can they really get away with this???

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taken for a ride

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My colleagues and I have been advised that we are likely to be made redundant in a few months time. There is talk that we will only get the legal statutory redundancy payments at this time. This has left us all quite anxious as less than a year ago our company let 20% (all but one of them chosen by management) of the staff go and gave this group a very good deal (9 months salary) for their trouble.
Our questions is can our employer differentiate between sets of employees like this giving one group very favourable packages while the rest of us are treated very differently? We haven't been given a definite timescale for any of this but it is likely the "cull" will be starting in a few months time with it spread over 3 to 4 months to finish.
All advice much appreciated.....
 
Bad news.....

Hi taken,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but there is no absolute compulsion on an employer to pay more that the statutory (the only positive news is that this has increased from 1/2 week per year for those aged < 41) recently.

While it is not compulsory, depending on the company's financial state there are other ways of improving this eg. the labour court, publicity and how critical the skills available are to the management of the business over the short to medium term.

Can't be any more positive than that - hope it works out ok...

MAC
 
Re: Bad news.....

Sorry about your situation - I'm sure it's no consolation but I was in the same position myself last year and was entitled to and received nothing more than a month's pay in lieu of notice plus pay in lieu of accrued/accumulated leave! :|

These links might also be of interest:

- DETE Redundancy Payments section - contact them directly for information and advice on your statutory redundancy entitlements if necessary.

-

-

- [broken link removed]

Hope this helps.
 
not impressed

thanks for your knowledgeable advice guys (even if it is in the negative!!).
I reckon that we are all just going to have to kick up as big a fuss as possible on this whole thing and see what that get's us, as we don't really have anything left to loose on this.
I will have a look through the links you posted ClubMan and see what they say.

Great website btw - very informative for the vast majority of us who are financially naive...
 
His day will come because it's a long road.

The company that I worked for offered a deal to its employees when looking for a voluntary take up of redundancy. When interviewing the staff, each person was told that if you don't take this package now there may be NO package available next year and you may get nothing. One employee said that he didn't want to go and the head of human resources said to him "Well we could always fire you. You could then take us to an unfair dismissals tribunal where the maximum sum you can be awarded is two years salary. Sure isn't our redundancy offer better than that, we will give you two and a half years salary". None of us were in a union but rather were part of a middle managers group. Each member was given three months paid leave to "think" about the offer.
 
Re: His day will come because it's a long road.

Yes, redundancy deals tend to get less favourable over time. And it makes sense -- the more pressing the company's financial problems, the less likely they are to sweeten the deal for soon-to-be-redundant employees.

Sorry to hear about your circumstances, hope things work out for you.
 
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