situationfully on a forum (as I’m sure you’ll appreciate) but really I just wanted toknow if anyone has any comments about the situation or maybe suggestions fornext steps.

If you need anything clarifying, just ask.

TIA
Lady C

Ewarwoowar2

The reality of the situations is that all four jobs have been made redundantand there are three new possible suitable jobs for three of the four employees.

In this situation the employer has a fairly wide discretion as to who itgives the jobs to. A employee has the right to be offer suitable alternativeemployment. If you husband applies for one of the available jobs, it issuitable for him (he has the skills, etc.. to do it) and no one else applies,the job should be given to him. However, if there's competition, e.g. one ofthe other four also applies; it's up to the employer who gets the job.

Of course the employer will have made its mind up about some jobs and whowill get them, that's human nature. If your husband has not go on with a keydecision maker, he may well be one the outside when the decision about jobs ismade.

Your husband should throw his hat in the ring for the senior job. This isbecause it might be suitable for him. If he refuses to apply for a suitablejob, he technically waives his right to a redundancy payment and might alsowaive his right to certain benefits (although I'm no expert on that).