Job at Risk - got to apply for role

onefurlongout

My wife has been told that she is at risk as there are 5 candidates for 3 jobs.

As part of the process she has to interview for her 'old' job, this is fine but the salary is less than her current salary. Could this be therefore deemed unsuitable and therefore opt for redundancy. No voluntary redundancy is on offer.

She confident of finding a new job at the rate of her current salary

tacpot12

As no voluntary redundancy is on offer, she can't 'opt for redundancy'. She can say in the interview that she doesn't want the job and make it clear that if they offer her the role she will resign (she doesn't have to do so, if they do offer her the role, but I doubt they will, if they have three willing candidates.)

If there are other roles available, so could apply for another role on a trial basis. This forces the employer to select three candidates for her current role. She can then say the trial isn't working and she will be made redundant at that point. This is more risky as they may have found by that time that they actually need four positions and they offer her the new role on the lower salary...

onefurlongout

No other suitable roles available, all minor admin or p/t roles.

I think she will just say she doesn't want to be considered for the role and see what they say

getmore4less

How much lower is the salary?


There is an issue here because if she "applies" for the job she can lose the redundancy rights as that is accepting it is a suitable alternative.

being invited for interview is not applying

The company should be consulting and selecting those they want to keep(chances are they have decided already and just going through the motions) using selection criteria, they can use interview as part of the selection process.

Rather than say I don't want it, better to say due to the new T&C(salary)you do not consider this a suitable alternative.

depending on the size of the pay cut if nothing else is changing it well be considered suitable if it went as far as an ET.

Not sure what the current ET approach to this is but a recent case 20% cut was considered an unfair dismissal(not a redundancy situation)

Failing the interview may be another option.

In a 5->3 situation often the workload has not dropped enough so those left end up with more and depending on the place that can just be more pressure.

as part of the consultation you should be raising this if it is a potential issue and ask about how this extra work is to be done if there are not enough people.

It may also be worth thinking about a collective approach to try to protect the pay of those that want/get the 3 jobs.

Xbigman

getmore4less wrote: »

Rather than say I don't want it, better to say due to the new T&C(salary)you do not consider this a suitable alternative.

This is the right approach. You don't have to apply for anything. Your employers should consult and in that consultation make the point that the salary should be higher if there will be less people to do the job, not lower. An 'interview' is not consultation.

That approach needs to be tempered by an individuals circumstances. If someone really needs a job they need to be willing to bend a little. Thats life. In a 3 out of 5 situation where 3 are willing to bend, start looking for another job.




Darren

onefurlongout

Thanks for the comments and advice.

DaveZero

Brief hijack.

Quote: There is an issue here because if she "applies" for the job she can lose the redundancy rights as that is accepting it is a suitable alternative.

Really? If you say "I'll apply" but don't actually do it, will you have forfeited the redundancy rights?

onefurlongout

Just to follow up on this. My wife confirmed that the job was not suitable and was given redundancy as there was no alternatives.

A good result alround

RedMonty

DaveZero wrote: »

Brief hijack.

Quote: There is an issue here because if she "applies" for the job she can lose the redundancy rights as that is accepting it is a suitable alternative.

Really? If you say "I'll apply" but don't actually do it, will you have forfeited the redundancy rights?

Quick reply for the benefit of others.

Off the top of my head, a verbal agreement is a contract. However the issue is that there's no proof or record. Hence the standard requirement for contracts or agreements to be written so that there is a paper record to be referred to in any future dispute. Without a completed application form, the company would not have any proof or record that she had actually applied for the job.

If her verbal consent was formally recorded in a formal interview, backing out is harder, but she can still plead she felt under pressure in the interview or had to make the decision on the basis of incomplete information. As with all cancellations, doing it as early / quickly as possible is best.