Can an employer reverse my redundancy?

Quenched_69

In 2015 I went through a deselection process and was in the stages of being made redundant. 
So my documents we're issued to me with a leaving date and the amount of redundancy money I would recieve. 

But and this is the big but. My employer rang me at home, just two weeks from my leaving date to say they have made the decision to reverse my redundancy, and that I will have a new position under the same pay salary but it would mean working at a totally different site. 

Of course at the time I was speechless and didn't know how to respond because I had already gone through the emotions of thinking I am gone and would need to seek a new job, so it all came to me as a shock. I suppose I was supposed to feel delighted, relieved they saved my job, but deep down I was not really happy at all. 

The thing that bothered me, and still does to this day, hence why I am seeking answers now. Is why wasn't I given the option of staying redundant and so I would recieve my redundancy package, so that I could start a fresh somewhere else, and have plenty of money that would have lasted over a year, it equated to over 18 months worth of wages at the time. 

But I wasn't given that option, they simply said they have reversed my redundancy is how they worded it. 

So should I have been given that option, and we're they acting legally to just reverse my redundancy so close to my leaving date?

vacheron

Redundancy can be withdrawn if your position is no longer redundant, or your company offers "suitable" alternative employment. But you still have to agree to this. However not agreeing could result in problems in receiving some or all of your redundancy payout.   

Whether that alternative was suitable or not would depend on the role and the distance. If it was a similar role and closer to your home it would probably be considered suitable, 10 minutes further drive away, "perhaps", 1 hour further away, most likely not. Similarly if the role was closer but substantially different from your current job, this could also not be considered "suitable".

I was in a similar position a few years ago where they wanted to relocate our the business half way across the country, but still retain me as an employee. As they clearly couldn't argue that a 4 hour commute was "suitable", they decided that I would be allowed to work from home.

As I wanted to be made redundant I stated that this was not a similar role as my current job was not "work from home", but they then decided to open a smaller office close to my original office, so I couldn't realistically argue that the role was unsuitable any more.   

DE_612183

I think if you agreed to it then yes, if at the time you had not agreed to it - then it would depend if you had signed anything that agreed a termination of your employment contract.

Cobbler_tone

Quenched_69 said:

In 2015 

10 years ago?! I think whatever they did is pretty irrelevant now and more concerning that it is still troubling you!

...but yes, they can change their mind. As they had written to confirm your redundancy with your quote, they should have also covered this off with more than a phone call. I'm sure they will have.
As for relocation it is up for interpretation what is 'reasonable' and also you could have had a 'mobility clause' in your contract.

Quenched_69

Well I was left no choice. I did seek advice from my union at the time if I could disagree to the withdrawal, but they said I just have to go along with it. 

I understand its over 10 years ago now, but its bothered me ever since, because it was literally 13 days from me officially leaving. 

And I already signed paperwork about the money I would recieve. 

What was also snnoying is they dragged me through the deselection process which took months, and I was unsuccessful in trying to retain my job. 

So I have always felt hard done by due to not being given a choice given it was just 13 days from me packing up my belongings and saying goodbye to my colleagues. 

Infact I had already attended a goodbye party. 

I would like to know if my employer acted appropriately 

DE_612183

Quenched_69 said:

Well I was left no choice. I did seek advice from my union at the time if I could disagree to the withdrawal, but they said I just have to go along with it. 

I understand its over 10 years ago now, but its bothered me ever since, because it was literally 13 days from me officially leaving. 

And I already signed paperwork about the money I would recieve. 

What was also snnoying is they dragged me through the deselection process which took months, and I was unsuccessful in trying to retain my job. 

So I have always felt hard done by due to not being given a choice given it was just 13 days from me packing up my belongings and saying goodbye to my colleagues. 

Infact I had already attended a goodbye party. 

I would like to know if my employer acted appropriately 

As I said before - I think if you had challenged it at the time, they may have changed tack and let you go - they fact that you stayed means you have no recourse other than to confirm your opinion that it was wrong.

At least you've had 10 years of money out of them!

Quenched_69

DE_612183 said:

Quenched_69 said:

Well I was left no choice. I did seek advice from my union at the time if I could disagree to the withdrawal, but they said I just have to go along with it. 

I understand its over 10 years ago now, but its bothered me ever since, because it was literally 13 days from me officially leaving. 

And I already signed paperwork about the money I would recieve. 

What was also snnoying is they dragged me through the deselection process which took months, and I was unsuccessful in trying to retain my job. 

So I have always felt hard done by due to not being given a choice given it was just 13 days from me packing up my belongings and saying goodbye to my colleagues. 

Infact I had already attended a goodbye party. 

I would like to know if my employer acted appropriately 

As I said before - I think if you had challenged it at the time, they may have changed tack and let you go - they fact that you stayed means you have no recourse other than to confirm your opinion that it was wrong.

At least you've had 10 years of money out of them!

Yeah thats true. The reason I registered here is just to get various opinions as to if my employer acted fairly and legally. 
The reason I didn't challenge it with my employer at the time is because after seeking advice from my union who did look into it for me at the time, they just said if they have withdrawn your redundancy theres no point in challenging it, so I just left it. 

In hindsight maybe I should have just challenged it with HR or someone. But this really has plagued me ever since, especially as I wanted to leave and start a fresh at the time. 

theoretica

My understanding is that a lot of the legislation is written on the assumption that redundancy is bad and anything employers can do to avoid this is good.

Employers cannot force you to work for them - once redundancy notice is given you can leave on the date given.  *However* if you turn down a continuation of your job or suitable other role I believe and ACAS say you may lose the redundancy payment.  So you had the option to leave, yes, but probably not the option to leave with the payment.

 https://www.acas.org.uk/your-rights-during-redundancy/redundancy-notice

vacheron

Also, unless something came completely out of the blue, like a massive order or unexpended funding, pulling redundancy well into the process actually has a negative effect on the employee as this is almost as disruptive as the original redundancy announcement. This will leave a very poor / disloyal / de-incentivised employee for the remainder of their career.

In many cases, it would be better to dismiss the employee, pay the redundancy, and re-engage them, but employers don't think long term. 

Quenched_69

So in a nutshell if I told them I wish to stop the withdrawal of the redundancy, I would be leaving with no redundancy package? That seems terribly unfair. 

vacheron

Quenched_69 said:

So in a nutshell if I told them I wish to stop the withdrawal of the redundancy, I would be leaving with no redundancy package? That seems terribly unfair. 

Not really. An employer can only attempt to withdraw a redundancy for one of the two reasons I gave in my first post above.

Anything other than those two reasons and they cannot prevent you from refusing to agree to the withdrawal, meaning that the redundancy continues as planned and you will receive your full redundancy entitlement.

The extract below is taken directly from the ACAS Website:

You might not get redundancy pay if your employer is offering for you to stay in the same job on the same terms and conditions.

This could be because:

• there is no longer a redundancy situation
• you're unreasonably refusing suitable employment

If your employer is offering you a different job, whether you're entitled to redundancy pay will depend on whether the job is suitable alternative employment.