Should they make me redundant

Dsharris · 14 December 2019 at 9:04PM

Hi all. I am lorry driver and I work for a company in Rainham Essex yet I live in Barnsley South Yorkshire. They were based in barnsley but relocated to essex and made everyone redundant but kept me on and pay for parking in barnsley. On Friday I park the lorry in Barnsley and then drive it down to Essex on the Monday , I do deliveries and collections on the way down, then through the week, and fridays I normally have deliveries in the north of England so I can then come home so the lorry is parked in Barnsley over the weekend and when ever I'm on holiday etc. I have been doing this for 11 years.My employer is now wanting to have the lorry parked in Rainham over the weekends and is expecting me to commute every week. This is a 194mile each way journey. I believe that this is an unreasonable change to my job and that they should make me redundant? Any help with this would be gratefully appreciated as I have a meeting with the boss on Monday

Alter_ego · 14 December 2019 at 9:06PM

Redundancy is when a job no longer exists

grahamgoo · 14 December 2019 at 9:28PM

Dsharris wrote: »

I believe that this is an unreasonable change to my job and that they should make me redundant?

I would tend to agree with you (assuming you don't have a mobility clause in your contract):-

https://www.gov.uk/employer-relocation-your-rights

I think all you can do on Monday is tell your employer that unfortunately you're not going to be able to move, and ask them for confirmation of the redundancy terms.

Carrot007 · 14 December 2019 at 9:32PM

Unless the parking is contractual then you have no reason to be made redundant, and it is a making of your own issue.

Check your contract and tell us.

No need for two threads because you did not like the sound of the first!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=6081966

Dsharris · 14 December 2019 at 10:27PM

I am sorry but I couldn't work out how to edit my post so I did another one to explain things a bit better

Blatchford · 15 December 2019 at 9:31AM

grahamgoo wrote: »

I would tend to agree with you (assuming you don't have a mobility clause in your contract):-

https://www.gov.uk/employer-relocation-your-rights

I think all you can do on Monday is tell your employer that unfortunately you're not going to be able to move, and ask them for confirmation of the redundancy terms.

The employer moved 11 years ago, so it can hardly be argued that the "relocation" is a reason for redundancy 11 years later. And since the OP has been commuting weekly from Barnsley to Rainham for that whole time, it is way less simple than you suggest. I'd have to say that this is definitely one for legal advice, because there is the potential for a number of possible outcomes and the devil will be in the detail.

That would be, it would be advisable to get legal advice on this, but not worth bothering if the OP resigns and doesn't go back to work at all, as they have suggested two days ago that they intend to do.

getmore4less · 15 December 2019 at 10:01AM

I think if you can establish that 11 years ago your primary base was changed from the local work place to home/parking lot and now they want to change that to the Essex bas that would be a redundancy(old job has gone, new job failed the suitable alternative test on relocation grounds.