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 ?

It may be morally unfair but legally it’s ok.

It would be so great if the deal fell through because the clients found out OP and team got shafted.

Can you calm down, OP? Understandably you’re stressed and angry but it’s no one’s on MN fault. You’re a stranger and no one here knows the details, so can you try to take a breather and not expect to ask for help without it being a two way street?

I think you havnt explained clearly.

Your about to close a deal that would get you a chunky commission correct?
They are making you redundant before the deal officially closes so they dont have to pay rhe commission?

Id get legal advice op

I'm not clear what you mean here...when you say that you're on the cusp of a massive contract, do you mean that you were under the impression that they were about to give you a new employment contract on better terms?

Or do you mean a massive contract as in a customer you're in the process of signing up for the business, that you would receive a commission on?

If it's the former, I'm not sure what you expect...you have been paid for the work you've done to this point.

If it's the latter... obviously a deal isn't done until it's done, so it's just a hypothetical at this stage. How close is it to being signed? Is there much more work involved? Will someone else pick that up/potentially earn the commission for the work you've done?

That does seem somewhat unfair. You could discuss this in the meeting, try and negotiate a percentage of the commission if it's that close to being done? I know someone who was able to negotiate 80% of the commission he would have received on a deal he'd done the majority of the work on before being let go. He did have to threaten legal action though.

Agree you are being ott. Redundancies are pretty common in some sectors so noone is going to assume you were at fault. You might still get a bonus if it is in your contract or goes ahead during your notice period or they honour it at their discretion as part of a settlement.

I work in HR/recruitment and not once have I ever thought to disregard a candidate based on the fact they were made redundant! It means the role was no longer needed - yes sometimes there is a reduction in the number of roles meaning people have to apply for their own jobs etc but there's really no way this would be evident from an application/interview, so I'd just assume particularly in this economic climate, that the company was scaling back.

Sorry to say OP being made redundant is part of working life and anyone who goes through their career from start to finish without ever experiencing this is very very lucky.

The “cusp of a massive deal” Op really is not relevant at this point. I think you need to put that to bed.

The possibility of a discrimination claim is also not relevant given the entire team (all male and no disabilities) have been made redundant (aside from just one)

OP, you were only there 8 months so don’t be surprised if your chat next week is very perfunctory.

Spend your time job hunting. I am afraid that really is the only option

You have no redundancy rights and cannot claim Unfair Dismissal because you have worked there such a short time. Please ignore anyone telling you otherwise, you will just waste time and money trying to pursue a claim.

From what you have said, you don’t have a discrimination claim either.

I think you are worrying unnecessarily about the redundancy showing on your CV. It’s so common, most recruiters wouldn’t see it negatively at all.

Bear in mind you will need a reference from your employer, but if you think they might be amenable to it, you could ask if they would allow you to not work your notice. That would give you more time to look for an alternative job whilst still being paid. Sorry but I think that’s probably the best outcome you’re going to get. 💐

Sadly the business doesn’t owe you anything. You’ve barely been there 8-9 months and that deal that you are on the cusp of closing is probably not worth keeping you all. Maybe they’ve realised that the cost for employing everyone and the business that has been generated as a result means that the business is haemorrhaging cash.
It sucks but I would just move on and find another job.

No that’s not right. You are being ( understandably) negative. I’ve had a long career in the jobs sector and employers understand redundancy I assure you.

They sound like a nightmare casually tell your contact with the client you're being made redundant. They may not want to continue dealing with a company lacking integrity.

It’s shitty but they’re doing it early to save £££. In interviews you’ll just have to say company got rid of the whole dept.

There is nothing immoral about making redundancies

“on the cusp” I bet this has been said of this “massive deal” for the past year

Maybe talk to Acas about this. Does your contract specify what happens regarding commission if a contract you’ve worked closely on comes to fruition after redundancy? If not it may be that you are still due the payout.

If you’ve been told you’re at risk that is not the same as being made redundant.

There will be many options available. One of which that there are still a job/jobs like yours available but that you’ll need to go through a process to interview for any role(s) that are there.

They will need to follow any organisational change process/policy that they have in place and depending on what that says will depend on how the go through the selection process for any jobs available.

Not the end yet and they do need to go through some kind of process and not just ‘get rid’ of you. (Assuming you’re UK of course).

OP coming across a bit entitled. Why shouldn't she be made redundant if the company need to cut back? Staff costs are often the biggest costs an organization has.

I know it's not a nice thing to go through but that's not the same thing as saying it shouldn't happen.

Why is the OP any different or more special than the thousands of other people who get made redundant each year? Especially now.

Did you get the redundancy news @ohdeeri ?

I agree

the entire team except one it would seem

Clearly this is a business struggling and talk of this big deal that is “about” to happen… is daft

I work in this area (HR) and I always say there is no such thing as a permanent job. Literally no such thing. All a permanent job does, is buys you a bit more time. They will have to go through a consultation period - this can be as little as 2 weeks if there are less than 20 people being made redundant. There's actually no minimum time period then, it just has to be 'reasonable' ie you have time to submit some counter proposals which they will pretend to seek and listen to and then they come back and tell you they are going ahead with the original plan.

Then of course they have to give you notice or pay in lieu but this can be quite low if low service and statutory, and you don't have the right to be put on garden leave you can be made to work it.

So worst case even with a couple of years service you can be out within 4 weeks with maybe a couple of grand statutory redundancy money which is maybe another 2 weeks pay - people really don't have the rights they think they do even after 2 years.

Of course if you're temp or under 2 years service it can be a lot worse