Lied to at a redundancy meeting

moneyistooshorttomention

I'll admit, in your position, that I wouldn't be able to resist sending them a typed letter stating words to the effect of "In view of information that has come to light subsequent to our (recorded) interview of x date that some colleagues are getting more than the statutory redundancy payment due according to their age/length of service, then I hereby formally request we re-visit the level of payment due to myself. My acceptance of the payment agreed between us was subject to your assurance during the interview of x date that no-one was to receive more than the legal minimum applicable.

I am, of course, willing to provide transcript of my recording and your reply to my questions on this was at x minutes in on the conversation".

***************

It might do some good and I cant see it would do any harm.

At the very least I would have conveyed the message (in perfectly acceptable/logical language) that "I am not a fool. Stop taking me for one. You, on the other hand, are a lyer" but I would not have used those words....

System

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I cant see it would do any harm.

All bets off and statutory redundancy only, loss of retention bonus. Yeah no harm done there then if the company decide they have a problem child who needs to be dealt with forthwith.

moneyistooshorttomention

Presumably that retention bonus is down in writing - ie in the bag.

System

But all bets are off if everything is re-negotiated especially if you tell them

My acceptance of the payment agreed between us was subject to your assurance during the interview of x date that no-one was to receive more than the legal minimum applicable.

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To me that would be a rejection of the agreement I.E. you lied to me so the agreement no longer stands (bye bye retention bonus)

getmore4less

Unless the op has some hold they get stuck with resign or go on notice to leave(Sept) 12 weeks before they want to terminate them or even keep them hanging on and just pay PILON or even have them on garden leave.

No idea what the OP goal is with this.

Ozzuk

I'd leave it, what if you need a reference? It may not be fair, but you are potentially trying to use information made available to your position of trust as a bargaining tool - you could find yourself in hot water/disciplinary for that I'm guessing. Could be a data protection issue perhaps even computer misuse act issue.

Derwent

These things are never straightforward. It could be the case, for example, that the company has calculated everyone's redundancy based on statutory redundancy but then made an ex gratia payment on top of that. Therefore it would not be inaccurate to say that the "redundancy" part of the payment was statutory amounts. OP, have you asked if the company will be making you an ex gratia payment ?

asajj

There is a very good reason why all pay related stuff should be confidental.

staple28

I don't understand why you are so annoyed, it's no body elses business what other people get, i dont know why you asked what everyone else was getting? did you think they would divulge other peoples confidential information? People may have different contracts and agreements.

If you take this futher and cause a fuss beacuse they 'lied' to you, when all they did was state everyone will get statutory (which they will, and just didnt say of they are getting anything extra) you could end up with a not so bad reference?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Ballard wrote: »

It was no surprise when my company announced last autumn that the office was to close and we were all to be made redundant. We all had individual meetings with the GM and owing to my holiday mine was last. I already knew that the payout was very poor.

When I had my meeting with the GM & HR I asked to record it on my phone which was agreed.

I have been asked to stay until the branch is finally closed (anticipated to be 30th September 2015) and they have agreed to pay me a taxable 'retention bonus' if I don't leave before this date (or if they decide that I'm no longer required).

I was told that everyone is getting statutory redundancy and I specifically asked what I would be offered if I were to leave immediately and was told simply the statutory. I pushed further and asked whether anyone at all was getting more than this and the reply was no. This is on the recording on my phone.

I knew at the time that this was untrue but had no proof. I now have proof because I made a redundancy payment to a colleague which was significantly higher. It didn't include his salary and in fact had a deduction of an outstanding personal loan. This was in my usual daily routine and I haven't snooped. I do, however, know this this is not an isolated case.

I'm thinking of asking my union to query it as I agreed to the 'retention bonus' on the grounds that everything that I was told in the meeting was true.

I've been at this company for 15 years and am disgusted with their handling of this whole thing.

Any advice would be welcomed.

Question. Are you getting the statutory minimum. If answer is yes, you are not being done.

What other people get is their agreement, and a harsh reality of life. Its tapestry is rich. And if I were one who got more, I would be aggrieved at your lack of confidentiality.