Need some advice on pay in lieu of notice

eve26

Can somebody give me some advice please?  My husbands company were asking for voluntary redundancy’s so my husband asked for a quote and based on this he accepted it.  The quote showed both redundancy pay and 3 months pay in lieu of notice with his leave date being end of June.  As my husband is highly skilled in his area, his manager stopped by his work station and asked if he would stay on to train somebody up.  My husband agreed believing it to be a gentleman’s agreement and it not changing the terms of the redundancy quote.  However, his redundancy letter states he will now leave end of September and shows just his redundancy pay, no PILON.  He immediately challenged this as he believed he would be getting a salary whilst still working as he is doing them a favour and then 3 months pay in lieu at the end of September but they are now making him work his notice.  Others who have been accepted for redundancy are leaving end of June with their redundancy pay and 3 months pay in lieu notice.  They keep saying there is nothing they can do; even though it’s been to his union rep and the company’s solicitor.  Bare in mind he hasn't signed anything agreeing to this; it was a casual verbal discussion and gentleman’s agreement.  They are also unwilling to revert back to the original leave date of 30th June.  

Where does he stand?
Many thanks in advance.

sharpe106

What was agreed with the manager? As from how you have wrote it, sounds to me the manager just asked him to stay and work and did not agree to anything else changing.

 

What did the union and the solicitor say?

eve26

sharpe106 said:

What was agreed with the manager? As from how you have wrote it, sounds to me the manager just asked him to stay and work and did not agree to anything else changing.

 

What did the union and the solicitor say?

All his manager did was come up to him and say given your knowledge and expertise would you be willing to stay on for a couple of months and train someone up.  My husband said yes that’s fine.  Nothing else was said about him working his notice or how it would change the quote which my husband agreed redundancy in. It was only when he received his letter regarding redundancy that they’ve put his leaving date as 30th September (no actual leaving date had been agreed) and showed only redundancy payment and no PILON.  He immediately raised it as a concern and said 1. They either pay him wages until the end of September and then give him his redundancy pay and PILON or 2. He leaves at the end of June with everybody else.  The union and solicitor have said no to both. Bare in mind my husband has signed nothing to agree to this at all.   The company is run by GE so mainly Americans.  Others who have opted for voluntary redundancy are leaving at the end of this month with redundancy pay and 3 months PILON.

sharpe106

The company will argue basically that when they were doing redundancies they were planning on paying people the notice period rather than get them to work for whatever reason. But since then they have decided that they want your husband to work to train somebody up so need for them to pay him his notice period. There is no legal basis that says a company must pay PILON and I would doubt there would be one if it was offered and then cancelled. So I would be surprised if they went for  B now as if he leaves at the end of June he has breached the contract and they won't need to pay him the notice part. They might go for A with a bit of effort as I assume they want the new employee trained well.

Markneath

Does your husband get full sick pay?
If yes then get the agreement signed and go off sick tell the doctor he’s stressed about losing his job and being there is making him ill. 

Play the employer like they have played him.

sharpe106

Don't forget he may want to use them as a reference before burning the bridges.

Martin_the_Unjust

So he is being made redundant but then asked to train someone up to do his job, doesn't sound right to me.

sharpe106

It is voluntary redundancy so they wanted a reduction in headcount probably and are moving somebody else into the new job, or it is a lot cheaper for them to employ somebody new and pay the OP partner off, long term.

eve26

Yes they are being very sneaky.  They want to reduce headcount so making redundancies then moving others into the vacant roles.  

Just a bit of background into this company.  The factory burnt down 5 years ago; relocated to another temporary site and changed their shift patterns without changing their contacts.  2 years ago my husband suffered a mini stroke.  He went to work and said he feet unwell; told them his symptoms.  They consulted their occupational health who told him to go to hospital.  They let him drive himself there 11 miles away with impaired vision.  This year they moved to their new permanent site and immediately cut travel expenses (we knew that was coming) but also shifts and overtime. My husband is therefore £500 a month down.  So this company doesn’t give a damn about its employees.  

Would it be worth him getting signed off with stress given all this?

sharpe106

They are not being sneaky that is the main idea behind VR, you want to get rid of people but you have no real way of doing it fairly, so you offer enhanced terms so people offer to go. Then you can't usually claim for for unfair dismissal as you chose to go.

Getting signed of for stress is fairly easy, after all how does the doctor really know? even if they do know how many are willing to say you are not stressed, get it right they don't get any thanks, get it wrong could be the end of there career.  But if he wants a reference from them might not be the smartest move.  

JReacher1

eve26 said:

Yes they are being very sneaky.  They want to reduce headcount so making redundancies then moving others into the vacant roles.  

Just a bit of background into this company.  The factory burnt down 5 years ago; relocated to another temporary site and changed their shift patterns without changing their contacts.  2 years ago my husband suffered a mini stroke.  He went to work and said he feet unwell; told them his symptoms.  They consulted their occupational health who told him to go to hospital.  They let him drive himself there 11 miles away with impaired vision.  This year they moved to their new permanent site and immediately cut travel expenses (we knew that was coming) but also shifts and overtime. My husband is therefore £500 a month down.  So this company doesn’t give a damn about its employees.  

Would it be worth him getting signed off with stress given all this?

Things like this statement slightly irritates  me.  Your husband is a grown man and his employer did not let him drive 11 miles. They told him to go to hospital and as an adult your husband made the decision to drive himself with impaired vision. He could have got a taxi or phoned either yourself or a friend to pick take him to the hospital.  

As to your question you get your notice period as part of redundancy and this can be either PILON or worked. Your husband has been asked to work his so seems perfectly reasonable. I don’t think it’s sneaky.