Re Applying for job and change of terms

SteveDrakey

Hello,

My wife has just found out that she may lose her job.

She works for a charity and basically, the funding is going to stop so they are going to have to get rid of most of the staff.

She is a coordinator and she is on a permanent contract

They have suggested the the following will happen. All the coordinators will need to reapply for their own jobs and 2 will be successful, the 2 that are successful will them be moved onto a temp contract and the other 3 will not get paid redundancy as no money will be available but they will be able to claim this from the government.

So, say if they are 5, 3 lose their jobs and get redundancy and the other 2 keep their jobs but in one years time they would not get any redundancy as its the end of the contract.

Also, they really wont be able to afford redundancy payments as the budget really will only cover a years wages for who is left, but I guess it could be used to pay redundancy instead. From a legal point would they be forced to pay the redundancy which I guess would just leave them bankrupt so no one would win.

The charity is run be decent people, so I don't think its they are trying to 'pull a fast one', but at the same time I doubt that they have been legal advice etc.

getmore4less

what is the structure of the charity?

The trustees may be liable

They should be keeping money aside to pay employee liabilities including the termination of contracts.

Might need reporting to the charity commission if they have been running it while insolvent.

antrobus

SteveDrakey wrote: »

...

They have suggested the the following will happen. All the coordinators will need to reapply for their own jobs and 2 will be successful, the 2 that are successful will them be moved onto a temp contract and the other 3 will not get paid redundancy as no money will be available but they will be able to claim this from the government.

It can indeed be claimed "from the government", but;

Your employer must be unable to pay you, for example because they’re insolvent.

https://www.gov.uk/claim-redundancy

If the charity is insolvent, it really should not be going through that kind of charade.

SteveDrakey wrote: »

The charity is run be decent people, so I don't think its they are trying to 'pull a fast one', but at the same time I doubt that they have been legal advice etc.

Unfortunately, many charities are run by 'decent' people who think that charities are somehow above the law.

Do you have any legal expenses insurance?

SteveDrakey

Thanks for the replies.

The charity is funded every year, so right now that have money to pay the current staff until June.

Soon, they will know how much they have in terms of cash for the NEXT year.

They budget each year, I think its all being done right.

So, from what people are saying, if they need to reduce staff then they need to budget for any redundancies ( Is my understanding correct ??)

But, my main question is, once they decide on how many staff they can keep based on cash flow they will be asking all the staff doing a certain role to reapply for their jobs as they will be reducing the number of people doing that role. ( I think its from about 5 to 2)

So, if my wife gets her job back, they are suggesting that they may need to put them on 1 year contract as appose to a permanent contract job (right now she is on a permanent contract). I think 1 year contracts are normal for charities that are funded each year as it does avoid redundancy payments . The charity has been going a long time and I don't think funding has been an issue in the past so its always been fine to have people on permanent contracts.

Can they make you reapply for your own job then change the contract from perm to one year?

tbh, my wife is more worried about not doing the job she loves than the money side of it, its a job that really helps the community it does not pay well but its very rewarding, she will get another job with no problem but it will not be one that helps people.

Thanks

getmore4less

Fixed term contracts do not avoid redundancy payments if there is continuity of service, all previous years will still count.

The charity should be picking up tthe termination payments not the tax payer.

SteveDrakey

So, if she gets to the end of the fixed term contract and its not renewed redundancy is paid.

I was just concerned that she would not get anything from anyone due to the new contract being fixed term.

I think they will be budgeting for any redundancy payments and not expecting the tax payer to pick it up. But yes, its a fair point .

getmore4less

You said different in your first post

They have suggested the the following will happen. All the coordinators will need to reapply for their own jobs and 2 will be successful, the 2 that are successful will them be moved onto a temp contract and the other 3 will not get paid redundancy as no money will be available but they will be able to claim this from the government.

SteveDrakey

not intentionally, I am dyslexic and writing and I find writing stuff down like this really hard. I can read it 5 times and it looks fine, then I come back to it 1 hour later and I think "erm, didn't really mean that"

I was not trying to suggest that they told them to claim it from the government, I was wondering how it works. But I can see how that it looked like that

For what others have said, the charity will have to budget for any redundancy payment which I am sure they will.

No one from the charity has formally said anything, the only thing that looks certain is the going from PERM to 1 YEAR contract for those that keep their jobs.

thanks

Masomnia

If a fixed term contract ends then in law that is a dismissal, and they have to dismiss for a fair reason after two years service.

I suppose it depends on how they manage the transition from a permanent role to the fixed term. If there is no break in service then at the end of the fixed term then they would be due redundancy pay if over 2 years service.

If there is a break in service then I would say better to bring an unfair dismissal claim at the point of the break.

If your wife is redundant then she is due redundancy pay if over 2 years service, and maybe less (albeit very unlikely) if she has a contractual right to redundancy pay earlier.