Constructive dismissal??

[alifo]

I have worked for the same company for the past 18 years. Three years ago it was bought by a larger company and new management installed. They have generally been extremely unpopular but on a day to day basis I have been largely unaffected, mostly thanks to my MD who stayed on.

However, two months ago I was told by my MD of 18 years that the new CFO was planning to made me redundant. In my MD’s eyes this was stupid decision based purely on financial data which is currently distorted because of the effect covid has had on the business. He argued with them that it made no sense in the bigger business picture and that it would be an extremely expensive redundancy for them given the length of time i have worked there. He was then told by the CFO that he saw this as a three month notice period and then a contract renegotiation and that the MD needed to step back and HR would deal with things.

Since then, nothing! However, the situation has caused me a huge amount of stress and worry. I have asked for updates from my MD and he had an informal chat with HR and it seems the CFO still hasn’t made a final decision.

So what do I do??? For me it is the last straw and I would like to leave the company but to be able to afford to do this, I would need the redundancy payout. Is there a case for constructive dismissal?? Or any other advice on how to handle this?? I just want it sorted either way so I can move on as the stress and worry is crippling.

It was wrong of your MD to load this worry on you. That's rubbish.

I suspect that as described thr situation was handed to HR and HR are sensible and on-the-ball and know that it wouldn't be in the company's best interests to try to get rid of you if you don't want to go, so they have done nothing.

Assuming you generally enjoy your job and are good at it, I would put that conversation of 2 months ago entirely out of your head. It gas no legal standing and is irrelevant. Keep doing your job and do it well. You don't need to chase them up to get any kind of decision or news as the default situation in the absence of other action is that you have job security. If they do decide to go ahead with this idea you will be entitled to plenty of notice and a large redundancy settlement but there is no need to worry about that now. This is certainly not a 'constructive dismissal' situation as there is nothing happening that is making your day to day working there untenable. The stress and worry you describe seems to be mostly generated by you yourself, so put it out of your mind.

How awful of your MD to do that. As a very senior and experienced person he should surely know better, and should know that you don’t communicate those kinds of management discussions to potentially-affected staff until plans are certain and it’s time for any relevant formal process to begin. Putting people under that kind of ongoing stress indefinitely when it might not ever be necessary is awful. He does sound incredibly unprofessional, both in terms of the fact he’s shared this with you and also how he’s spoken about it.

It’s not constructive dismissal though.

The company hasn't caused this stress, your unprofessional dick of an MD has. I'm really shocked he told you this.

There's no case for constructive dismissal.

Try to focus on day to day work as this may well never happen.

My first thought, was the same as other posters, that your MD is deeply unprofessional and effectively gossiped to you and created your stress. But this is not grounds for constructive dismissal.

What I would suggest is that instead of constructive dismissal, you submit a grievance to HR about your MD and the emotional stress the conversation caused you.

You might not want to do this if you normally like your MD, however, it may give you some protection if they do go down the redundancy route - it could make them worried about any further complaints.

If you are not in a union, join one now, and that will also give you some protection if needed. Even if your employer doesn't recognise a union, you are entitled to join one, they can't stop you.

Big mistake from your MD, for sure, but not constructive dismissal.

It's not constructive dismissal. Stay put. Try not to worry about it. Join a union and don't leave unless you find a better job to go to.

The chances of winning a constructive dismissal case are very small so do not rely on it. If you are unhappy look for another job- you will not be financially disadvantaged if you can find one at the same salary.

A union won’t help, as they can’t support an employee with matters that are already known about prior to the employee joining the union.

@Tippexy

A union won’t help, as they can’t support an employee with matters that are already known about prior to the employee joining the union.

It isn't known technically because she hasn't been made redundant or been dismissed yet at the minute it is nothing more than a rumour

Thanks everyone. Great advice!

I have worked with this MD for the entire 18 years I have been with the company and we are close friends outside of work, which I guess complicates it. As far as the CFO was concerned the redundancy was going ahead and he had cleared the MD to let me know this was going to happen before HR contacted me directly - I think they saw it as the ‘courteous’ way of doing it given my history at the company. All in all, between them it’s been very badly handled.

Anyhow, will put my head down, get on with the work and at the same time will start to look at other opportunities.

For that length of service, it would not be redundancy until it is received in writing

That sucks but at least you know they were trying (badly) to do the right thing. You are right to keep your head down and carry on carrying on.

They are perfectly at liberty to make you redundant if there is no need for the job you do to be done by anyone, and there's no other position you could be moved to. There is a formal process that they must follow but ultimately they don't have to keep you on if it doesn't work for them. However what they can't do is make you 'redundant' and then employ someone else to do the same job, or a substantially similar one - that would be an illegal dismissal.

Keep records of everything so they can't make out that there have been any performance issues, or pretend they have given you notice when they haven't.

Is there any harm In starting to look for other jobs regardless of what happens?

No harm in doing a little looking, but (a) OP should definitely wait until given formal notice of redundancy and ensure she doesn't miss out on her redundancy pay-out which could be around half a year's salary (you are entitled to one week’s pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41, and one and half week’s pay for each full year you were 41 or older so depends on OP's age but eg if she is 51 then 18 years of service would be 23 weeks of pay) - that would be forfeited if she decides to hand in her own notice rather than waiting for the formal redundancy process to conclude. (b) part of OPs rights under law is to have additional time off for job hunting once under formal notice of redundancy whereas anything she does now will have to be in her own time/taking annual leave.

If you really want to leave, can you negotiate a redundancy, package now?

If the the main reason they backtracked is due to your MD’s loyalty to you by pushing back, I think you might be in a good position to negotiate a severance package with the company.