Appealing Redundancy

Juliette100

I think you have a good case if they have not followed a fair procedure.  I am not sure how many they made redundant but if it was over 20 then they should have held consultation with you and entitled you to be accompanied.  If it was less than 20 you still have the right to a consultation period and should have been shown you the 'pool' impacted by this reduction, how they graded those in the same pool/roles and what your grading was - you can even ask to see others grading.  Age should not be part of the criteria or anything that may discriminate: sex, disability etc.     Everyone has the right of appeal against the decision and to be honest very few businesses reverse their decision but it is always worth appealing as should you raise an ET1 with acas and this was to go further awards can be reduced if this step was not taken advantage of - equally most businesses hate having to justify themselves with having to address an appeal.      If they have selected you due to age then going back is a no no but you should seek an award for age discrimination and unfair dismissal - this can always be asked for once you see any appeal result and/or via early mediation with ACAS.  Good luck   

Al_Ross

Thanks so much for your constructive reply Juliette. I always like to run my ideas past others to  see general opinions on things, plus if other members have been through the same they may wish to give me a few pointers.

lincroft1710

Unless the job you actually did has become redundant, a redundancy situation does not exist. If it is a genuine redundancy situation, then given the list of your health problems, your employers are going to use the incapability card  as the reason you were selected.

Al_Ross

They reduced Engineers, due to a reduction in business ebitda ,6.5 million this year down a million from this period last year, due to covid and low oil prices. I have continued to do the same role as the 20-year olds, not had a day off sick in the last 8 years and never had a bad performance review so as things currently stand, I am capable of doing the job. They grouped the engineers into pools and I scored last of six Lead Engineers, due to having the least experience in that role as only doing the role for one year past,the other being in that role for years.

The grouping criteria I believe was designed in order that I would finish last and would be got rid of. Previously engineers were all in the same pool for point scoring, if this had been done this time my job  would have been safe. I believe I was targeted due to my age and health reasons.

lincroft1710

If you were a Lead Engineer then surely it was correct to group you with other LEs, rather than another engineer group? If you have all these health issues, how is it you haven't had a day off sick in the past 8 years? Do any of these issues manifest themselves at work?

Al_Ross

As I said already, in the past, we were all in the same group, I don’t like to take time off work, 8 years ago I needed 8 weeks off when I had a triple heart bypass. I may not be as good at my job as I would if I was twenty but I still manage to do a fair day’s work.

JReacher1

I think if all lead engineers were scored together and you yourself admit that you have the least experience of the six then it would seem fair for you to score the lowest. 

Redundancy is getting rid of a role and if they’ve decided to get rid of one lead engineer position then that would seem fair to score all lead engineers and make redundant the lowest scoring lead engineer. 

You should still appeal but I think you’ll have to prepare to be unsuccessful. 

Good luck 

Al_Ross

They also got rid of two other engineers a trainee and a senoir and they were also put in groups.The two that went had no hope of staying either.

lincroft1710

Al_Ross said:

They also got rid of two other engineers a trainee and a senoir and they were also put in groups.The two that went had no hope of staying either.

If they had "no hope" then if they were less able or skilled or capable than their peers then there was nothing unfair in their being selected as the ones to go.

Barny1979

So they make redundant three engineers from three tiers? A trainee, a senior and a lead Engineer? Makes sense as they would be top-heavy otherwise.