So called redundancy-Is this legal?

Hello learned Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have a question on behalf of my mother.
She is employed as a receptionist/telephonist/information officer (16 years continuous service) for a charitable organisation which receives government funding for much of its activities.

She has been informed that her position is redundant following a consultant's report on staffing levels etc. The report recommends the redundancy of her position and the HIRING of a receptionist/telephonist etc (basically, exactly her job with a different title).

Is this remotely legal? I was of the opinion that once a position (not a person!) was redundant, that said position could not be resurrected for at least 6 months? She has spoken to her union rep and will be communicating with him again shortly. She is considering her options-what are they, realistically guys?

Thanks for any and all advice on this serious matter.

I was of the opinion that once a position (not a person!) was redundant, that said position could not be resurrected for at least 6 months?

Click to expand...

As far as I know, your opinion was correct. Try contacting the dept of enterprise & employment.

The Dept of Trade & Enterprise information are not suppose to give advice as such. They will probably tell your mum that she may have a case for unfair dismissal & send her out a booklet and a form.
Your mum should get 33 weeks redundancy so be sure she gets this & as far as iI am aware this wont stop her from claiming unfair dismissal. However they will probably take this money into account along with her efforts to seek alternative employment.
I am not an expert here,

unfair

Please give us a few clues as to the identity of this 'charitable' organisation so we can strike it off our lists. Hopefully it was never on mine.

Re: unfair

Please give us a few clues as to the identity of this 'charitable' organisation so we can strike it off our lists. Hopefully it was never on mine.

Click to expand...

I don't think this is a great idea. For a start, identifying the charity would effectively identify the person. Secondly, it is not fair to name/shame based on one side of the story - there is always another side.

Re: unfair

Agreed,
It would not be prudent to name the organisation, suffice to say it is not a well known one that fund-raise in the conventional sense, so it's not likely you've ever supported them.

Thanks for the replies so far.

..

This is a definite no-no.

This is not redundancy if the person is being replaced. This is a termination of employment and, on the face of it, an unfair one.

The person should immediately contact a Rights Commissioner/Employment Appeals Commissioner.

www.entemp.ie/employment/rights/

..

"The Dept of Trade & Enterprise information are not suppose to give advice as such."

This is NONSENSE. That's exactly what they're supposed to do in these circumstances and your mother would do well to contact them immediately.

Re: ..

The Dept of Enterprise and Employment provide a dedicated advice helpline for use by both employers and employees. I have used it regularly and find it is very reliable.

Yep. I have used it too when I was subject to redundancy and found them very responsive and helpful too. Coincidentally I was rehired to my old position after several (more than 6 as it happens) months had passed...

redundancy

There a difference between information & advice. The dept of Enterprise,Trade & Employment will inform you that you may take a case of unfair dismisal due to "unfair selection for redundancy" under the act. The will not advice you as to whether you should or should not take a case and will send you out a booklet & application form for your case to be heard by a rights comissioner. My experience with the rights comisioner(on a different matter) was very informal, we met in a hotel meeting room. You can appeal to the Employment Appeals Tribunal .Its may be worth your while checking www.lrc.ie/index.html & www.labourcourt.ie/.There annual reports are worth reading. For Example in 2002,only 1 person in the country was reinstated on order of the EAT. However there were several hundred settlements. The average compensation was €5,317.However there were a few large compensation claims greater than 25K. Remember all these agencies come under Mary Harney!

Re: redundancy

Thanks a lot for the advice guys,
She contacted her solicitor this morning and she's going to take his advice, she's unionised too and the union rep has been most helpful. I will update on this at some point in the future but do not want to say too much incase anybody's listenning!