Redundancy - Employer being difficult

SPENCER

Any advice would be greatly appreciated


Took voluntary redundancy as been at the company for many years and redundancy payment was too good to turn down (plus really dislike working there).

I am on "garden Leave" until the end of november. I am being paid my monthly salary until then and will receive redundancy payment then.

I handed out a few cv's around the local area. Had an interview and was offered the job.

I spoke to human resources for advice on whether I could leave before then and not lose redundancy payment. They said it would be at the discretion of my line manager.

I have spoken to him and he has said no. If I leave before end november I will forfeit my redundancy payment. He said he might need me to go in to work if they become busy.

I doubt this as not been called in as yet plus reason for redundancy was lack of work.

I assume there is nothing I can do?

I'm so disappointed as wife not able to work due to cancer. Have children also so the redundancy payment and the fact I received job offer so quickly was great.

Company I work for is very large insurance company who are always making redundancies and couldnt care less about it's employees!

laineybird2000

That's standard proceedure im affaid. Your effectively still employed by them, if you choose to leave before you're actually made redundant, you walk away from the money... Try asking new job if they'll keep the position open? Long shot but worth asking.

zzzLazyDaisy

There is such a thing as a redundancy 'counter notice' procedure. You write a letter in a specific format to your employer explaining that you have found alternative employment and wish to leave before the end of your statutory notice period (note this must be done before the expiry of the statutory notice period, so if you have a longer contractual notice, and have already passed the statutory notice period, this doesn't help you). If the counter notice is accepted you lose the remainder of your notice pay, but keep your statutory redundancy (however any ex-gratia or contractual redundancy is up to the employer and may be with-held). Also the employer is entitled to refuse your counter notice, in which case you re back to square one. On the whole a pretty toothless piece of legislation, but I thought I would tell you about it for the sake of completeness.

One other thing occurs to me - there is nothing in law against having two jobs. You would need to check your contract with your current employer to see if it contains any clause prohibiting secondary employment, but provided you agree with your second employer that if your current employer requires your attendance you will have to give them priority, it may still be possible for you to start work with the new employer - even if that is on a part-time basis initially - before your current job ends. This option might be worth investigating.

EDIT - having said that, if the new job is in the same industry and/or with the competitor, this may very well be the reason for you being placed on garden leave and the reason they are refusing to let you leave early. In that case, the suggestion of secondary employment is unlikely to be acceptable to your current employer. Also, if working for a competitor is a possibility, do also check your contract for any restrictive covenants concerning your ability to work for a competitor after your current employment ends.

hth

Daisy

getmore4less

AIUI the above is wrong.

the statutory counter notice period works back from the date of termination(max 12 weeks) not the date of notice.

there are strict timings from unconditional job offer as well.
sarel has a summary on redundacy forum in the faq
http://www.redundancyforum.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions/5166-serving-counter-notice/

SPENCER

Thanks for all the advice. Will no doubt have to tell prospective employer that I cannot accept the job. Line manager is not going to budge on this.

whitewing

How much is the redundancy?

How much is the salary of the new job?

getmore4less

One other advantage of counter notice even if the employer can show a reasonable reason to deny is it can help ensure you get the redundancy if the employer tries to remove the redundancy situation.


Some employers will try remove the redundancy if they get wind you have accepted another job.