Work Outsourced to India - Redundancy - Worth Fighting in Tribunal?

mrobsessed

getmore4less wrote: »

You have had the same time to consult, come up with counter proposals, take legal advice to prepare any claim and make sure that the CA include the relevent stuff like agreed references.

Yes, the agreed references is part of the CA. We have been languishing in a position of having very little information for a significant part of the 'consulation period' and were told we were entering it, but not how long it would be for. It was 2 months before it was confirmed it would be until end of April.

At the start of the process the 'powers that be' literally would not acknowledge we were being made redundant or discuss it at all, and tried to force us into lower paid, less skilled jobs, implying that refusal of an 'appropriate' alternative job would lead to us getting nothing. We looked into this and felt sure that the offered jobs were not appropriate for our skills and experience.

They also pretended that a position in India was a reasonable offer or alternative employment, despite offering no relocation or travel costs.

As I've already mentioned, the CA itself will not be shown until the last 12 days of a 5 and a half month consultation period. We've still not seen the document.

getmore4less wrote: »

Was any time spent as a group trying to negotiate a bigger enhanced payment.

No. The enhanced money is fairly generous and a number of people who have been in the company many years (15 - 35) are getting large payouts, up to 30K. Some are nearing 60, so not too bothered about retiring early with a large sum. I've been there a comparatively short time, so I have less reason to take the money and run.

zzzLazyDaisy

I understand your upset at losing your job, and your frustration that jobs have been outsourced to India, but it is important to understand the legal position, so you can make informed decisions.

This is a brief summary of the law:

1 If the work you do has been outsourced to another company then, in certain circumstances the employees' contracts transfer automatically to the new company. Obviously this is not a practical proposal given that the new company is in India.

2 If the employer requirements for workers to do work of a particular kind has ceased or diminished, that is a genuine redundancy situation and a fair reason for dismissal in law (this happens a lot with business reorganisations, and the tribunal have no power to enquire into the decision to reorganise the business)

3 From what you say this sounds like a 'fair' redundancy (in law). This means that the only way you could challenge the fairness of the decision is if they have failed to follow proper procedures (consultation and consideration of whether there are vacancies within the company that they could offer). In real terms, in the current economy, tribunals accept that redundancies are a fact of life - even if they messed up the procedure, the likelihood is you would only get a couple of extra weeks pay, for the time it would have taken for them to do the job properly.

4 The tribunal does not have the power to order the employer to give a reference

5 A compromise agreement is the only way that the employee can give up their right to go to a tribunal, so the law requires that you must see a solicitor first and it is convention that the employer pays for this.

6 The reason employers do this is simple - they don't want the hassle and expense of 100 employees going to tribunal, even if they have no real prospect of success, it is a nuisance and an expense that they can do without

7 If the employer is offering enhanced redundancy payment for signing the CA, and only statutory is you refuse, you need to consider your position very carefully, as (on the information you have given us) your chances of winning in tribunal are poor.

Hope this helps

D