Redundancy and age discrimination

kisobel

I am looking for some advice about a situation my mum has just found herself in.

She is 65 next month and has worked for the same company for 17 years in a management role, mostly full time but for the last year or so working 4 days per week. She has been finding work very hard (its a high stress environment plus the work is much more computer-based/technical these days which she struggles with). At the beginning of this year, she agreed with the company that her role would be downgraded (new job title but no change in salary) and a new manager appointed over her - this was with the aim of reducing work stress which was making her quite ill. However it didn't really work and the job has been making her miserable - but she did not want to retire for financial reasons.

Yesterday, after having had some time signed off sick with stress, HR told her they were making her role redundant - just her role. She works in a team that is growing and has just recruited 2 new people, and the job she does is essentially the same as the others but she has a different title because of the downgrade. They are offering her 3 months contractual notice and 25.5 weeks pay at £450 per week - it works out overall at a lump sum of about £18.5k.

It seems to me that they are on pretty dodgy ground making her redundant - she must have a good case for age discrimination as they are getting rid of her but replacing her with new (younger) people. They haven't said the redundancy is anything to do with her performance or sickness levels - just that they don't need her role.

However she relieved to be leaving and is pretty happy with the payoff, she had been hating the job so much that she was thinking of retiring anyway and now she can do it with a payoff.

So I am not sure whether it would be worth pursing an unfair dismissal claim... I suppose my question is, how stressful and costly is the process of fighting this, and how much would be be likely to get if she won? Has anyone ever been in the same situation?

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Johno100

I think you/she have answered your own question:-

However she relieved to be leaving and is pretty happy with the payoff, she had been hating the job so much that she was thinking of retiring anyway and now she can do it with a payoff.

She will also give someone of working age, trying to make their way in the world, a chance in these difficult economic times.

Takeaway_Addict

Sounds like it may actually be a compromise agreement rather than redundancy.

zzzLazyDaisy

It sounds to me that she holds a different role from the others. Higher salary and reporting to the new manager.

The employer has decided to cut this tier out, and therefore her role has disappeared from the organisational structure. It has ceased to exist. That is one of the definitions of redundancy.

Now she *can* fight this decision, and she can take them to a tribunal - which is likely to be incredibly stressful for her. She may even win. She may even be reinstated back in her job. Of course in that scenario, she would have to pay back the money, and she would have to carry on working in a job she finds stressful.

Is that really what she wants?

Or does she want to take the money and have a quiet peaceful life?

Sometimes principles can be expensive, and even though you may feel she has not been treated very well by her employer, in fact they may be doing her a favour. If she continues to have time off work, she could end up dismissed on capability grounds and then she would not get the redundancy payment.

Your mum is happy, she has a payoff she would not otherwise have got, and she no longer has to go to work in a job that was stressing her out.

My advice? Let sleeping dogs lie and encourage your mum to enjoy her new found leisure time with the money.

lulu650

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Sounds like it may actually be a compromise agreement rather than redundancy.

Sounds like straightforward redundancy to me and the OP's mother was effectively in a pool of one.

Given the fees for ETs starting end July, how incredibly stressful it is to go through an ET and that a pool of one isn't necessarily unfair dismissal I'd agree with others to take the money and have a well earned rest from work