Dp made redundant and worked for less than a year - rights?

[xanthum]

DP has been off sick for 2 days and today receives a letter through the post to say that he has been made redundant. Was taken to one side informally before Xmas and told that he might be made redundant even though he wasn't the last one to be employed.

He has been off work with stress and anxiety caused by his manager who has been bullying him relentlessly (others in the company have noticed it too). He has been treated appallingly and regularly humiliated in front of his workmates and there are other things that have happened that are really crap.

Does he have any rights at all under employment law as he has been working for the company for less than a year?

Would really appreciate some replies as we are both devastated by this and the total unfairness of it all - thanks.

I can't comment on the other stuff but 'last in first out' is illegal now, so it's not relevant that others started after him. Good luck.

Thanks Lisaro. Thanks for making that point - didn't know that. It's not looking good. Sometimes things are so sodding unfair and I hate that there is probably no comeback. Dp is going to write to air his views as we are pretty sure that the boss of the company knows nothing about what has been going on.

Your dp only has rights if the bullying and harassment/redundancy selection is discriminatory (ie due to age, sex, race, religion).

I ca establish if he's been unfairly selected if you answer the following-

Is the role redundant?
Has there been a formal mtg & consultation to discuss alternatives roles?
Is he the only one doing job role?
If not, request the redundancy criteria for selecting him over others?
Has he submitted grievance over bullying prior to redundancy notice?

If he is raising complaint your dp needs to be succinct in grievance. Bullying is a strong word, so evidence is key. Name the situation, place, witnesses.

Ultimately, you might be fighting a loosing battle if there is no discrimination on the grounds I've mentioned. So DP needs to ask himself what he wants out of complaining? Closure? Money? An apology? his job back?

Even if redundancy selection is biased, can't take it further due to length of service (could try for breach of contract but most lawyers wouldn't be interested). If redundancy selection has been done correctly, he's unlikely going to get his job back.

Sounds like he'd be better off somewhere who'd appreciate him. If he wants closure, put the complaint in writing. The process itself will help him go through a time line of events and he may stir a few feathers and get a bit of money out of it if they have done wrong.

All the best.

In short. Snowball in hells chance of getting any money or job back. Less than 1 year means close to no rights.

They don't have to 'select' him for redundancy in any kind of procedure if he's got less than a year service, so it's not a case of dissecting then complaining about unfair procedure.

If he has been dismissed entirely or partially for a discriminatory reason, that is illegal, but you don't mention anything that indicates that.

In terms of last in, first out in terms of a redundancy selection criteria, it's not illegal. It's not good practice for lots of reasons, and in some circumstances it could leave the employer vulnerable to a clim of indirect age discrimination if younger workers were made redundant due to shorter service than older workers. It makes little business sense anyway, as in a redundancy situation you'd want to keep the best people/most suitable people for the future of the organisation, not just those that have sat in their jobs the longest.

thanks so much everyone. i think he's looking for closure really. he is writing to the boss to the put him straight on some things. this is complicated by the fact that the boss and his wife are friends/relatives of ours. nice.

I was just going to mention that LIFO is not illegal but Flowery has made all the points I would have done.

Sorry you're in this situation op but it sounds like it's for the best he's out of there. If the job is making him I'll that's not good. Has he been paid his notice and holiday to date?