Frustrated for dp: redundancy payment-related

[10toes]

I am so frustrated for my dp: don't know if anyone can advise us about this...

He was made redundant, last day 2 weeks ago. Lots of procedures not followed, and he was made redundant after hurting his back at work ( v dodgy procedures, no lifting/ h&s training ever given). Anyway, that's by the by...

He was promised a little over statutory redundancy pay. He asked to be paid it on his last working day, but was told he wasn't a special case and wd be paid on everyone's payday ( today). At the same time there's been talk about the company going into administration, so again dp requested payment and was refused at that time.

Today he was paid salary due but no redundancy payment. Co said they have applied to go into administration, tho I'm not sure if they have. They said they shouldn't really have paid his salary as he's no longer an employee, but they pushed 4 it. However legally they can't make the redundancy payment.

It's a family firm who were bought by a larger org (no shortage of money). There seem to be plans to continue the co in some form, I'm guessing administration wd be a way to avoid paying bills.

This seems like a stalling tactic to me and seems v dodgy: is there anything dp can do?

(sorry, longer than planned!)

Thank you!

I think you need to seek legal advice on this as it does seem very dodgy. Do you have free legal advice as part of your contents insurance??

Thanks belle, we don't have contents cover (renting, a de-prioritised spend for us). Was sneakily hoping a super legal-brain would read this and give us an answer in a sentence or two! But yes, sounds like legal's the way to go

I'd put this in Legal or Employment. There's lots of factors which need to be considered and I'm not qualified to give you advice as I finished my law degree years ago and the law changes a lot. It does sound like a very dodgy way of doing business though. I think ACAS still have an advice line, you should google.

"...there are special arrangements for employees to claim the basic minimum of debts owed to them from the National Insurance Fund. These claims are:

• redundancy
• wages - up to a maximum of eight weeks
• holiday pay - up to a maximum of six weeks ..."

From Directgov: Your rights if your employer is insolvent

So it looks like even if the company are genuinely in administration, your dh should still get the money (eventually).

Sorry you're in this position :(

Definitely get legal advice. If the redundancy's been mishandled, he may have an unfair dismissal claim too. Get an appointment with your local CAB. There's a time limit on employment cases, so get advice ASAP.

Good luck.

10toes - make sure that if the firm does go into administration your DP writes to the administrator and formally notifies him/her that he is owed money on his redundancy. The record keeping in firms that are about to go into administration is not usually that good and the administrator may well be unaware.

Sounds to me like the firm was being 'dressed up' by slashing staff costs before a pre-pack administration.

Redundancy Payments Helpline: 0845 145 0004

Might be able to give some advice?

Ooh, look at all these posts, thank you. Dp will be hitting those phones tomorrow. He didn't have much joy when he contacted cab at the time (when trying to find out his rights as there'd been no consultation/it all felt dodgy) and they advised that the employer wd just cancel the redundancy and then go through the process again if he challenged it!

Will suggest he tries another branch next time.

Thanks for the advice/ support: it's much appreciated at a frustrating time.