Just been made redundant - what are my rights ?

[ohdeeri]

I’ve just been made redundant, along with a bunch of others in my company.

It’s the first time and there were no signs this was about to happen. I also don’t know the reasons yet, I have my chat next week.

I am very pissed off. I’ve been there for less than a year.

I am in business development and my team and I were opening a new territory. We had an extremely lengthy ramp up period - of 1 and a half years. This was because we were seen as ‘ pioneering ‘ a new market. So a lot of our role was about creating noise, understanding the dynamics of the new market, as well as closing business in the new market. We worked extremely hard on this and identified gaps our product had in the market, as well as ways we could potentially overcome them. We also signed up new customers. We were told several times that we were pioneers and part of our role was to find out what is going on etc.

I was on the cusp of signing a massive contract and now I’ve just been dropped. Most people in my team have been made redundant, except one.

I am absolutely fuming. Is there anything I can actually do ? I won’t get any of the money for the contract I was about to get a signature on ( that was absolutely huge ). And I think I’ll get a minimum payment of one month pay.

I can go in more detail if required. But is there even any point in contacting a solicitor ? Or can they do what they want here ?

You’ve got every right to be angry and upset. It’s not up to posters how angry you should feel. My son has just been made redundant in very similar circumstances (even wondered if it was the same company). I’ve been angry and upset on his behalf and woe betide anyone tell me how to feel!

@ohdeeri

Please see the post from @ExtraOnions . Redundancy in short [and ACAS is very helpful] means that the job/post you were doing has finished not that they simply want to get rid of you. It may be that the firm does put together a "package" though those days may be gone

You don’t know the deal is closing. There are no definites until they sign on the dotted line.

No recruiter will say "you didn't choose your job very well". People get made redundant, good people get made redundant. It won't affect your ability to get another job. I get you are really upset but breathe, recognise you are catastrophising (which is understandable). I know it feels personal but it's just work, it's not personal, you are just a headcount number that they need to reduce.

I was made redundant several years ago and I was just 3 weeks shy of 2 years service. I got no form of payout whatsoever. You do need to be over that 2 years unfortunately. I’m sure something will come up, redundancy doesn’t looks bad in a CV. Good luck op!

So what you (Op ) are saying is that you're on a basic salary but with the promise of a big bonus if the deal goes through?

And that the deal is going through but they are making lots redundant now.

I'm not so sure about that. I think businesses cut jobs to improve profits to shareholders. That shouldn't be the case, it should be for the reasons you gave, but it very obviously isn't in many cases.

In this case it might be if they were going to open a new territory and have decided not to.

I am sorry OP, it is so rubbish for you and it's so rubbish that so often people lose their livelihoods so that richer people stay richer.

The only good thing it that it is redundancy, it isn't anything personal, it's nothing to do with your capability and you will be fine in interviews.

I would push for outplacement support. They have no legal obligation to offer it but if you don's ask you don't get.

Yes it is. Where collective consultation applies the employer needs to consult with employee representatives. When there is no trade union at the workplace this will mean employees have to elect representatives for that process, which obviously prolongs the process.

The starting point is where the employer proposes to make 20 or more employees’ jobs redundant within a 90 day period. It triggers a duty for the employer to collectively consult. This process is supposed to happen before individual consultations with affected employees and before the first redundancy. You need to have a minimum collective consultation period of at least 30 days if between 20-99 employees are being made redundant, 45 days if it’s 100 or more.

It’s not always as clean and straightforward for the duty to collectively consult applying. Employers can fall foul of the requirements in quite a few ways. Getting the wrong “within 90 days” reference period is one. Another common way is where the employer has made small groups of people redundant over time but the total number gets to 20+ and the redundancies have happened within a 90 day period: in this scenario the employer risks a situation where they should have had a collective consultation from the start. There is a trap to fall into of being seen to have deliberately staggered redundancies to avoid having to collectively consult.

The requirements to collectively consult still apply in cases even if at the end the employer has been able to redeploy staff into other jobs e.g. only 15 people were made redundant but 6 people were redeployed.

Unfortunately the company has the rights in this situation, the right to make staff redundant and the right to do it without going through a procedure if you have less than 2 years service.

You must surely know that a so called permanent job isn't actually permanent, you're there for as long as your employer needs you.

It happened to me when the threshold was a year rather than 2 years - one month before. However, they did give me three months' notice pay instead of one, and I found a new job within about 6 weeks.

I was having exactly that thought.

It's a very cynical and mean thing to do, but that doesn't surprise me at all.

You haven’t been there long enough to really have any rights in this situation, and if the whole team has been made redundant then you’ll struggle with any kind of discrimination argument.

Putting it bluntly - your employer has the right to reorganise their business as they see fit. So, the best you can hope for here is notice pay and accrued holiday pay. It’s annoying, but you’d be best concentrating your efforts on finding a new job!

No commission is normally specific performance related so read your contract carefully ie send to a good solicitor.

Should you have a T&C about being employed to be paid:
if (once) the deal closes and the other terms of the commission were all ticked off by you (the team) the courts will not side with the company if their act stops you from being employed.

If you are not sure do not bring it up directly in the meeting. Hold off untill you have run it by your legal and just say its a lot to take in and you will come back to them with questions.
This also allows you to write down (document) what you think you may be owed.

The poster is being realistic - maybe it’s hard for you to hear, but it’s true. When you update your CV you can reference your part in this deal up to the point of you leaving, but in real terms, it will have been quite small as you'd been there less than a year and the deal wasn’t complete. I’m assuming you have no idea at this moment whether it will even complete or not.
As others have said, with such a short employment, your rights are minimal, in fact I’m afraid you don’t have any actual redundancy rights.
https://www.acas.org.uk/your-rights-during-redundancy/redundancy-pay

There's a chance you won't be made redundant. It hasn't actually happened yet.
You say there's one team member left who is definitely staying. Do you know that for certain? Are they the most senior, longest served? Do you know if they're staying in the same role?

It is very unfortunate if you do get made redundant but given your length of service and others on your team facing the same fate, it's clearly a business decision. To close down that department or completely reorganise the roles and job titles?

I wish you well but I think the best thing is just to start diligently job seeking. You've clearly done nothing wrong so there's no shame in redundancy.

Yes the several exclamation marks was aggressive / unkind...would you rather OP said "told I'm at risk" that's not really descriptive is it...as OP writes / describes, the situation its clear to understand

I would see a solicitor about this.

Even if it says in your contract that you aren't entitled to anything if you are made redundant, a judge could deem the clause to be unfair.

What are you basing that on?

OP has no right to redundancy pay, or to claim unfair dismissal - she hasn’t been there long enough!

Sorry to hear this @ohdeeri. How incredibly annoying after all your work.
I very much doubt that you have any recourse, unfortunately.
What sector are you in? The economy is in a bad way and lots of people seem to be being made redundant recently. Despite your understandable anger, I would make sure you get an excellent reference, brush up your CV and get applying once you get official notice.

do you belong to any union? if so they will take you through this process and guide you, you'd also get legal advice if needed.

if you don't belong to a union then you could seek advice form Citizen advice or a solicitor if you have the money

I was made redundant last year with 2 weeks notice, acas gave some really good advice but the long and short of it is there’s nothing you can do and nothing your entitled to having only been there 9 months. You won’t even get redundancy pay. It’s 1 week for every year you have worked there only after 2 years service.
my advice would be to start looking for other jobs now.
tell new employers you have been made redundant. They won’t think badly.

I’ve just been made redundant, along with a bunch of others in my company.
You haven't. You have been told that your jobs may be made redundant.

If the job you do there is no longer needed by the company, they will 'let you go', unless they have another position within the company for which you are suitable.

Because it looks like they have waited for her to win a big contract and then decided to make her redundant so that don't have to pay commission.

That is unfair.

I worked a short term contract (3 months) for a company who used to hire staff and then terminate them after 18 months. The CEO and business owner, she thought it was a very cost effective way to run a company. In the 3 months I was there I experienced a constant flow of people being made redundant and people just starting new jobs, and then there was a selection of us on fixed term contracts. I remember she approached me to offer me a permanent post but I was already wise to her MO.

It’s hard, and yes you are understandably angry but in terms of actually being able to do anything about it, you don’t have any real options. As your less than 2 years service you cannot claim unfair dismissal so, realistically, they can do what they want. You’ll get your notice, and any redundancy is a bonus as they could simply dismiss with notice and nothing else.

i take it this is the first time this has happened to you in your career. Firstly try and believe it’s not personal. Companies owe you nothing and will show you no loyalty, it’s worth remembering that. And secondly, it’s not a reflection on you, your performance, or your skills.

it’s tough, but it’s a time to grit your teeth, accept being shit on and move on.