Would we BU to seek legal advice?

[Barkingbear]

Hi,
Posting here for traffic. Just wanted some advice from people who have more experience of employment law.
I don't want to give too much information as I don't want this to be too outing.
Yesterday my husband was placed into consultation for redundancy at work. He has worked at this company happily for years. Obviously he/we are gutted.
In Dec he was offered a promotion, which was a completely new job role created in the company, which he accepted. He was due to start this role full time in January but has been doing his old job since with a view to starting the new job asap.
The company has interviewed and offered his old job to somebody else but they have not starated the role yet.
Yesterday lots of people at the company were called in for meetings and made redundant my husband included.
However his old job role remains but he will not/cannot be offered his old job (the job he is still carrying out) back.
I think it's very unlikely that only 1 month ago the company didn't know that redundancy was on the cards and feel that this new job role was created with the sole intention of managing my husband out.
Any thoughts and WWBU in seeking legal advice?

[Lastoftheusernames]

No harm in talking to an employment lawyer if you can afford it. Some home insurance policies will cover legal costs, but they will only take on a case if they feel there's a very strong chance of winning.

I don't know the legalities at all, but I imagine you would have to prove the role was created in order to make him redundant and that would be very difficult to do.

[TeenTimesTwo]

Sounds dodgy to me.

[1099]

Try posting in Legal Matters, more likely to get informed comments.

[Lastoftheusernames]

Was he actually made redundant or was it the start of a consultation process? How big is the company and how many people are being made redundant? If they don't follow a proper process you may have a stronger case. Acas can offer some guidance over the phone.

[Judashascomeintosomemoney]

Has he signed a new contract for the new role?

[squirrelspatchcock]

Definitely not unreasonable to seek legal advice. You could also try the CAB as an initial starting point (and it's free!). I found their advice helpful in clarifying my rights in redundancy. Good luck!

[Barkingbear]

Hi, he was placed into one month consultation. It's a large well known national company. I'm not sure exactly how many people are affected but he said about 1/3 of his office, but nobody in his team that he works with directly. He has signed his new contract in December.

[ElenaBothari]

Had something similar years ago (offered a promotion, helped recruit and train my replacement, the promotion vanished ....) and the advice at the time was this looked very dodgy, we could go to tribunal, but best option was to ask for a bit of cash as a “goodwill” payment to resolve matters.

So yes you should definitely consult an employment lawyer. Make sure your husband has a clear timeline of events including copies of any correspondence/emails and notes from any meetings. That will really help.

[martellandginger]

All I can say is that if a team have come in to downsize his company then it will have taken longer than one month to sort out. So yes there is something wrong there.

Have they tried to find a way to keep your husband by offering a different role but as so often happens in large companies one person does one thing when another goes off to do something different.

[Judashascomeintosomemoney]

So did the new role have a fixed start date mentioned in the contract? If yes, and they haven’t started him yet then they’ve possibly broken the contract. Also, from the government website :
‘Your redundancy could be an unfair dismissal if your employer has suitable alternative employment and they don’t offer it to you.’
There is a suitable alternative, the job he is doing now!

[Barkingbear]

Thanks everyone we will definitely get some advice. It just seems really fishy to me! Xxx

[QuiteLikely5]

Ring ACAS they will tell you immediately if this is ok or not. And what to do if it’s not legal

[Redpony1]

Definitely start with a call to ACAS

[LakieLady]

This sounds wrong to me.

If he's not yet in his new job, the post he's being made redundant from is the job he's doing at the moment. If he's being replaced, then that post is not redundant.

It may be legal, but it's not logical imo.

Has anyone said speak to ACAS yet?

[usualGubbins]

Seasoned redundancy survivor here! By all means speak to ACAS but I wouldn't be putting any money in a lawyers pocket yet. In my experience, if your name is on the redundancy balance sheet there's nothing you can do to fight it, particularly if it's a large company as they will have covered all the legalities before even starting the consultation period!

Where the lawyer comes in is to fight for the most money you can get. Usually most (large) companies will put up a bit of a fight and then roll over without going to court.

It's very tough the first time it happens, it feels personal, but it never is with large companies, it's only about cost cutting. Hopefully he will get a large payout and another job very quickly.

[Butteredparsn1ps]

I agree legal advice!

I believe it is roles/positions that are made redundant not people. So yes the new role could go, but if DH’s existing post isn’t being made redundant he can apply for that. I think.

[zaalitje]

Post in employment, there's a very knowledgeable posters there called flowery who it might be worth flagging your post for the attention of.