# Unfair selection for redundancy



## Agent 99 (12 Jun 2009)

I recently lost my job and have reason to believe I was unfairly selected for redundancy.  Has anyone ever taken action against an employer for unfair selection?


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## thedaras (12 Jun 2009)

Can you elaborate? how was the selection process done?

Are you entitiled to have access to the proceedure for selection?

There are many reasons why a particular person is selected,so maybe think about why you would have been and see if its justified.

I would think most companys would look at the persons work record and how they contruibute,if they are willing and not obstructive to work practices etc..

For example if a HR manager has two people to choose from one is always moaning ,not happy to comply with work practice changes ,millitant etc and the other worker is happy to get on with it ,is not causing problems or obstructing every change then I would imagine the company would want the second person..

Some people who are selected are rather afronted by the fact that they have been chosen and never stop to think why ..


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## Agent 99 (12 Jun 2009)

Thanks for the reply.
The selection process was that I (and others) were simply told we were losing our jobs.  The reason I was given was that they couldn't justify keeping someone of my level on (ie senior).  I was not involved in the process and was not in any way consulted.  Neither was I offered another less senior position or given the option to transfer to a different department.  There was however a history of problems with my dept manager and had been considering taking a case for bullying up until redundancy was first mentioned.


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## Deiseblue (12 Jun 2009)

Agent 99 said:


> Thanks for the reply.
> The selection process was that I (and others) were simply told we were losing our jobs. The reason I was given was that they couldn't justify keeping someone of my level on (ie senior). I was not involved in the process and was not in any way consulted. Neither was I offered another less senior position or given the option to transfer to a different department. There was however a history of problems with my dept manager and had been considering taking a case for bullying up until redundancy was first mentioned.


If you are a member of a Union you should refer the matter to them , alternatively it might be an idea to refer the matter to a solicitor specialising in employment legislation.
In terms of a case for bullying had you been keeping notes on the manner and dates of any incidents - may prove handy now !


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## Agent 99 (12 Jun 2009)

No, unfortunately there was no trade union in the job ...  Someone recommended a solicitor to me and I've left a number of messages but haven't heard back from them, hence the post here because I'm anxious to hear about others' experiences.

I did (thankfully!) keep notes of most of the incidents over the years and I had even involved HR on a couple of occasions so there is a definite history to the problem.


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## zippitydooda (12 Jun 2009)

It's a long lonely fight to take issue with a dismissal but speaking from experience you need to read the legislation in great detail.  Contact the EAT and provide them with all the details they will eventually get back to you with some feedback.  Arm yourself with as much factual non-emotive information as you can and then you will have a gut feeling of whether you are feeling hard done by or whether you have been shafted in legal terms.  Unfortunately there is no allowance in law for nasty smirking employers who use the letter of the law to their advantage...but there is a universal law of 'what goes around comes around' !


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## Agent 99 (12 Jun 2009)

Thanks Zippity.  I'm told I'd need to be very strong mentally to go through with it and that I'll have the book thrown at me but I think I've got to do it,  provided I can find out (inexpensively) that I've got a strong chance of winning.

You mentioned speaking from experience - what happened?


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## zippitydooda (12 Jun 2009)

Agent 99 said:


> Thanks Zippity. I'm told I'd need to be very strong mentally to go through with it and that I'll have the book thrown at me but I think I've got to do it, provided I can find out (inexpensively) that I've got a strong chance of winning.
> 
> You mentioned speaking from experience - what happened?


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## krissovo (12 Jun 2009)

Been a people manager for a number of years and in the business I am in redundency is common place (out sourcing).

If the company follow any form of process at all for selection then I would say you have very little chance of any legal result.

For example in case 1 I had 12 employees under me and we had to reduce the team to 10.  I was told by HR that I would have to follow a scoring process.  Ok sounds easy enough but I had a good idea of who I wanted to go.  The answer was design the scoring criteria that would target those two employees.  The criteria I could choose from was attendance, annual review, work output, billable hours and so on. I scored all my employees on all criteria and engineered the scores (with HR assistance) to reflect the answer I wanted by removing certain criteria.  

These two guys were made redundant, one went down the legal route and spent all his redundancy money on this but had no chance of winning as we had scores for each employee.

A lot depends if any fair process was followed and even if it wasnt it can be engineered by a experienced HR manager.


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## zippitydooda (12 Jun 2009)

Boss had a sudden issue with me he's been saving up for a few months...went on the warpath with it, called me to impromptu meetings to discuss my performance and 'behavioural issues', my performance review did not reflect the good things we spoke about and was quite '*****y', stopped talking to me unless it was in meetings in front of everyone, blocked a promotion he had promised me ...I eventually reported him for harrassment and I went through a full investigation internally (which concluded that he conducted himself in an unprofessional manner and caused me undue stress but he did not 'harrass or bully' me...so he got off scot free)..Then I was made redundant a few months later.  HR was un helpful and unsupportive.

I was in a strong position as I was pregnant at the time and I was made redundant while I was on mat leave ..which everyone know you can't do.

I challenged it personally and got nowhere and then I set the big guns on them - I hired a top employment law solicitor and they hired the head of Fry's employment law department and we bashed it out until they eventually conceded.  I also has the backing of the Equality Authority along the way.  Like I said it's a lonely fight and there's times when you wish you had your redundancy in your hand and you wonder if you will waste it all on legal fees (which incidentally my employer paid for)... you get the feeling that all your friends and family secretly wish you took the original package...

At the end of the day when you have all your information gathered only you'll know yourself if it's worth fighting for...

Good luck with it!


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## Agent 99 (12 Jun 2009)

I'm shocked that they made you redundant when you were pregnant ... I mean, even the dogs in the street know that that's a complete no-no.
Your story is very interesting and not dissimilar to some of the stuff I had to put up with.  I reached a point where I was losing sleep over the situation and didn't know what to do.  I wanted the hassle to end but I'd been  to HR on previous occasions and it didn't make much difference.  Long story short, this is why I think I was chosen for redundancy because of the tensions between me and my manager and of course it's pretty certain that the manager was the one called on to make the decision about who to let go ...


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## pscocoa (18 Jun 2009)

I am dealing with one now where person selected had 2 roles. One of the roles was redundant. She was put in a "pool" of 2 and scoring criteria applied. She spent 80% of her time on redundant job. Management only scored her on the 20% of the job and not her overall performance in all the jobs. This was unfair because managment said if she had been full time on the other job she would have been effective - this seems subjective and not objective - only manager of remaining role was asked to score and not manager for redundant role - we propose to fight it.


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