How to get rid of an employee

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90210

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If a company had an individual working for them for the past 35 years and they are circa 3/5 years away from retirement but they need to get rid of the individual now, what would be the best way.



Try to put them on a 3-day week



Make them redundant



This individual has good time, attendance etc, however they have serious people issues which are having a major detriment to the concern , this business is also unionised.



Any suggestions?
 
Presumably the employer would need to be careful not to engage in surreptitious and illegal constructive dismissal but rather adhere to the relevant statutory rights/obligations and the company disciplinary procedures set out in the contract of employment and elsewhere and give the employee the required number of verbal and written warnings before taking disciplinary action including reducing working hours or termination? Note also that employees are not made redundant - jobs are.
 
90210, if the company is unionised there must be a correct HR structure in place where any issues that the company may have can be raised and acted upon.

Although it sounds like the company just wants to fire the person without following procedures.
 
How about letting the employee retire early on full pension plus lump sum?

It could well work out cheaper in the long run!

If the employee has been there 35 years and is in a union I would think you will have some difficulties in getting rid of him / her - you will need to avoid a wrongful or constructive dismissal action.

An alternative is to move the employee to another job within the company that minimises the impact of the bad behaviour but once again you need to be mindful of constructive dismissal claims

If there is a "personality" problem then the company needs to work this out with the employee and give the employee time to change and reform - this process could drag on for three years anyway!

The 3 days a week might work if it is sold to the employee as a "reward" for the many years of excellent service
 
While there may be additional issues to consider in unionised employment I don't think that in this case this is necessarily significant - all employees, unionised or not, have certain statutory and contractual rights in the context of unfair/constructive dismissal. If in doubt the company should seriously consider getting legal advice on the employment issues relevant to any moves they may make to discipline or terminate the employee.
 
Semantics aside , there is no corporate HR structure in place or disiplinary procedure to rely upon which is common place today, we are talking about a concern that has very little outside the written contract.
So tactically -

Talk the guy into a 3 day week without a reduction in their pension
Lump Sum payoff.
Change or remove their responsibilities within the company and hope they get frustrated and then resign
(could be the option as this person is quite snappy and short fused)
or grin and bear it.

or hire a hitman.
 
90210 said:
Change or remove their responsibilities within the company and hope they get frustrated and then resign
(could be the option as this person is quite snappy and short fused)
Click to expand...

That sounds dangerously close to constructive dismissal.
 
The Japanese have perfected the "reverse headhunt" technique where by they get a proxy third party company to headhunt the individual and then then the proxy company makes the employee redundant at a later stage.

A legal but hardly ethical solution.

Closer to home I have seen such employees being offered early retirement on the understanding of some consultancy work which would extend after age 65.
 
The Acts provide that every dismissal of an employee will be presumed to have been unfair unless the employer can show substantial grounds justifying the dismissal (entemp.ie)



Employers are required to: (From Oasis)

  • to give appropriate warnings
  • take adequate time to establish a case for dismissal
  • investigate thoroughly all allegations
  • allow the right to representation during the investigation
  • In deciding a case, the body hearing it must take into account the reasonableness or otherwise of your employer's conduct.
  • In addition, the question as to whether or not the employer had a dismissal procedure in place will also be taken into account.
With the above in mind, the lack of procedure and the possible 'constructive dismissal', this could be very expensive for the company should the employee realise the opportunity to successfully sue!



And with their age, they could possibly seek redress under the equality legislation re any possible age discrimination if they feel this have something to do with his dismissal.



Beware!
 
Not trying to divert from the main question, but if this person has been with the company 35 years and has personality issues, why has it taken so long for the company to look at dealing with the situation (in what seems a pretty dangerous way from a employment law point of view?)

C
 
90210 said:
Talk the guy into a 3 day week without a reduction in their pension
Lump Sum payoff.
Change or remove their responsibilities within the company and hope they get frustrated and then resign
(could be the option as this person is quite snappy and short fused)
or grin and bear it.

or hire a hitman.
Click to expand...
If this is the best that management can come up with, I'd suggest that there is probably more fault with management that with the employee. How about the bleeding obvious solution; Approach the employee, explain the impact of his behaviour on others, and mutually agree a solution.
 
"Approach the employee, explain the impact of his behaviour on others, and mutually agree a solution"

After 35 years service its the least they deserve.
 
90210 - is this simply a troll? It's hard to believe that any employer would actually countenance dealing with this issue in the ways that you have outlined...
 
RainyDay said:
If this is the best that management can come up with, I'd suggest that there is probably more fault with management that with the employee. How about the bleeding obvious solution; Approach the employee, explain the impact of his behaviour on others, and mutually agree a solution.
Click to expand...

or maybe appoach the other and tell them they are the problem .... I perume this guy doesn't have a bad history of problems after 35 years ?
 
Our company has a guy with over 30 years service and was in a similar situation. For the past years MDs have been dodging the issue. Finally a lump sum payoff was offered/accepted, so he will be history before 2006. It's amazing the positive impact the announcement has had in the company!

IMO - management bear responsibility for not attacking the issue sooner, but it would have been expensive 10 years ago versus now when he only has 3 years to retirement.
 
My husbands company had a similar situation although the duration of the employment was only 20 years. The worker in question had their job made obsolete by a new computer system ... and was made redundant ... now people wonder what he ever did in the first place.
This employee was given a reference and easily found alternative employment.
 
90210 said

This individual has good time, attendance etc, however they have serious people issues
Click to expand...

If the people issues affect the other unionised staff they may well support efforts to resolve the problems. Have you had complaints about the individual from his colleagues? If they are just moaning, then ask them to make the complaints formal and ask the individual for a response. Follow fair procedure. However, if you are found to have dismissed him unfairly, you will pay up to two years' remuneration as compensation.

Brendan
 
Brendan said:
However, if you are found to have dismissed him unfairly, you will pay up to two years' remuneration as compensation.
Click to expand...

Is that the maximum possible compensation? I would have expected it to be more than that and also the possibility that the company could be ordered to take the employee back on (probably unlikely in an acrimonious situation but you never know).
 
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