Can they just fire me like that?

[anakoga]

Hi mums, I am new here and I hope you can help me.
I have been working for my current employer for 5 years. A month ago, they informed us that there would be a restructuring process and as a result everyone in the team (15 people in total) are at risk of redundancy. They created 20 new roles (bringing it to a team of 20 in total) and told us that we could apply for them. Most of the roles were pretty much identical to the previous roles, except different titles. I decided to apply for the equivalent of my previous role as well as a more senior role to my current one. I was invited for an interview, officially to discuss both roles, but it almost exclusively covered the more senior role. The interview went well and I was very confident that I would manage to secure at least the role that is the equivalent of my current one.
Today I was called into a meeting by HR and the hiring manager and was told that none of applications was successful and as a result I was going to be made redundant.
When I asked them about the reasons why my application to the role that was the equivalent of my current role was unsuccessful they gave me 2 reasons:

• one performance related, which is untrue and can be easily dismissed with numbers, facts and evidence. I immediately highlighted the evidence but they just sat there, silent
• one very fluffy reason about me not being able to adapt to new environments which again is untrue as I went through a lot of reorganisations in the 5 years with the company. Besides, this point that they now claim is so crucial for the role was not even mentioned or asked about in the interview

All other team members in my immediate sub team of 4, who had applied for the role identical to theirs managed to secure it. My performance has always been excellent throughout and has been highlighted in my annual appraisals. I can not help but think that it is a case of unconscious bias as I am the only person of colour in a otherwise non diverse team. They clearly don't want me anymore and I don't want to stay in a business that doesn't value me. But I am the main earner in the household and have 2 kids so I need to max out at least my redundancy pay. What should I do? I don't want to go to an employment tribunal but how can I put the frighteners up them to pay at least a fair sum?

@MariaVT65 have you read the op

• currently 15 roles being made redundant
• 20 new roles created
• job description almost identical
• reasons not put in writing
• No evidence of job matching
• op is the only one being made redundant
• op is the only person of colour

Union rep here. Sadly the poster above is right, we can't take on new cases from non-members.

Talk to ACAS ASAP!

On Monday;

Get the reasons for redundancy in writing.

Ask for feedback on both of your applications, both the interviews and application forms/CV. In writing.

Find their own policy documents. As an employee you have the RIGHT to see them. You don't need to justify it.

Redundancy policies
Equality and diversity policy
Calculation of redundancy payments

Can you safely transfer any documents relating to your performance? Anything that supports good performance? Do that if you can.

Anything which may suggest that you've been subject to discrimination prior to this? There may be charities who will support you in this. Google. I haven't personally done any race discrimination work I'm afraid.

Learn how to prepare a data protection request and submit it on the day you leave.

Contact ACAS.

Go get the bastards!

15 years ago when facing redundancy DH had an appointment with an employment barrister in London (Grays Inn Road). They wrote one letter to his employers and he managed to negotiate a settlement as a result. At the time it cost less than £200 but just showed employers he wasn't going to go down without a fight. It was money very well spent. Go with the heavy weight option quickly and avoid a long drawn out back and forth employers rely on in these sort of situations. They work on the basis that they have more power & resources than you and try to wear you down.

You are not correct. Yes a company might need to make 15 let’s say accountants redundant and hire 20 lawyers. But they can’t make 15 accountant roles redundant (or at risk) and then go and recruit for 20 accountant roles to do the old work but with different job titles. That means that the first role was never redundant.

And even if they have tweaked the roles, OP indicates that they are substantially the same (bar title) and therefore they must be offered to at risk staff. A company has a duty to minimise redundancies.

I am hesitating to flag discrimination, because I honestly can’t think why any organisation would go to this length to remove the only person of colour who has been working there successfully for five years. So my issue here is that I don’t understand why there is a redundancy situation at all.

The employment tribunal is set up for litigants in person. So you might want to think before spending money on a solicitor.

I would make a subject access request asap, including requesting messages such as teams ones that mention you.

There should be meeting mins from your job interview.

You only have three months less one day from the last act of discrimination to make a case. So speak to ACAS and start early conciliation, basically trying to get a settlement.

If your employer doesn’t engage in this you need to submit your claim.

Here’s some help for that

https://medium.com/adviser/starting-a-discrimination-claim-completing-the-et1-6ae5eef95469

Be mindful most discrimination cases are not normally massive pay outs so I would encourage you to try and do most of the work yourself rather than paying someone.

Have YOU read the OP’s posts?

15 people have their jobs at risks. OP has confirmed she is the only one in her SUB TEAM OF 4 that hasn’t secured a role. OP has not confirmed that she is the only one of 15 being made redundant.

I get that and don’t disagree with what you’ve said. OP has said most roles are similar, not all. No detail about who else interviewed for those roles. The roles may also be similar but also include different/extra skills compared to the existing roles.

In my personal experience, it’s not fair, but companies tend to back themselves up in the process by technicalities and loopholes, and make it about the role not the person. So almost never worth fighting, especially OP is not the only person losing her job. Always better to leave a company like this though, concentrate on finding a new job as a priority and if OP wishes, can file action in the meantime, though I believe this takes a while.

OP, if you want to file a grievance if you believe there is discrimination, definitely take all the evidence you can of your work. A colleague of mine did exactly the same and it was immediately thrown out as the company had so much evidence of the colleague’s peformance being poor.

Hi OP,

Unless something has changed, it's roles that become redundant, not people.

From what you say they interviewed you for a 'new' role which is the same as your old one. That's not a redundancy situation. Unless, of course, the law has changed.

Please check with ACAS about this when you speak to them, and very best of luck.

Do you have copies of your performance appraisals? If not, ask to see your HR file and make a copy of everything in it. They are going to find it hard to argue that you don't adapt to new environments to the point where they won't consider hiring you to the 'new' role when you have had to adapt in your role with them and it has not shown up in any appraisals as being an issue.

I hope you are succesful in either keeping your job with them or getting sufficient payout to cover until you find a new, better paying job.

We used to work on the basis that a role would have to be at least 60 percent different in order for a person at risk of redundancy not to be automatically be slotted into it.