Being forced to take voluntary redundancy

Hi

I am writing on behalf of my friend who is working for a company which is having a lot of difficulties at the moment.

The has been talk of redundancy for about a quarter of the staff for a few months now, and everyone is afraid of losing their job.

Recently, her boss demanded that she take voluntary redundancy with a very small severance package, which was just a little over statutory redundancy. He said that he would make her life a misery if she did not take it. He got abusive saying that every week that he would set impossible tasks for her, and when she failed to complete them, that he would give her verbal, then written warnings, then would sack her.

Does she have to take this from him?

Many thanks

This is bullying, and would most likely lead to a constructive dismissal claim. If she is a union member, she should look to them for advice - If not, the Dept of Enterprise may be able to help. Are others in the company getting the same treatment?

It might help if she work out the manager's motivation - Why is her manager so keen to get her to 'volunteer' - Why doesn't he just make her redundant anyway?

Yes this is bullying.....

Kate.

The first thing for your friend to do is keep a log of EVERYTHING no matter how small. Time and date each issue. If your initial post reflects reality very soon your friend will have her managerfeeling very uneasy when she is in a position to present the evidence.

She should also ask to have a friend colleague attend any meetings with this manager and try to avoid 1 to 1's.

Hope this helps, it amazing how quickly bullying can be exposed. And any half decent organisation would question the skills of a manager who tries such a tactic instead of trying to manage the people effectively.

Best of luck.

MAC

Re: Yes this is bullying.....

I agree with the last post and would suggest that your friend emails themselves within the internal mailing system. Whilst not entirely auditable it will demonstrate events in realtime.


Nat

Great idea...

Nat - hadn't thought of that. Excellent idea.

MAC

Re: Great idea...

Make sure they have a hard-copy of any relevant e-mails though, as if things get nasty their access to the system might be revoked.

How big is the company? Has this happened anyone else there? It's possible the manager has been given a target head-count for their section and may just be transferring pressure from above onto your friend. Not very nice, but it may make your friend feel slightly better if they understand the motivations behind it and that it's "not personal".

Your friend might want to start being more proactive about agreeing and monitoring their goals and progress, e.g. ask for a weekly meeting or fornightly status meeting with their manager where they discuss progress to date and agree deliverables for the week ahead. Then e-mail minutes of the meetings to their manager. Even if the manager's attitude doesn't change, the existence of the e-mails will make it harder for them to justify a sacking.

Bubbish

Kate

Your friend's boss is acting illegally, and NO the best option is not to keep quiet so as not to piss off a former employer. She is being harassed and bullied, (Safety, Welfare and Health Act) and can take her boss to a tribunal. What would people recommed if she were the victim of sexual harassment - oh say nothing do not part on bad terms - Crap!

She could also go down the Constructive Dismissal route and, of course, the Unfair Dismissal route if he sacks her.

Asking her to take voluntary redundancy without an adequate severance package is ridiculous. If she takes this then she is making herself voluntarily unemployed and will not qualify for social welfare.

She should think very carefully, and not give in to bullying like that.

Unfair Dismissal route

go down the Constructive Dismissal route and, of course, the Unfair Dismissal route if he sacks her.

Click to expand...

If you go down the Unfair/Constructive Dismissal route what is the best settlement you can expect? Is reinstatement a likely outome?

I ask this question because I think the settlements can be meagre enough. I also think that Unfair/Constructive Dismissal can be difficult to prove to the satisfaction of the (labour) court.

I think that if an employer really wants to get rid of an employee then they can do it.

I agree with the other posters - document everyting and let the employer know you are documenting everyting.

Ajapale

What can be achieved for UD?

Two years salary is the max. that can be awarded and if the situation is as bad as portrayed in the initial posting I would think this would be an easy case to win (if there is such a thing...)

MAC

What to expect ?

Financial - Could get 2 years salary

Satisfaction for putting the shits up a bully - Priceless !!

Re:What to expect ?

I remember reading somewhere that the *average* compensation payout in the event of a successful unfair dismissal claim is €12,000.

Re: Re:What to expect ?

Just for the record, my brother went through a successful UD claim many years ago, but his view afterwards was that it wasn't really worth the stress/hassle involved.