Is Redundancy offered

ripple23

Hi i have posted about this already but not sure if it was in the right place so am trying again, hope i don't offend anyone.

I am employed full time as a Hairdresser for a small business that is run by a husband and wife team and their son works for them, i am the only full time stylist and they are retiring at the end of dec 14 but are being very scatter brained about my job future.
the son is taking over the saloon and running it as 'Rent a Chair' which is using only Self Employed Stylist as i am employed not self employed where does this leave me? i won't do Self Employed as they have run the business into the ground and its in a small village so i would never earn enough but they seem to think by offering me that option they have covered themselves and don't have to offer me redundancy even though when they retire the shop will change hands etc and i will not have a job there anymore, can anyone shed any light on this situation for me please?:undecided

marlot

Sounds like redundancy to me. I'd put in a call to ACAS for advice.

CHeck your home insurance policy - you may have legal cover. When I was made redundant they were very helpful with points of law.

ripple23

i don't seem to be getting very far with the solicitor i spoke to as he seemed to think that as they had offered me 'Rent a Chair' that would prevent them having to pay me redundancy?
I don't honestly think he was grasping the fact that that offer was for me to go Self Employed.
I know i will be out of work at the end of the year, l just need to know if i have any chance of getting any sort of payout from them as im 56yr now

mgdavid

if you use a solicitor you will need to ensure they are a specialist in employment law - yours is a non-trivial situation.
Did you talk to CAB or ACAS yet?

TBagpuss

I agree that you need to get some proper advice.
On the face of it, it looks as though you will be redundant as the company is restructuring and will no longer be employing a stylist.

If they sell or transfer the business to their son, rather than closing it, then your employment rights remain the same - your new employer (the son) has all the obligations the old one (the parents) had - your employment does not end just because the ownership of the company changes hands - so at that point, the son may be able to make you redundant but if he does, your redundancy payment would be based on your total employment time, not just the time since the take over.

You don't get redundancy pay if you are offered suitable alternative employment, but as what they are proposing is self-employment, not alternative employment, I think it's unlikely that that would count.

However, you do need to get proper advice from an experienced employment law solicitor. As a PP said, check whether you have legal cover on your home insurance.