Made redundant but asked to work as agency employee

his_missus

I have been working for a company which creates two similar products . A few years ago the company was bought out by a larger, global company but nothing within the company changed . This company has recently been bought out by another larger, global company who only want to continue with one of the products. In February they announced that the people who worked in any department that dealt with the 'unwanted product' would be made redundant, myself included. However my role covered working on both products and after signing my settlement agreement, I was asked if I would stay on for a month longer than the termination date they had given me as it was taking longer than they expected to finalise things with the unwanted part of the company. I agreed to stay on until the end of May and they postponed my termination date .


Two weeks I was asked if I would stay on until the end of June as the man they'd sent in to handle the take over and redundancies believed there may be a need for my role but that the decision wasn't in his hands, postponing my redundancy again. I agreed, mainly because it was a guaranteed wage coming into the house.


This week someone from the company taking over has decided that there is definitely still a need for my role within the company and asked if I would consider working for the company through an agency from July on an initial 6 month contract (the role may eventually become permanent after that time). However, he hasn't got the authority and apparently there are a lot of politics going on and it isn't as simple as saying, "Sorry, we were hasty and wrong, forget we said we'd make you redundant, let's just move on."


So from the end of June my employment here will end, I will receive my redundancy pay. I would then start working here at the beginning of July as an agency worker doing an almost identical role as I was before (some of the responsibilities will change as I'll only be working on one product now).


I assume this is all above board and legal or they'd not be doing it, but I don't know of anyone who's been in this position before. Would my job title have to change if I started working through an agency? Could they offer me a different hourly rate or working hours? If I did take on an agency role working for a company which had just made me redundant, would it affect my settlement payment? Could I sign a 6 month contract to specifically work here? Are there other things I need to consider and take into account before I agree to this?


I should add that Hubby was also made redundant in March and hasn't yet found employment so a guaranteed wage for 6 months would be beneficial to us but I don't want to look back in a couple of months and think "Why didn't I think of X, Y or Z"


Any advice or experience on this really appreciated.

sangie595

I'm not assuming it is all legal and above board! I cannot see any reason why they are making you redundant when they are simultaneously saying that there is a job that you can do (a suitable alternative position in law?) But they would rather not empire you, give you paid holidays, sick pay and all the niceties that employment and continuous service voice - including protection from unfair dismissal, which this suggestion may very well be!

You have a lot to lose if you agree this - you get your redundancy money, but they can then terminate your continuous service which leaves you vulnerable. There is utterly no reason why they cannot continue to employ you, and if it doesn't work out then they make you redundant anyway - but with longer service which may give you additional service for redundancy pay.

In order to sign a settlement agent you must have independent legal advice - what did your lawyer say about this?

getmore4less

This sort of thing happens quite a lot where the long terms need for the role is not expected.

A company local to us is doing a planned winding down of part of their business and to keep things tidy(and give employees good visibility to plan) they are letting people go at fixed points with cover provided by very good contractor day rates if they phased out too many.


In your case there is no visibility of the job really finishing so there is no reason to let you go so I concur this look far from above board and legal.

What goodies are in the settlement agreement there can be a case for "cashing in" Service if there is a good package and it is clear that this will be reduced in the future, it can however come with the loss of continuity of service.


looking at a few things individually

If the settlement agreement has nothing special or enhancing then you could take the approach that you don't need it at for them to go through a standard redundancy procedure that leaves you open to make a claim in the future(subject to the time limits).

Get the "job" offer(even is through contract) in writing and make sure you have less than 4 weeks ideally less than one week between them.
(probably won't help much is there is a settlement agreement)

The agency position what rates are they offering, you want this rate to be very generous to cover the loss of benefit, be thinking double your current rates.

In cases like this it is important to decide what you want before embarking on a plan.

if longer term you may prefer not to be working at this place, then cashing in taking the contract(on good terms with no long notice period) could be a option, you get time to find something you really want to do and take the payout and still have an income stream.


If the place has longer term prospects you might want to make the noises to try to get them to rethink, things like this is clearly a suitable alternative and this is not a redundancy could make that happen, they find a way to just keep you, or could then have everything disappear completely redundant and no contract work.

Will depend what you do but I would be looking at becoming a proper contractor(for services), that gives you much more control over when&where you work, when you want time off etc and the ability to take on other work.

his_missus

Thanks for the replies.


When we told about the redundancies, we were told we could take voluntary redundancy at a rate above the statutory redundancy rate. It was obvious that they had already decided the majority of us would be made redundant (and they knew which department they wanted to keep) and refusing to take voluntary redundancy would just lead to compulsory at the statutory rate.


My settlement agreement states that I will be paid £x with a termination date originally in April, now amended to the end of June. The settlement paperwork was signed in front of a lawyer. The termination date has been amended on this by a director, signed by me and the amendment scanned.


I haven't seen the lawyer since I signed the initial settlement in March with a finish date in April.


If I don't agree to go through the agency, there are no plans to fill the role I leave behind initially. I did ask if I could just apply for the role but there's no plans to advertise one to start in July. They may decide later that they do need someone and advertise the role as a new job.


I enjoy working here and the team who will be here are a great team. It feels like some Big Wig of a huge company has just looked at our tiny company on paper and made decisions without understanding how the company worked, who did what etc.


I have found out today that they have actually asked another person to stay on via an agency. His role is temporary, with no intention of making it permanent, but they're not sure how long for so he's agreed to a 6 month rolling contract with a month's notice.


I keep thinking that's it's guaranteed work for 6 months, it may become a permanent post, and it gives me time to decide what I want to do next and, if I have a month's notice period, I can still apply for other jobs...

getmore4less

I would ask for an amendment to the agreement that if you return within a given period say 1 year that you retain certain rights and benefits as if you had never left.

eg any appointment, no probationary period , continuous service for any contractual benefits like extra holidays, and for the purposes of the employment act you do not need a qualifying period of two years for another redundancy(previously paid out years would not get paid again.

chances are they will say no to anything.

if you do the contract make sure there is decent enhancement to the rate or you will end up with less money.

isplumm

Hi

I am assuming that they are asking to work through an umbrella company? If so seems ok - but if you are going to be setting up a ltd company, then I think you need to be wary of IR35.

Mark

Masomnia

Seek proper advice.

I think Sangie is right, you have a lot to lose here. I think there is a possibility that under the circumstances you should have TUPE transferred; but without knowing all the facts it's hard to say.