Hi, SO where I work is probably going to shut its office soon. They haven't said it out loud to employees, presumably so we don't ransack the place, steal all the company contacts, expect to be allowed to search as entitled for jobs or just stop in our tracks entirely. Now... my question(s) is/are: Is it reasonable to ask someone who lives in one of the most Southern points in England to relocate their job to one of the most Northern parts of England. Also, if not, what concessions would they have to craft to make such an offer a suitable alternative? Also, if I can gather proof that they knew they were shutting us down long before they informed us of our redundancy, what sort of entitlement, if any, exists and how long must they have known? My reasoning is they are preventing us from serving out our notice period effectively by knowingly allowing the lease on a property to expire. https://www.gov.uk/redundant-your-rights/notice-periods
You can't do anything unless they break the rules: Which means they don't have to give you ANY notice. They can just lock the doors one day and pay you a weeks notice (unless longer is specified in your contract). As to 'suitable alternative'. If they don't have jobs in the same location then they can claim they don't have any suitable jobs. If you're willing to relocate then they may offer something to you, but they aren't legally required to pay relocation fees.
So I will be entitled to my redundancy pay... and that is that. End of... see you later. As far as I am concerned it wouldn't be a suitable job, so it would just be redundancy, unless in the unlikely circumstance they are just going to let groups of us work from home.
Don't wait for redundancy to happen, be proactive and find a new job before the preverbal hits the shiny metal thing.
Sorry to hear about your possible troubles. You would be entitled to redundancy pay, payment in lieu of notice and any holiday time accrued. Thought I'd add this to the mix though. If the number of employees affected is 20 or more they're required to go through a consultation process with you covering: ways to avoid redundancies the reasons for redundancies how to keep the number of dismissals to a minimum how to limit the effects for employees involved, eg by offering retraining Also, "there’s no time limit for how long the period of consultation should be, but the minimum is: 20 to 99 redundancies - the consultation must start at least 30 days before any dismissals take effect 100 or more redundancies - the consultation must start at least 45 days before any dismissals take effect" And other legal requirements applicable. Take a look here: https://www.gov.uk/redundant-your-rights/consultation
Yeah... I have a job interview tomorrow. But an interview is an interview... I must plan for all eventualities. (I'm widening my scope to things I haven't considered and it is early days - forcing redundancy on me might actually be a good thing in the end. It's been mentioned in other threads before; this day and age, there is no excuse for not learning something *if* you are one of the lucky few that can sustain a reasonable standard of living post excommunication) Thanks Carrie, I think this will effect approximately 16 people in a single office. Of which - in honest appraisal of the situation mode - I'd say only 10 are essential employees. One person to my knowledge has already been sneakily offered "do you mind awfully working from home in January?" This is why I think I could dig up some proof of wilful neglect of duty to any staff (if such a thing exists in these procedures). However, it could be that the company will look to bring more people into the consultation from other offices. Once again though, putting the hat of honest appraisal on, I'd say it would be unlikely to target so many regional offices across the global at once. With a global company and so few staff members it would be very easy to chop your legs off by accident in a wave of faux-redundancy consultation periods, if, just looking at the figures. Now the most unfortunate thing is I don't know where my contract is any more. Is it possible to waive away your rights in a contract of employment? In my own head, this would seem dubious, but possible; I would need to read mine own again.
Just a wee clarification on this statement, for those who don't know the details but might want to. Assuming the company isn't going into administration/receivership/bust, the minimum payable to you (unless your contract states more) is dependent on age and duration of employment:
Also worth noting consultancy period apply if more than 20 staff are going to be made redundant. https://www.gov.uk/redundant-your-rights/consultation From what i understand there allowed to think and discuss about shutting down your office for as long as they like as long as they have the appropriate consultancy period, there nothing saying the consultancy period must start when then start think about it, but as your office is smaller than 20 then minimum consultancy period doesn't apply. A business is allowed to move office, downsize ect there nothing unlawful about them thinking about/ planning doing this, so that's a red herring you can do nothing about.
We've got someone in just in case to help us with career choices, CVs etc. A nice gesture from the HR dept in our company who are, understandably, just as concerned as us. (The company we are merging with do not know this is going on. And from documents I've seen they don't intend to tell us until the 11th hour.) Some people have been in this company for 9 years, so 9 weeks notice for those people.
Updated: Obviously EVERYONE would be busting their nuts to find out how all this went. /sarcasm. But sometimes it is nice to know how things go for fellow humans. All worked out for me to the benefit. Got another job I believe and will receive my redundancy money also.
But where will me meet to exchange keyboards now? Sounds like good news matey, I hope you found something a little closer to home.
It's half way the same journey, then I drive to Southampton... lol It's 5 miles closer... I have a lease car nowadays as it is so much easier. No mot, they service it... bla bla bla... plus I get a modern diesel capable of 70mpg and even 50 if I drive like a nutter. We're going to have to do drive-bys. Exchange money over the internet and drive down the small section of 4 lane motorway between Ashley Heath roundabout, initiating complex headlight flashing duets such, as a paradiddle, indicating that one of us should wind down our window to receive incoming keyboard at what will be a combined speed, potentially, of 140mph - providing that we are obeying the letter of the law. (Could be 160mph as 70 = 80.) We are going to be the coolest nerds in jail for miles around.
