Being Forced to Relocate Unwillingly

kelpie35

After the 2 years are up her relocation money would stop, but have you considered that in these 2 years her pay might rise and that would balance out her loss.

If she is not happy about the move, maybe it is the right time to look for a new job.

Going on what you have said, she has to decide if she takes the job or leaves. I know what I would do in the current job market, take the role in a different town.

The_Old_Bag

Cavemanu wrote: »

hi there I'd suggest she joins the union. She can either join in the workplace if there is a prescence. If there is not she can become a private member of whatever recognised union there is in that particular workplace- UNISON?.

Shouldn't waste your money with the Union.

Excess mileage if approved would only be the equivalent of the cost of a bus - think between 20 - 30p a mile depending on employer and their scheme.
So if additional mileage = 200 per week, then say max of £60...... which by the way, she will get taxed on.
Also note, the ADDITIONAL mileage is just that -additional to distance from her home to current base, irrespective of it she walks, gets a free lift to current base, or shares a lift.
So if current distance is 5 miles, that reduces excess mileage to 150 miles = £45 (taxable)
If current distance is 10 miles, excess would be 100 = £30 (taxable)

Other little quirks in the way they calculate the mileage is :-
Say you have to travel 5 miles south to your nearest train station to catch a train, which then travels 15 miles north, and you then walk a mile south to her new office.
Distance you can claim = 9 miles
Same principal with driving - it is not what distance you have to drive, they calculate it as the crow flies..

She will not be reimbursed for parking, and if she has free parking provided in by her employer she may well be taxed on this as a benefit.

Plus as you have pointed out, the increase amount of time and stress with all the extra travelling.

In current climate the employers have the employees by the short and curlies. As others have said, it sounds like she has to put up with move, or leave of her own volition.
I wouldn't put any hope in employment law or even her contract of employment offering her any protection. Big employers can re-write their rules as and when they feel like it, and always fall back on "Current Economic Situation" to get away with anything.

Another approach could be - is there any part of her job which she could do from home ?
Does she work on computers or on the phone ?
In this day and age Employers have no real excuse for not exploring every possibility.
Your wife could ask if she work from home 2 or 3 days a week.
Worth asking, they can only say no.
I know Public sector employers who have been absolutely insistant that staff could not, and would not ever be able to work from home.
Then Employer had to sell off buildings to pay the running costs of the organisation, and there physically was not enough room/desks for everyone.
Staff have to hot desk, and most cannot park anywhere near the office.
Suddenly the employer is actively encouraging staff to work from home....:cool:

Dunroamin

YorkshireGuy wrote: »

Unfortunately that would be pretty expensive:

Old banger = £600 - £1000 ?
Road tax = £120
MOT = £50
Insurance without no claims discount = £800 ?
Weekly miles = 200 = £30 = £1200 per year

Plus servicing, maintenance, breakdown cover, etc. And she needs to pay for parking in the new town.

So that's well over £2k when she's on the same salary as before. She would get some cash from the employer for two years but after that she's well out of pocket.

Cheaper than not having a job and you need to deduct her current travelling expenses from that.

Takeaway_Addict

Dunroamin wrote: »

Cheaper than not having a job and you need to deduct her current travelling expenses from that.

I agree with Dunroamin, why on earth wouldn't you go with this new job when you at least have a job and money coming in and then look for a job whilst working to better suit her.

She may get some redundancy money if she pushes for it (Unless the employer agrees I can't see her winning a tribunal but that's just my view) but its only likely to be statutory and that will last months at most and there is no guarantee to get a job in that time.

John1993_2

Is moving house not an option?

YorkshireGuy

John1993 wrote: »

Is moving house not an option?

Not really. I run a business from home which involves visiting customers in the town where she currently works!

GwylimT

YorkshireGuy wrote: »

Not really. I run a business from home which involves visiting customers in the town where she currently works!

I don't see why that would be a problem as you have a car, meaning your wife could walk, cycle or catch a bus to get to work while you can still visit customers.

YorkshireGuy

GwylimT wrote: »

I don't see why that would be a problem as you have a car, meaning your wife could walk, cycle or catch a bus to get to work while you can still visit customers.

We have spent many thousands modifying our current house so that I can operate my business from it. Moving house isn't really an option and would cost loads.

jm2926

YorkshireGuy wrote: »

This is very inconvenient for her (and indirectly for me). We only have one car between us which works out ok at the moment but her journey will be considerably longer in future. Going by public transport is awkward as she will need to catch a bus and a train and the journey time will increase considerably.

I think the employer will pay her increased travel costs (for the first 2 years at least) but the fact remains that she does not want to spend so much time travelling. (It would be an extra 2 hours per day and would impact negatively on our quality of life.) Buying a second car is one solution but that is going to cost thousands to buy, insure, tax, fuel and maintain. We don't really want to go down this route.

It sounds as if you have been in a very fortunate situation until now with your wife's travel time/cost. If she was to accept the new terms what would be the chance of using the 2 years to find alternative employment at better terms?

It's easy to get hung up on the "loss" or "cost" of change without accepting that the initial figures were skewed and much less than most people experience. 2 years costs seems very reasonable to adjust and tbh 15 miles is nothing from town to town.

I'm assuming that your initial 4 miles travel takes next to no time, this may of course not be the case.

Another factor worth considering is working from home. Can she negotiate some work from home days to alleviate the travel issue? I find this a real break in terms of travel saved and lack of office distractions so I tend to be more productive.

YorkshireGuy

She took the job because it was close so she wouldn't have to travel far. That's the whole point. It wasn't "fortunate" - it was planned. She wouldn't have applied for the job if it was 20 miles away which is where it will soon probably be based.

She currently spends 30-40 minutes a day commuting. This will increase dramatically to 150-180 minutes. That's an extra 10 hours a week assuming all the buses and trains run on time which is highly unlikely.

She can't work from home unfortunately. She works with confidential, public sector, databases which she can't access at home.