# Redundancy, unfair or not? Please help...



## Saffa (24 Jul 2008)

Hi,

My employer has issued me with a letter dated 23 July 08 stating that they are ''offerring me Voluntary Redundancy and that my contract will end on 31 July 2008''. I am now being placed under pressure to sign and accept these terms and my workload has already been taken over by my MD 2 weeks before the date of this letter with a request from him for me to introduce him as the new contact replacing me.

This follows a request for 'advice' I made to my MD after enquiring about the possibility of taking a 3 month unpaid leave period to visit a sick relative abroad.

The company is offering me 1 months salary to be paid over 2 months and 6 months holiday entitlement (11.75 days) to be paid at the end of the 2 month period. 

My employment commenced in August 2005. 

I would be gratefull to receive your opinion on this matter including possible cause of action.

Many thanks,

Thane


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## alaskaonline (24 Jul 2008)

that does sound very odd, i agree. 7 days notice for redundancy? i am not sure what the legal terms are i.e. how much notice your employer has to give you but i am sure it is more than 7 days! i would also enquire why you are made redundant because if the work is still there i.e. resources are needed he would still need to accomodate you if you reject the letter and even if it means, moving you to a different position. check out the citizen information bureau.

[broken link removed]

It states there (by the way) that generally a redundancy situation arises if your job ceases to exist and you are not replaced which is not the case with your job, so I really would find out why your employer tries to get rid of you!


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## Saffa (24 Jul 2008)

Thank you for your reply, 

Initially it was stated as a result of poor performance but I then submitted a progress report which is impressive to say the least and blows fellow colleugues out of the water based on results. They then as a result stated that it is a ''cost savings exercise''. 

Thanks,


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## WaterSprite (24 Jul 2008)

This looks really suspicious on the face of it.  How much notice is required by your contract of employment?  Even if the minimum notice terms apply, in an actual redundancy situation you should be paid 2 weeks' notice (for more than 2 years' service), plus untaken holidays, plus two weeks' of pay for each year worked, plus an additional week.  So them paying you one month's salary is not good enough, even if you assume that this is a legitimate redundancy.  I really don't get the bit about them paying you over two months either - redundancy payments should be made at the time you leave.

Also really suspicious is the fact that they are referring to this as a "voluntary" redundancy, when it's clearly anything but!  I'd go back to them and outline what you would be entitled to *if* it was a real redundancy and outline to them what you could recover *if* it was an unfair dismissal (which is what it could be if it's not a real redundancy) and ask them to come back with a realistic offer.  If you were successful in an unfair dismissal claim, you could recover a maximum of 2 years' compensation (although the maximum award is rare).

Have  look through http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/employment which gives good info on employee rights and what is/is not redundancy and fair dismissal.  A guide to unfair dismissal is here too: [broken link removed]

Good luck
Sprite


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## Saffa (24 Jul 2008)

Sprite, 

Thank you for your comments, much appreciated!


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## Diziet (24 Jul 2008)

Saffa said:


> Sprite,
> 
> Thank you for your comments, much appreciated!



Don't sign anything. Politely take the letter and say that of course you need to take some legal advice before committing. Then go and seek legal advice.


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## Saffa (24 Jul 2008)

Thanks, I am not signing in respect of the comments already received. I shall endevour to visit the Citizens Advice B. first.


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## alaskaonline (25 Jul 2008)

Diziet said:


> Don't sign anything. Politely take the letter and say that of course you need to take some legal advice before committing. Then go and seek legal advice.


 
I totally agree. Would do the same. I'll take the letter and tell them I seek legal advise first before making up my mind. Love to see their faces!  One of my friends yesterday said to me that there is a 2 months notice period if made redundant and they cannot make you redundant on grounds of poor performance! The actual fact however is that they replaced you already and this is not legal anyway (in terms of redundancy). I stated a link yesterday which also highlights the reason why anyone can be made redundant and performance is not one of them. If they want to go down the "dismissal" route on grounds of poor performance, they would 1st have to give you three warnings (1st verbal, 2nd written, 3rd final) before letting you go. You certainly have a case here and it annoys me how unprofessional some (many) people in higher positions are. They should all be forced to complete a course in employment law before getting management jobs to save us the hassle.


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## shipibo (25 Jul 2008)

Saffa said:


> Thank you for your reply,
> 
> Initially it was stated as a result of poor performance but I then submitted a progress report which is impressive to say the least and blows fellow colleugues out of the water based on results. They then as a result stated that it is a ''cost savings exercise''.
> 
> Thanks,


 
Poor Performance (Constructive Dismissal) is difficult to prove, have they setup you up with plan to improve work, has this been highlighted in reviews, have they given you verbal , written warnings etc ...) . The answer is no.

This is not voluntary, as that would cross the organisation for volunteers.You are been targetted, and have a strong case for unfair dismissal, if it gets to that.


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## Bronte (28 Jul 2008)

I think that if you take voluntry redundancy it affects your social welfare rights, in that they don't pay you for the first X number of weeks, so you need to look into this too.


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