Redundant.

[spider8]

Thanks Mrs H and everybody.
Today has been back to work day after his week off and he's been okay. Loads of work to do, it won't let-up right until the end and they want him to go down to head office in Preston at the start of July to start handing things over and then again at the end of August to hand in all his stuff.
They've screwed-up with the paperwork for his redundancy notice and put two different dates on the documents for his last day of employment.......p*ss-up and brewery spring to mind . Dave's completed a technical authoring course which they've paid for and sat the exam recently, receiving a credit, so at least he's got something out of them.
Today he started putting a list of 'to do's' on a white board so we can get our heads around what needs to be done so it looks like he isn't ignoring it all - phew!
It's a good job there is this distance between myself and his bosses as I could be tempted to remove three soft dangly bits from their anatomy and thoroughly enjoy doing it too.........but not doing the time .

[Graye]

He may not be interested in this option but could I suggest you have a good look at one of the online sites about redundancy procedures? They are particularly strict and I know there should be initial consultation, warning letters, meetings and the option to take other posts in the company etc. A company can't just rush out and make someone redundant, especially once the employee has over 12 months with them. A couple of years ago I helped my son fight an unfair dismissal case with the Empoyment Tribunal after he was effectively "set up" for redundancy by his line manager who did not get on with him. It ended with an £8000 settlement. It also gave him the push to set up his own business, which has in fact gone from strength to strength ever since.

There's usually a silver lining to every dark cloud. Good luck to you both anyway.

[spider8]

Thanks Graye, we are going to do this as we know they've broken the rules and we want to see what we can do about it........keeping in mind he'll need references from them for future employers though. So glad your son is doing well, it sounded like it all worked out in the end and well done for fighting his corner.

[Graye]

Good for you!

There are some tight time constraints so keep an eye on all that too, don't let them pass by or you will be lost. It's quite fiddly with all the forms and you need to find the exact Employment laws they have broken to quote etc but you can do it yourself. Although the day I found myself before the presiding "judge" (I think he was a solicitor in real life but is the judge for ET cases) facing a London barrister sent by the ex employer I did begin to think I was out of my depth! Just scare tactics though and once they saw the strength of our case they settled "out of court". Don't take their first offer either! We also insisted as part of the deal that a good reference was given but I think there are separate rules somewhere on that too.

Good luck anyway.

[Graye]

One other thing, try to keep a diary of events relating to the redundancy. It's so easy to forget the sequence of events and it will be important further down the line.

Certainly with my son it gave him something to focus one and work at - a sort of project if you like.

[MKG]

I wouldn't worry too much about the reference, Spider. There are now laws covering that kind of thing - you're not allowed to say anything too negative unless you want to end up in court. Employers are well aware of this. The end result is that a reference, unless it really glows, is now not worth the paper it's written on. As I say, employers are aware of this, and a "usual kind of thing" reference is usually merely consigned to the bin, leaving the potential employers with the responsibility of making up their own minds based upon experience and interview - as it damn well should always have been!!!

Mike

[spider8]

Agreed Mike and thanks Graye for the info. Update is........Dave's been to the Joke Centre and been told what he's entitled to (not a lot) the Job-seekers allowance for six months. He's also sent a letter to his workplace wanting to know why they didn't follow the necessary procedure for redundancy notification etc., etc., (not used the term 'unfairly treated' so as to not ring alarm bells) and the HR dept said they'd respond by Thursday 9th.......no reply yet (what a shock ). From the sounds of it from people working there, the place is in melt-down, things are in choas.
Dave's CV is ready for sending out, all we have to do now is make sure it goes to the right companies here but a friend is working on a contact list for us as he deals with many of the renewables through his work. Dave seems up-beat atm, it's if his CV doesn't bring any results then we'll be worried but we can only wait and see.

[spider8]

Well I'm flabbergasted .
Dave received an email letter this afternoon from his ex-employers-to-be saying they have retracted the redundancy and want Dave to stay employed by them!!!! Apologies for any distress that this process may have caused you over the past few weeks.......ANY distress........MAY have caused you........barstuards . We are unsure what we should be feeling, relief obviously but anger - oh yes.
So, all being well and unless they change their mind yet again, we are okay again. To say I don't trust them would be a great understatement. We don't know why this has happened.......was it Dave standing up to them and going down the 'unfair dismissal' route or was it his immediate boss who'd been fighting to keep Dave.....we don't know but we are going down to Preston at the start of July and Dave will learn all he can then. What a rotten roller coaster ride!

[boboff]

Wow, how angry must you be!

My feeling is that it is the fact that he was standing up for himself. A tribunal is never a place an employer ever wants to go twice, trust me, I have been once, and would not go again. Three "Magistrates" presuming you are a Horrible person out to rape any child within a 1 mile radius, is about the size of it!

I can offer only congratulations, and hope that you can put this past you, and be possitive about the future now! Boy, it's not easy though.

[Keaniebean]

What a hell of a situation to have been put through, I would be seething and spitting feathers if that were me. Employers seem to have everyone by the short and curlies these days. They know people are desperate to keep their jobs and they seem to think it's just fine and dandy to treat them how the hell they please.

I'm glad things seem to be good in that your husband still has a job, but this has left a bitter taste in the mouth no doubt. I can't offer anything other than but I hope it might help just a little. So just incase it does here have some more