Help Needed. Unusual situation with Redundancy

gypsy_blades

So I will type this as short as I can but its a long story so please bear with me. I am looking for advice as I am currently trying to help my husband who was made redundant last week.
It all starts based on the fact that he works with a specific workmate, this workmate has given 4 weeks notice to move on to a new job. My husband has worked with the company for 18 months so not entitled to a lot of things. However, throughout the notice period my husband confided in me that he was worried about what would happen to him once his workmate left. I told him not to worry as they would have to find another role for him. Anyway fast forward 3 weeks to the day before our holiday to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary, my husband asked his boss was there anything he needed to know for when he came back from holiday as by the time he got back his workmate would have worked his last day and left. That morning the boss said I have been thinking about it for a while but I think I'm going to have to let you go. My husband asked what he meant and he said I'm not sure yet, so my husband went off to work and rang me to let me know that he thought his job was going to be taken away from him. later on that day his workmate (the guy who was leaving) rang my husband as they weren't working together that day to give his condolences that it was his last day. The first my husband knew of this was from the workmate not the boss. He wasn't consulted properly or given much notice in fact the notice of one week was given while we were on holiday which he didn't get in writing until we got back from holiday on the 26th which is the day after his employment officially ended. There has been no attempt to find him a different role within the company and ruined our 1st wedding anniversary.But now I feel like he was made redundant unfairly and without the proper procedure followed but it is hard to find the correct information for this as it seems like he would only have rights if he worked there for 2 years. Surely this cant be the case. At no point was there any indication that it would be his last day and then when it became clear that this was the case that his notice coincided with the holiday that he was entitled to I cant find any information about this anywhere but I want to help him fight this as the way he has been treated is completely disrespectful. Anybody got any useful insights please ? We are going to be contacting ACAS asap but we want to make sure we are as informed as possible before we start any process. thanks for taking the time to read and also in advance for any and all advice.

lincroft1710

If your husband has worked there for less than 2 yrs then he can be dismissed without reason. The only exception would be if his dismissal was because of a prescribed discrimination, which would be unfair. He should be given contractual notice or paid in lieu of notice and also must be paid for any untaken holiday.

Being treated with respect is not a requisite of employment legislation. Although it is unfortunate that your wedding anniversary was "ruined", this has no relevance to the situation.

DCFC79

Sounds harsh but it is what it is, it was changed a few years ago now.

zaax

Time to move on, there are plenty of jobs. Maybe he should see if his ex colleage would like to join him for a pint down the pib.

TBagpuss

Unfortunately because he was there fore for less than 2 years he doesn't need to be made redundant, he can be dismissed for any (non-discriminatory) reason.

He is entitled to be either given notice, or paid in lieu of notice.
Statutory notice is one week, and it sounds as though he got that, so he would only be entitled to more if his contract provided for a longer notice period.

If he had built up more holiday leave than he had taken he is entitled to be paid for that .