Was I tricked into losing my job?

S

Sally26

Guest
Hello everyone,

I would appreciate opinions on the following:

I worked for a very small company - only two employees and my boss. Each of us had worked there for a number of years with my colleague starting a few months before me. We have similar jobs and salaries, although I was senior to him having been promoted last year. We were both 'temporarily laid off' in June and told to claim the dole. This was to be reviewed in July. When the July review came, I was told that that there was only 3 days work a month for me, but that my colleague could come back full time. As it was not financially viable for me to survive on 3 days work a month, I gave my employer an RP9 form. This form gives my employer 7 days to give me my old job back, or make me redundant. The 7 days passed without a response from my employer, and so, I am now in a redundancy situation. I am currently waiting for my employer to send me out the redundancy forms/payment etc.

Two things have since happened which are now making me question my situation:

1. I have learned that the day before the lay off was reviewed, my employer had a meeting with my colleague and told him he would be offering him his job back at his previous hours/salary. He told him that he didn't see this as a possibility for me. This was done behind my back, and did not involve the other directors of the company, who met the following day.

2. My colleague has since handed in his notice and my employer is now advertising this job as a full time, permanent position. I was not offered or seemingly considered for the position. While my colleague and I had different responsibilities, I could easily do his job. And while was I clearly senior to him in the company. I was paid only marginally more - probably about two days wages a month more. (i.e. less than what I was offered when the lay off was reviewed)

Now I don't know what to think. I know that when my colleague and my employer had the secret meeting, my colleague indicated that he may leave his job to go back to college. Now, I'm thinking that my employer saw this as an opportunity to have both of us gone, but only have to pay one redundancy. Because I used the RP9 form, I also lost my notice period.

Was it legal for my employer to meet with my colleague secretly, and basically tell him what was happening, before the date the lay off was to be reviewed with all the directors? Shouldn't we have both found out at the same time?

Also, now that the job has become vacant, is my employer not obligated to offer it to me?


I don't want to go back there after all this, but it seems very unfair.

Any advice or thoughts appreciated....

Sally
 
You should have a look at this blog post about the practice of "bumping" thepeninsulairelandblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/the-practice-of-bumping-in-redundancies/

Apparently its well established in the UK and the Employment Appeals Tribunal are possibly now starting to look at applying in Ireland. It basically means that you should be offered your previous job even if your employers have to bump (ie. dismiss) someone from that job. Obviously this would depend heavily on the circumstances but interesting nonetheless.
 
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