Constructive Dismissal?

theoretica

Has your friend actually asked for clarification about how his role is seen going forward?

zak1976

Maybe that's the next step for them, to get clarification then?
By the sounds of it though it doesn't seem to matter if they have the same role or have it taken away from them because from what people are saying it's all allowed.

tomtontom

zak1976 wrote: »

Maybe that's the next step for them, to get clarification then?
By the sounds of it though it doesn't seem to matter if they have the same role or have it taken away from them because from what people are saying it's all allowed.

It is allowed to introduce new job roles, and to some extent to spread out duties and responsibilities. What is not allowed is to strip him of his role and tell him to do the cleaning. However there can be a fine line between the two. He needs to see how this plays out, or as suggested ask for clarification on what his role is seen as going forward. It may be that the director needs to allocate some of his duties but doesn't feel your friend is suited to them, hence the middle position.

KiKi

Hi OP
I can totally understand why your friend is upset. He's worked hard, taken on management of projects and now the director has brought in a manager to do that. I can understand that it feels unfair, unjust and a "why did I bother" thing. However, assuming he took this additional work on without a formal change in role (eg, new contract, job title etc) then it's not unlawful.
(There would be a question over its lawfulness if he was The Manager, and they brought in Another Manager and then changed your friend's role to a Graphic Designer. It sounds like it wasn't this formal, though - your friend has done additional stuff in his role, but was never actually in a specific management role.)
I'd also suggest that if the director thought your friend could take on that new management role, that he'd have offered it to him. He didn't. It's likely that your friend either wasn't up to it, or perhaps has done *aspects* of managing but hasn't actually been doing a full management role, and the director wanted someone with more experience or a different skills set.
Either way, that's not going to be constructive dismissal (he'd have to resign first anyway!). Perhaps your friend can see it as an opportunity to go and find a new role (and a payrise with it!) or take home the same pay for no management stress! Or, if he's really that upset and wants closure, then he needs to find out why. He could ask the question outright - "I felt I was doing a lot of aspects of this new manager's role, so can I please ask why you brought someone else in to do the role I was doing?" He should be prepared for the answer, though.
KiKi

TELLIT01

Nobody has any right to expect their job responsibilities to remain unchanged for the duration of their employment. Companies change and their direction may also change over time.
As others have said, your friend's first move needs to be to find out exactly how the employment of the new person affects their role. Until they have the facts they are definitely in a very weak position to argue unfair dismissal.
It may be that senior management believe they aren't doing a good job as a manager but were doing a good job in their original role. If you friend has only been covering other roles, rather than officially appointed/promoted to a position they are likely to have little redress.
I've seen many situations where a staff member has taken on responsibilities above their official role following the departure of a manager (i.e. when it suits management needs), but then told they can't apply for the role when advertised because they don't have the required qualifications!

zak1976

They were definitely, officially promoted with a new contract that much I do know.

TBagpuss

What have your firned's employers said to him about the new person?
What have they said to him about any changes to his role?
Is there any suggestion that his pay will be affected?

Isn't it possible that they see his strngths as being as a grahic designer and that they want him to have the time and engery to focus on that rather than being distracted with admin and mangement.

I think it would be reasonable for him o have a conversation with his line manager to clarify things, but I would strongly advice that he not go in 'all guns blazing' accusing them of undermining him or anything of that kind.