Contractual Terms --Help

I am in a situation where my employer are having discussions about a financial settlement that would see me leave the organisation. My original contract does not have any redundancy terms in it but 6 years ago, I sought clarification on my contractual terms and an email was sent to me by my manager on behalf of HR clarifying which schem my contract was alligned to. The documentation my manager later sent me in relation to the scheme specified graduated redundancy terms and notice periods required from me to employer and employer to me.

Now the thing is my employer does not want to honour these terms as they claim that the email was not in my HR file and that therefore, any redundancy calculations would based on a statutory calculation. Naturally, I disagree and I am about to begin a legal challenge of their position....

Could anyone out there give me a considered opinion ?

Many thanks!

Some details on statutory redundancy payments and calculation:

http://www.entemp.ie/employment/redundancy/

Swotsmart

Do you have a copy of the email?

There may be a copy of the email on the company's email server or one of their backup tapes. Your solicitor can advise whether or not the company can be called to retrieve that info for you.

C

Capaill said:

Swotsmart

Do you have a copy of the email?

There may be a copy of the email on the company's email server or one of their backup tapes. Your solicitor can advise whether or not the company can be called to retrieve that info for you.

C

Click to expand...

Capaill,

I have a copy of the email and the documents that my manager sent me at the time...Interesting thing is that the organisation are not disputing that the email was sent...they are seeking to dispute the context of the email so as to argue that the terms of the redundancy outlined in the scheme does not apply to me. My view is that their position is not sustainable as I accepted the email at the time as clarification of my terms and have been working under those terms for the past 6 years.

I'm not a lawyer but I am involved in dealing with employment issues on a regular basis and unfortunately a 'considered opinion' is never given without sight of the relevant documentation, in this case the contract and the documentation from the HR people. You are doing the right thing in taking legal advice therefore. Personally, I'd feel that you have a good chance of proving that the HR documentation forms part of your contract:-

".....the employer, as an alternative to providing all the details in the statement, may use the statement to refer the employee to certain other documents containing the particulars, provided such documents are reasonably accessible to the employee in his/her employment."



As there are already statutory avenues open to you in order to address the matter yourself if necessary, you may not need to actually employ a lawyer and I can suggest 2 approaches:-

Call the Employment Rights Information Unit (details in above website) and/or ask to see a lawyer under the FLAC scheme as operated through the Citizens Information Centres and in certain other locations. Some Centres operate on an appointment-only basis, others are 'walk-in'. In either case be sure to bring your documentation with you.