Re-hire after Termination

emploee_77

Hi All,

I was recently terminated by my employer due to redundancy, the enhanced payment is due to be paid at the end of the notice period which is on Monday.

In February I applied and interviewed for an alternative role but heard nothing back. Today I received a call to advise that I was the preferred candidate and the company would like to re-hire with with a start date of October once the screening etc was complete. However, they advised that I would have to forfeit the redundancy, go until October unpaid, and rehire and lose all of my employment rights (I had  7 years, 11 months of service at termination),

Whilst I am very happy to have been offered a new role, the deal sounds very unfair, am I wrong to think this?

Hoenir

Why the break until October? 

emploee_77

Hoenir said:

Why the break until October? 

Screening and background checks etc.

Brie

The normal thing with any redundancy I've been through is that you can't begin working with the company again within X months, normally 6 but another quoted 12.  But there was also an acceptance that you would get your redundancy payout but then have to pay back a proportion.  So say it was a 12 month rule in place and you got rehired after 3 months you'd have to give back 3/4 of your redundancy pay.  

Time to negotiate I think if they think you should be unpaid til October.

LinLui

Brie said:

The normal thing with any redundancy I've been through is that you can't begin working with the company again within X months, normally 6 but another quoted 12.  But there was also an acceptance that you would get your redundancy payout but then have to pay back a proportion.  So say it was a 12 month rule in place and you got rehired after 3 months you'd have to give back 3/4 of your redundancy pay.  

Time to negotiate I think if they think you should be unpaid til October.

I agree - many employers reclaim redundancy or part of it if you return to the employer (or an associated employer) within a set period. But this seems to be neither fish not fowl - you don't get redundancy and you also don't get paid / continuous service. I think "take a hike" would be my response...no way would I agree. 

emploee_77

The company has just contacted me to advise that I have a second job offer with them, same terms as above. They stated that I am a valued employee that they don't want to lose.

I honestly could not make this up.

LinLui

emploee_77 said:

The company has just contacted me to advise that I have a second job offer with them, same terms as above. They stated that I am a valued employee that they don't want to lose.

I honestly could not make this up.

Not that valued. And they are obviously not that keen to keep you. And honestly,  I wouldn't trust a thing they say at this point. If any of that were true we wouldn't be discussing this. 

Hoenir

Ask to be paid in the interim. 

saajan_12

The principle of losing all or part of a redundnacy payment if rehired within [12] months is common and reasonable. Also common for the company to look to redeploy you in another team, with potentially a leg up in the interview / screening process and continuous employment / retraining in the meantime. 

So both ways around are 'reasonable', its a matter of negotiating and knowing what's in each party's interest. 
* For you, another job is better as still have the gap in employment but keep the redundancy. So this company should sweeten the deal somehow. 
* For them, they save the redundancy payment, plus any recruiter fees, in depth screening (they already know most of the info as you've worked there) etc so they should offer you a better deal than new external candidates. 


How much screening is there really do to over 4 months? I work in a heavily regulated role, with changeover processes often quoted at 2-3 months. But when people were in a time crunch, they figured out how to chase up quicker, run things in parallel etc and 3 months became 3 weeks. 

emploee_77

Realistically do I have any negotiating power?

What is on offer at the moment makes me tempted to take the redundancy which amounts to almost a full year's net salary.

Hoenir

emploee_77 said:

Realistically do I have any negotiating power?

What is on offer at the moment makes me tempted to take the redundancy which amounts to almost a full year's net salary.

If they wish to retain your services then yes you do.  Otherwise as you say, you take the package on offer. Unreasonable to expect someone to have to live off savings for a few months.