Made Redundant But Offered 6 Month Contract If I started Own Business

JimFromTheNorth

Back in 2019 I was made redundant from a position I had been in for 13.5 years.

It was the height of the pandemic and I had been on furlough for 4 months.

I got a call from my manager saying I was being made redundant but in the same call was offered a 6 month contract if I started my own business as they didn't want to lose my input to the company.

My head was spinning and I pretty much agreed on the spot. Anyway as time progressed towards the contract start date it became clear that they were not putting in the required effort to make the arrangement workable so I pulled the plug on the whole thing.

Looking back there was very little discussion about my redundancy as I just kind of rolled over and accepted everything  because of the contract offer.

I got everything I was entitled to in terms of redundancy money etc, but I would be interested as to whether they violated any employment laws by making me redundant and in the next breath of the same call offering me a contract.

Its probably too late to do anything about it but I would still like to know.

Grumpy_chap

JimFromTheNorth said:

Back in 2019 I was made redundant from a position I had been in for 13.5 years.

It was the height of the pandemic and I had been on furlough for 4 months.

I got a call from my manager saying I was being made redundant but in the same call was offered a 6 month contract if I started my own business as they didn't want to lose my input to the company.

My head was spinning and I pretty much agreed on the spot. Anyway as time progressed towards the contract start date it became clear that they were not putting in the required effort to make the arrangement workable so I pulled the plug on the whole thing.

Looking back there was very little discussion about my redundancy as I just kind of rolled over and accepted everything  because of the contract offer.

I got everything I was entitled to in terms of redundancy money etc, but I would be interested as to whether they violated any employment laws by making me redundant and in the next breath of the same call offering me a contract.

Its probably too late to do anything about it but I would still like to know.

Probably not but the devil is in the detail.

I assume you mean all this happened in 2020, not 2019.  

JimFromTheNorth

Grumpy_chap said:

JimFromTheNorth said:

Back in 2019 I was made redundant from a position I had been in for 13.5 years.

It was the height of the pandemic and I had been on furlough for 4 months.

I got a call from my manager saying I was being made redundant but in the same call was offered a 6 month contract if I started my own business as they didn't want to lose my input to the company.

My head was spinning and I pretty much agreed on the spot. Anyway as time progressed towards the contract start date it became clear that they were not putting in the required effort to make the arrangement workable so I pulled the plug on the whole thing.

Looking back there was very little discussion about my redundancy as I just kind of rolled over and accepted everything  because of the contract offer.

I got everything I was entitled to in terms of redundancy money etc, but I would be interested as to whether they violated any employment laws by making me redundant and in the next breath of the same call offering me a contract.

Its probably too late to do anything about it but I would still like to know.

Probably not but the devil is in the detail.

I assume you mean all this happened in 2020, not 2019.  

Woops, yes that's right

Andy_L

Being shut down due to Covid & furloughing staff would have been a legitimate reason for redundancy (see press reports of firms who fired staff instead of furloughing them)

Then having work for people when they came out of lockdown & re-employing people they had made redundant would also be legitimate.

The only dodgy bit of employment law I see would have been if you were you truly self-employed had you started the self employed contract or if they were trying to get you on the cheap and avoid their obligations as an employer