Is this discrimination?

kingprawn

Hi

I was wondering if anyone can give me any advice as I am unsure what to do about a predicament I am in. I will try and keep this short.

So back in July I was signed off work to have biopsies and eventually had an op to have cancer cells removed. This meant I only returned to work at the end of October once treatment had finished. Before I was off advised the company that I was likely to be off for a while and if the wanted to get some cover that I would train them before I went off. They declined saying it was pointless and that my job was specialised so would take too long to train someone. During my absence the work diary wasn't managed and so not much work was carried out, or not efficiently anyway. This meant that there was very little to invoice. Very few invoices were done as this was also part of my job and money was spent on purchases by individuals and this was not managed effectively. All this resulted in losses of approx £20k per month while I was off.
I had been back to work for 3 weeks when I was informed - along with everyone else at this time - that we were entering a period of consultation as a result of these losses. The following day I received an individual letter that nobody else got. This told me that it was my work area that was affected and that I alone may be facing redundancy, that I was going to be consulted with until today and that a final meeting will take place tomorrow. I was encouraged to get in touch if I had any questions.

As I have not been consulted with at any point over the past 2 weeks I sent an email with some questions I had. I asked why my role was at risk, what criteria had been used to determine it was my role that was not required, who would be responsible for my work, if anyone else is at risk and what notice and pay I would be entitled to should they make me redundant. I was advised it was to premature to answer any of these questions despite them already issuing me with the letter. I responded today and asked them again stating that it was important that I was fully informed and I received an angry phonecall from my chairman telling me no decisions had been made and that was the purpose of the meeting. He asked did I want it to take place or not? Then told me he wouldn't be answering any questions today. I suspect he wants it face to face so it isn't in writing. I also asked if it was to do with my absence which seemed to incite him. He told me that his letter clearly stated we were in a period of consultation and that was the purpose of the meeting. This contradicts the wording of the letter which says a final decision will be made tomorrow. The redundancy of my post also contradicts the purpose of cutting costs as the biggest losses occurred when I was absent and since my return we have been back to a break even figure.

I now have a meeting tomorrow which is outside of my consultation period, to discuss the possibility of my redundancy, in an area which is crucial to the business. I am the only person to do any admin within the company and my title is office manager, there is nobody with the knowledge or experience in the company to do most parts of my job, e.g. HR, accounts etc. I suspect that they are using redundancy and the losses sustained during my absence to dismiss me because of the time off I have had. This would not be the first time this has happened within the parent company.

I feel ready to leave but I keep being told not to resign. It is becoming unbearable to come into work and I struggle with stress and anxiety anyway. The reason stated on my sick notes is stress due to the procedures I had to endure and the mental effects whilst undergoing treatment. I am scared to take any more time off sick and don't have enough holidays to take but I am beginning to think leaving is the only way. The only thing keeping me going this week is the determination of not making things easy for them. Could they make me redundant in my absence? If I went off sick how would this affect my remuneration? Have they discriminated against me because of my absence?

I feel I must add that by getting rid of me they would save around £1k per month which doesn't seem worth the risk from a financial point of view. The annual saving is still less than one average monthly loss of £20k when I am not here. I am on the lowest wage of all the managers and already only work 30 hours a week so the benefits of getting rid of me don't seem to outweigh the benefits of having me here to tie up all things admin and office related.

I am confused and hoping someone may be able to shed some light on the matter.

:mad::huh:

justanopinion

Hi Kingprawn. There is a lot involved in this and because so much is going on with sickness and redundancy, I don't want to jump in and advise you incorrectly when you're so stressed.

Pop over to the redundancy forum (think it's redundancyforum.co.uk) and post there. A fab lady called SarEl gives advice - she used to be an employment law barrister. She will tell you exactly what it is, though she is very straight talking.

Best of luck and hope you feel better soon. No job is worth your health.

Takeaway_Addict

I agree with the above about trying the other site but the one question I have is, if you are simply not invoicing surely the money is there sitting on invoices and could be sent out, thus how is the company losing 20k a month?

It sounds like they are going to spread your work around.....why I have no idea?