# Found redundancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!



## yesman (21 May 2009)

I was shocked to find a letter at my desk stating that i was to be made redundant. 

Even the reason and the amount of redundancy was listed. 

They have never mentioned anything to me and I have been getting paid. The letter was dated November and I only found it on Monday. 

The envelope also had the same letter addressed to two other people were were let go in November. 

Not sure what to make of the whole situation. I'm also a bit worried. 

Anyone any ideas?


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## keff (21 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

Say nothing and pretend it never happened! Scary though. They must have had a change of heart. Presume you have been turning up to work, or were you on sick leave or something? Weird that the letters only turned up now....any idea how that could have happened, were they down the back of your desk or something?


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## Setanta12 (22 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

Have you been paid in the interim ?
What exactly does the letter state ? 
Surely it has some dates mentioned somewhere ?


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## extopia (22 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

Sounds like a prank.


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## Welfarite (22 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

Any ideas how the letter ended up on your desk at this stage?


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## yesman (23 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

i have no idea why it was left there or if someone deliberately put it there. someone messed up. 

i have been off work for the last number of weeks (from march to may) as i had to have an operation so it must have been put there while i was away, but by who?


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## NicolaM (23 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

Yesman,
That would make me completely paranoid, to be honest.

Are you going to speak to someone at work about it?
It must be very difficult to work with this hanging over you

Nicola


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## nish (23 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

That's pretty weird i have to say. Could it have been an admin error - i mean, do you work in a big co. where these things sometimes happen?


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## yesman (24 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

im still thinking about speaking to someone about it. im extremely annoyed off that an admin error of this magnitude could happen. im finding it very difficult to concentrate on my work with this hanging over me. 

nish, its a small-medium sized company, i still cant believe it was an accident.


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## NicolaM (24 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

Yesman,
I suspect you will need to speak to someone about it, either whoever is the manager of your section, or perhaps HR, depending on which you feel might be better.

I think it would be impossible to work with this awful uncertainty hanging over you.
I do think it must be some sort of an error though, as if they had really wished to make you redundant, they could have spoken to you about it by now, given that it is dated 1st November.

Whoever has done this may well be in the doo doo though (and rightly so).

If you are going to speak with them (which I think you should) try and be as calm as possible, and work out in your head in advance what you are going to say. Sad as it sounds, it can be helpful to write down what you'd like to say, then practice it out loud several times, so it'll come easily to you if you are feeling stressed or angry when talking to them.

Nicola


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## yesman (24 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

i thought about it, if i do mention it, it will embarass the directors as it is a small-medium size practise. they will more than likely say that the letter went missing and they have no idea how it got there. they will also say that they were about to send it and had a change of heart, or they decided against it and lost the letter. id say someone on the office picked it up and as it was in an open envelope they may have read it. then they would have slipped it back into the envelope and quietly popped it in the locker below my desk.

thats the only thing i can think of. but it still renders me unable to concentrate with my work.


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## NicolaM (24 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

Will you be able to continue to work there if you do not address this?

Nicola


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## NicolaM (24 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*

Hi 
I have just discussed this with my boyfriend(who works in recruitment), who suggests ignoring this, and working as hard as you can, in case anything you might say may bring this to a head, and lead to you being made redundant.
Not what I would suggest myself, but it's an alternative and valid point of view

Nicola


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## d2x2 (25 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*



extopia said:


> Sounds like a prank.


 
I second that and would stop worrying about it.


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## Setanta12 (25 May 2009)

I'm going into a redundancy situation myself and I seem to recall a provision that employees must be notified at their usual place of ... .... what exactly I cannot recall as it didn't pertain to me ... but if it mentioned 'usual place of work', then that would be your desk. 

You could ignore it but I wouldn't - if they want you gone, thats their way of startign the process and you need to arm yourself with the facts. If its a prank/error, you'll at least know straight away.


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## yesman (25 May 2009)

i think im just going to ignore it... it wasnt a joke i know that much. it was dated november so they could have wrote the letter and then decided against sacking me. the letter obviously got "misplaced" then someone saw the envelope, looked in it, saw what it was and dropped it into the unit below my desk.

im glad someone did put it there because now i have a heads up on what to expect.


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## yesman (25 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*



NicolaM said:


> Hi
> it's an alternative and valid point of view
> 
> Nicola


 
thanks for your input Nicola, much appreciated, its a tough scenario, one which i never thought i'd have to face, but thats reality.


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## extopia (25 May 2009)

*Re: Found reduncancy letter at my desk but redundancy hasnt been mentioned to me!?!*



yesman said:


> they will more than likely say that the letter went missing and they have no idea how it got there. they will also say that they were about to send it and had a change of heart, or they decided against it and lost the letter. id say someone on the office picked it up and as it was in an open envelope they may have read it. then they would have slipped it back into the envelope and quietly popped it in the locker below my desk.



Wow. That's an very detailed picture you've painted in your mind, and you seem so sure of it that you're not going to mention it to anyone - except here, on a publicly accessible forum (the situation you describe is very unique and your directors could easily come across this thread).

Talk to your boss about it.


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## Lilly2099 (26 May 2009)

I work in HR and would advise that you have to address this issue with your bosses, they are the ones who have misplaced the letter and are responsible for any stress they have caused to you due to what I would see a breach of confidentiality as a result not only were you exposed to your own information but also confidential information on your fellow colleagues. If you were to be notified on being made redundant it would have to be done in a formal process with the legal required notice period based on your service.


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## Bill Struth (28 May 2009)

Ask your boss what the craic is.


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