A long standing friend

Pobby

An old friend has been made unemployed. 26 years of service. As a sales rep for the same company for this time he is clearly well established.

A while ago the company lost a major line. People were laid off but not he. He has been messed about with various area changes. A new MD has been employed, guy is a bit of a giggle in the small industry. So he decides to sack my friend who is 61. Reason being is that he is not hitting sales targets. As an employee, a sales agent and an employer, that seems to be pretty arbitrary to me.

He has had no redundancy payment which I find somewhat of a mistake. It does seem that the company is struggling yet has 6 directors on the books.

Wondering what he can do.

nearlyrich

If he has been sacked for not performing ( missing sales targets) he would not be entitled to redundancy...

Pobby

However that would seem very harsh. Whoever sets these targets is calculated on what?

I still think he has a good case . His area comprises of some of the worst hit areas since the recession. Any boss could create a sales target that is in no way realistic.




















































































































































































































































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nearlyrich

I doubt it will be one missed target, I work in sales myself, if a sales person is underacheiving their manager will usually start a performance improvement process. Dismissal is not the first step...hitting targets is what sales people do, the recession has had an effect but if he is not selling enough to pay for himself they are within their rights to let him go.

wwtrend

He can put in a claim for unfair dismissal to the employment tribunal but he must do this within three months of being dismissed. ie one day before the three months is up. Don't mess up on the time limits as there is a very strong possibility his claim would be rejected outright be the court. If he goes this route forward that the targets were unrealistic or proper procedures for dismissal weren't followed etc. If he is a Union member he can go to his union rep for advice if not he could get advice from Citizens Advice and probably some help with the paperwork as well. You are right it does seem harsh especially if he had always met targets before which will all go to support his case. Going to a ET can be stressful as it isn't always a quick process and if the company has an appeal process the court will expect him to go through that first. If they do have an appeal against dismissal process you cannot delay putting in you ET 1 until it's completed. The three months minus a day will still run from the date of dismissal. Hope this helps.