Can an employer backdate a notice of employment termination?

[Upintheairnow]

Are there any employment law bods available who could give me a bit of advice please? I've gone to ACAS for conciliation already but something new has come up...

Can an employer backdate a notice of termination of employment?

For background; At the beginning of July i received a letter saying my assistance was not required in the near future and "thank you for all of your hard work" I've worked pt there for 2.5 years now. Not on zero hours or casual contract. I turn up every week without fail and do my job. I cover for others when they are off. Never had any sickness absence. No problem with my work.

Since then I have repeatedly asked for clarification of my employment status and am I being made redundant or dismissed etc. They have not given me a straight answer. I've not been paid since end of July. I've stated that it isn't legal to withhold work and pay. I've gone to ACAS and logged a conciliation case. I just want to be paid for the hours they have withheld from me. The 2 other people in the team are still doing their hours as normal.

I've requested the company's grievance policy twice and not received it.

Today I get an email stating that with effect from 9th July they are giving me 2 weeks notice of my termination of employment and that as a goodwill gesture they will pay me until the end of july!! 😆 errrrr....they can't do that can they??! It's now 15th September!

Grateful for any draft responses I can send....!

Thanks in advance

(I don't have an actual contract as there was no office manager when I started there but I have my offer letter and another letter stating my working days and times)

The document stating working days and times and should have detailed your pay as well. This is paticular of your employment. A contract does not have to be in writing.

what is not clear from your post is how and when did you know not to go to work and what date that was.

as you were employed for more than two years, and they failed to tell you what reason your post was ended, it sounds like an unfair dismissal case.

there is a time limit on making an application to a tribunal, so the date you finished and knew you would not be returning to work is when the clock starts ticking. So you need to get things moving pronto.

If you claim is redundancy related, and unfair redundancy, then you have six months less one day from the effective date of termination.

but only 3 months less one day for a plain unfair dismissal

I would lodge an application, on a three month time limit. as you may well be due statutory redundancy payment and notice as compensation, or perhaps a little more.

Oh my word @Upintheairnowthis is appalling treatment by your employer!
How large is the company? Do they have a HR department & if so are the letters you’ve received from there?
Does your line manager know of or have involvement in this situation?

(Apologies for not being able to help with legal advice, hopefully this acts as a bump for you.)

Have you just not been going to work since the beginning of July or did you go in but were refused any work to do? Did you go and speak to your manager about what was going on? It all sounds weird really, a vague email that you wouldn't be needed from some indefinite point in the future and then no replies to queries for months.

I worked 2.5 days the first week of July and haven't been back in since. Not said goodbye to anyone or cleared my desk etc
Had to ask one of the other ladies there to collect my things for me.

Its a minimum wage job so even if they paid me for 8 weeks x 2 days a week I'm owed then it's not going to break the bank!
I got a message on 8th July from the office manager saying that as there isn't much work the boss said I didn't have to go in on my normal 2 days that week. So I responded saying do I have to use my annual leave (which i didnt want to do as this was being imposed on me) or just not put it down on my timesheet for that month? She said she would ask and get back to me. Then the next day I get the "private and confidential " 3 lined letter that ended with "Thank you for all your hard work."

Its a small company. About 9 employees. No HR dept. No union. The letters are from the MD (who I've always got on well with, I've done other work for him and also worked for his partner too so I'm baffled as to what I must have done to apparently piss someone off!)

To make it worse they took on a new lady in May doing the same job as me also part time and she has still been going in and doing her hours! Plus they were recruiting for the same role but full time as one of the other people was retiring. Normally if that person is off I cover her hours. They said that i was welcome to apply but that it's a full time role and would require 3 months notice. That is absolute rubbish as none of the admin team are on 3 months notice.

Towards the end of August they emailed me and asked if I wanted to do some hours,on different days than i would normally work. (they had not responded to my previous email where again all I wanted was clarification of my employment status) I said that I could do a couple of the days but first i'd like them to respond to my questions in my previous emails. They never responded at all.

Since that first letter in July I have repeatedly asked them if I am being made redundant/dismissed or not. It's so frustrating as if I've done something wrong no one has told me what it is.
I've suggested that if my role there is no longer tenable I would be happy to consider a settlement or compromise agreement. My boss wrote back saying that I was a valued member of the team and he didnt mean to make me feel anxious! And how about we go to ACAS for an independent review. So i said yes, filled in all the info on the ACAS website and submitted it and have a conciliation no etc. Had an email from ACAS today saying that it might be 9 weeks until they can speak to me about my case.

Then today I receive the email from my employer saying that as of 9th July they are giving me 2 weeks notice...! I'm gobsmacked! Perhaps they received the ACAS case notification like I did and are panicking a bit so are offering to pay me for 3 weeks in July?

I'm tempted to say that how about they pay me my normal hours up until the end of September and then I'll drop the ACAS case. Is this wise?

Your effective date of termination was probably the ninth of July.

you are entitled to two weeks pay in lieu of notice, and probably two weeks pay as compensation on top.

So thirty seven days pay.

failure to follow due process would attract a bit more at tribunal.

it would be sensible to contact ACAS service and make a counter offer to settle at say six weeks play, or even more if you want to see what they come up with