Can they make me redundant and keep a temp on? 12 October 2016 at 9:24AM in Redundancy & redundancy planning 13 replies 7.5K views

chelseablue

It was announced yesterday that my company will need to make approx. 8 people redundant next month, all from the office staff so I could be one of them


We have a lady working here as a temp in an Admin role


If I am selected for redundancy (I am a permanent employee) but they keep the temp on, is this allowed?

TBagpuss

It depends on what the roles concerned are, I think.

If you are both doing the same job then it may be dificult for them to argue that the role was redundant, if they are retaining someone to do it.

However, they may be able to argue that the temp is doing a different role.

Depending on how long the temp has ben there and what their contract sayus they may also have some employ,ent rights and may also be in the redunadncy 'pool'

chelseablue

Thank you


The temp currently does a different role to me


She's been here about 8 months

MEM62

chelseablue wrote: »

Thank you


The temp currently does a different role to me


She's been here about 8 months

If you are selected for redundancy, you could discuss the prospect of taking over her duties if you are duly qualified / experienced. I would hope that your employer would look at this sympathetically but it would depend on the overall staff structure that they need to achieve post-redundancy exercise.

sangie595

There are often sound business cases around keeping on a temp, as they can be terminated quickly and easily when there is no longer any demand for their services. But in the final analysis, this person does a different job, so yes, your employer can keep them and make you redundant. Even if they did the same job, they could do the same thing - but then they would have to have a selection process. Being a temp doesn't mean that they have to go first.

asajj

As above, temps in long term is less liability for the company. It is very common therefore companies will bring in temps while making others redundant.

chelseablue

Thank you all


I've applied for about 5 jobs today. Got a telephone interview next week


Wish me luck!

MEM62

asajj wrote: »

As above, temps in long term is less liability for the company. It is very common therefore companies will bring in temps while making others redundant.

Two risk for companies there. Firstly - they cannot argue that a particular job function is redundant is they have to take on additional resources to cover it. So the justification for redundancies is easily challenged. Secondly - a temp that has been in a job for a long period of time can argue that the position is not temporary and that they should be given a permanent position. The employer would need to have a very strong case to reject this.

asajj

I'm not talking about companies bringing temps into the roles that are being made redundant.

I never have seen any temp argued that the role should be permanent - and I have seen temps doing the job for 2+ years. Probably because they are paid more usually than the permanent position.

MEM62

asajj wrote: »

I never have seen any temp argued that the role should be permanent

I currently have two employees that are now permanent after having successfully made that vey argument.

sangie595

And it is also rather irrelevant anyway, because "permanent" is meaningless. If a "temp" has two years service then they have exactly the same employment rights, in all respects, as any other employee with two years service. If a permanent employment has less than two years service, then they have exactly the same rights as the temp - i.e. almost none. The only time it would make a difference is if the temp was an agency worker, and in respect of the OP's question, then it would be fine to keep an agency worker on whilst making redundancies elsewhere. It's an easy case to make.