I was told I would be redundant in June, now they want to extend the date.. Can they?

mini8334

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone is able to offer some advise.  I work at a large organisation, in February we were told individually (verbally) that our teams function was being moved to India at the end of June. If we could not find a role internally we would be offered a severance package. 

The business has asked us to conduct a handover to the new team in India, however, due to the Covid-19 outbreak and market turmoil the migration plan has been delayed.  They are now planning to extend the migration period and move the date of redundancy.

We have yet to be given anything in writing giving formal notice, however, I did successfully request it in writing from HR stating the end of June. I am trying to line up my next role external to the organisation to start in at the beginning of August (Taking severance at the end of June and July gardening leave) ... the moving of this date could jeopardise my future employment.

Can anyone advise:

1. Is the verbal 'end of June' legally binding? 
2. Are they allowed to change dates after giving you one?
3.  Following a verbal announcement of plans to make you redundant, what are the guidelines you should expect an organisation to adhere to? 
4. Should I take legal advice? 
5. Anyone with any experience - How should I best managing this? 

I guess with all that is going on I can understand that things are likely to change.  However, as the changes are simply to facilitate the business but there is a definite disregard toward the impact to the employees.  We have not heard anything since Feb, the jobs market is standing still, we may/may not have a job at the end of June and I am unsure what (if any) rights I have to gain clarity .... If anyone is able to advise I would appreciate your help!

General_Grant

mini8334 said:

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone is able to offer some advise.  I work at a large organisation, in February we were told individually (verbally) that our teams function was being moved to India at the end of June. If we could not find a role internally we would be offered a severance package. 

The business has asked us to conduct a handover to the new team in India, however, due to the Covid-19 outbreak and market turmoil the migration plan has been delayed.  They are now planning to extend the migration period and move the date of redundancy.

We have yet to be given anything in writing giving formal notice, however, I did successfully request it in writing from HR stating the end of June. I am trying to line up my next role external to the organisation to start in at the beginning of August (Taking severance at the end of June and July gardening leave) ... the moving of this date could jeopardise my future employment.

Can anyone advise:

1. Is the verbal 'end of June' legally binding? 
2. Are they allowed to change dates after giving you one?
3.  Following a verbal announcement of plans to make you redundant, what are the guidelines you should expect an organisation to adhere to? 
4. Should I take legal advice? 
5. Anyone with any experience - How should I best managing this? 

I guess with all that is going on I can understand that things are likely to change.  However, as the changes are simply to facilitate the business but there is a definite disregard toward the impact to the employees.  We have not heard anything since Feb, the jobs market is standing still, we may/may not have a job at the end of June and I am unsure what (if any) rights I have to gain clarity .... If anyone is able to advise I would appreciate your help!

In a redundancy situation the employer is supposed to try to avoid it if they can - right up to the last minute.  So "end of June" is not legally binding - if they can offer you work to do which is appropriate then that is good. 

If you want to move on, you can give them notice in the normal way.

epm-84

Check the notice period in your contract (if one isn't specifically given it'll be the legal minimum of 4 weeks.)  If the company want to make you redundant on 30th June and your notice period is 4 weeks then they don't have to conclude the redundancy consultation until 1st June, presuming they want you to work your notice period.  If the company plans to give you pay in lieu of notice then they could tell you on 30th June that today's the last day you will come in to work.

The rules of redundancy mean the company is required to look at alternative employment within the company before they actually make anyone redundant, so you might have been told your roles are at risk at the earliest opportunity to increase the chance of your employer offering you a role in another department.  For instance, if they don't tell you until May then they can't offer you a vacancy in another department that's being recruited for in April.

If I was you I'd start applying for jobs and if you get a good offer straight away and you haven't officially been made redundant then hand in your notice.  You might not want to allow the company to have the option of not giving you a redundancy payment but at present it doesn't sound like there's a guarantee you'll get it (you might get offered another role which you're able to do but you don't really want) and there's a risk if you wait to be made redundant that you could be out-of-work for months which will make the redundancy package seem of little consolation.