Employment Tribunal Questions

bigmc1_9

Hi,

Without getting into the full story, My wife was recently put into consultation at risk of redundancy. She has the same job title as someone else in the small company, allowing them to switch between both departments if required. Initially my wife was the only person put into the redundancy pool despite (a someone else having the same job title as her and (b others who do the same role as my wife although there title only includes one part of my wife's title as they are unable to switch between the 2 departments as they cannot perform both roles.

My wife spoke to an employment lawyer and during her consultation period she brought this up. After mentioning this at a few consultation meetings the company advised my they would bring the person with the same title into the redundancy pool if that was what my wife wanted. The other option they said to her was she just took the redundancy and stopped causing a fuss basically but they told her it was a decision she had to make. Having took advise from the employment lawyer my wife then went back and said it was not her decision to make but she also felt that the other people who do the same duties as her on a day to day basis should also be in the pool for redundancy. her work accepted and advised all the other staff would be put in consultation and a matrix scoring system would be used. 2 days later my wife turned up at a meeting to find she had been scored lowest ( no surprise really as they seem desperate to get rid of her). We were rather surprised they were able to put every 1 into consultation and score so quickly.

At the recent appeal meeting my wife has found out that actually only her and 2 others ended up in the pool for redundancy and even then it doesn't look like the other 2 were ever officially under consultation, instead they were "briefed" of the matrix scoring taking place.

My wife is taking this to a redundancy tribunal as it seems that the selection process was unfair and hopefully is successful but i was wondering how often in these cases the "judge" will awards costs to the employer if they win?

Thanks

Uncertain

bigmc1_9 wrote: »

My wife is taking this to a redundancy tribunal as it seems that the selection process was unfair and hopefully is successful but i was wondering how often in these cases the "judge" will awards costs to the employer if they win?

Unlikely.

To have costs awarded against you at an ET you need to do far worse than just lose. Your case needs to be either so weak that it should never have been brought or judged to be malicious.

That doesn't mean you won't get letters from the other side's solicitors making threats about asking for costs though......

If there is any likelihood of costs you will get clear hints from the judge at pre hearings or be ordered to pay a deposit.

bigmc1_9

Ok thanks,

With the selection process being such a mess i was thinking that even if the judge did award victory to the employer it is clear to be seen that it has not been a smooth consultation and many errors have been made and therefore it wont hopefully be classed as a waste of time.

jobbingmusician

your wife should ask her employer for a statement of the criteria used for redundancy selection (my understanding is that they don't have to provide it, though - can anyone confirm?)

bigmc1_9

jobbingmusician wrote: »

your wife should ask her employer for a statement of the criteria used for redundancy selection (my understanding is that they don't have to provide it, though - can anyone confirm?)

She did ask this and the initial answer was that it was because she was a pool of one. This has been noted on official minutes of the meeting that took place.

warmhands.coldheart

Put in a Subject Access Request asking for ALL notes, meeting details, meeting notes, e-mails, Messages etc. etc. etc in regards to the redundancy and her selection. if there are specific people involved. name specific names. Solicitor should be able to help you with this. Have you checked your house insurance to see if you have any legal cover. some policies tend to have it.... (I have used it on a number of occasions now and it hasn't effected my insurance policies in the future.)