Found out employer is planning to get rid of colleague

PlanHappy

Hoping someone with knowledge of employment law can give us their thoughts on this situation.

A colleague recently found evidence that our employer is planning to get rid of them imminently via redundancy. The evidence indicated that the primary motive was to get rid of the employee herself, and that to make it a fair dismissal the employer would "make it a redundancy". The redundancy itself isn't that inappropriate - there isn't enough work right now to keep all of us occupied (though there has been recently) - but the way that it's being approached seems somewhat underhand. The employer doesn't know that we've found this, and given the personalities involved, it's not something that she could feasibly confront them about without making things worse for herself.

Other info:

The employee is nine months in to a year's contract and initially had a six-month probation period; when the six months was up, the employer decided to extend it for reasons that weren't particularly fair (failure to generate work - but generating work is not that employee's responsibility and it is largely out of her control). So while the colleague's notice period would normally be three months, it is currently a week because of the probation terms. It seems like the probation period was extended so that they could choose to drop her with little notice.

The employer recently lost a large court case for unfair dismissal and has a record of doing this kind of thing to several people before; anecdotally, the employer has seemed to "have it in" for my colleague even though her performance and dedication have been very good, but she'd be unlikely to be able to demonstrate that effectively in court.

The company is very small - no trade unions or anything similar. It is in financial services.

There is also evidence that the plan is to replace the colleague, albeit with someone with slightly less experience.

My colleague would really like to finish out the year's contract as she is worried about a short employment period looking bad on her CV, and at this time of year it's harder to get a job in our profession. She's also extremely upset and demotivated by the fact that this is going on. We're all a bit nervous about our jobs too.

Other than looking for another job in anticipation of the redundancy, is there anything my colleague can do? Should she consider challenging this or would she not have much of a case? What are her rights?

tizerbelle

Sorry but with only 9 months service with the employer, your colleague has little to no rights. The employer can let her go for any non-discriminatory (as defined by the Equality Act) reason they like until she has 2 years service.

TBagpuss

Tizerbelle is correct. The emploer doesn't ned to prove that there is a redundancy, they simply have to avoid dismissing her due to a protected characteristic.

What is her notice period?

corf999

They do not need to make her redundant and all the legal protection that involves. They can simply terminate her employment stating "Not required by Business" and pay her her notice period which she may or may not be required to work.

jobbingmusician

Yes, the above is correct. Although I understand that in this case the probation period affects the notice period, as far as employment law goes, the probation period has no real meaning. The only important date is the 2nd anniversary, when people gain full employment rights, especially against unfair dismissal. The employer can dismiss on a whim before then, so long as their whim does not evidence discrimination on a protected characteristic.

makeyourdaddyproud

It really saddens me when people secure work, possibly after a long time searching, and then be summarily dismissed. All employers want staff with long proven tenure with a recent employer, but dismiss at the drop of a hat.

I sometimes feel indentured subservience is never worth the bother if no reciprocal respect is there...

ohreally

PlanHappy wrote: »

The employee is nine months in to a year's contract

Surely the answer is to let the contract come to its conclusion, no need for the employer to fabricate reasons to terminate.

fannyadams

http://www.redundancyexpert.co.uk/unfair-redundancy-what-do.html
not recommending the company just think what they've written is interesting/may help.

getmore4less

A bit unusual to have a 12 month contract with 3 months notice after 6month(probation).

maninthestreet

As ohreally stated, the employer only has to wait for another 3 months, and then this employee's contract will come to an end - no need to go through the redundancy process unless the employer wants rid of them sooner than that.