Contract clause question? 19 August 2020 at 9:22AM edited 19 August 2020 at 9:53AM in Redundancy & redundancy planning 4 replies 81 views

Steameh

Morning all,

Just been informed there's a 50% chance my girlfriend will be made redundant at the end of the month, we have a copy of her contract but clause 17.1 doesn't make much sense... She has been at the company for 5 full years but we can't figure out from the below if it's 5 weeks notice or 12. Any help?

We have queried it with HR but typically they're on holiday.

Thank you.

17. Termination of employment

17.1 Subject to clause 17.2 below, the Company can terminate your employment at any time by giving you twelve weeks written notice or (if greater) one week’s written notice for every completed year of continuous employment up to a maximum of 12 weeks for 12 years’ service.

17.2 If applicable, during the probationary period the Company may terminate your employment by giving you 4 weeks written notice to expire before the end of the probationary period.

Comms69

The clause is not enforceable on its own. And it's irrelevant in that statutory redundancy is not capped at 12 weeks. 

So i dont understand it, but on the face of it, she's entitled to a  minimum of 12 weeks notice. 

MoneyPit1977

17.1 looks like a standard notice clause that its better written for those with less than 12 weeks contractual notice. Statutory notice is accrued at one complete year of service up to a 12 week maximum. However in your GFs case this is irrelevant as she has 12 weeks contractual notice from the word go...as such they could simply have lopped off the second half of the clause. Either way she has 12 weeks payable as Comms 69 points out.  

Please note that notice is separate to redundancy pay. If they make her redundant they will have to pay  her (or allow her to work) 12 weeks notice PLUS provide a redundancy amount.   

Steameh

Thanks for the prompt replies. That's what we thought, the second half of clause 17.1 doesn't need to be there if it's 12 weeks contracted notice. We just wanted clarity if they try and pull a fast one and only pay 5 weeks.

Yes, we should also receive a separate redundancy package on top of the notice period pay. She is currently on furlough, it is also my understanding that the notice period pay should be her full salary.

MoneyPit1977

I'm honestly unsure on whether full or furloughed salary would be deemed to apply for notice in this scenario - I've taken a look online and the advice appears to show that employers can certainly try this (though the legal community feels the employment tribunals will push back). My advice would be to see what the company offers and take it from there...it is certainly worth pushing back if full notice is not offered.