Lost my job today, completely out of the blue

[789pm]

I can't wrap my head around it. Today was a normal work day... I was in the middle of working on various projects I have lined up for this week and I had a call out of the blue from HR. They said they are getting rid of me with immediate effect due to company restructuring. My role is going to be shared out with several colleagues - the colleagues I was asked to run a training session for last week...

I have been put on gardening leave. I was then locked out of my IT accounts. No chance to say bye to anyone. Teams messages and emails left unanswered.

There were no issues with my performance, my manager was in the call and said that it has nothing to do with my performance and the decision was above him. It makes no sense. Work recently paid for me to go on an expensive course, they had work lined up for me.

I cannot make sense of it at all.

Hi op,

what a horrible situation. I am sorry and I hope you are ok!

unfortunately you might never know what happened and at least you know that you will have the support of your manager to find something else. I would recommend you call right away ACAS if you are in UK because you do have rights and I hope you will have compensation for this terrible treatment.

Good luck 🌺

If you read the words the OP said which was that she was paid notice period of 2 months, my advice was to make sure she doesn't lose out on accrued holiday pay. Simple as.

you've made up the scenario about them "insisting" the OP takes due holiday during gardening leave, that wasn't fact. I just stuck to the facts as the OP presented them.

my recommendation (not a legal requirement or mandatory) was to give them a 7day deadline.

anyway, the OP can decide what they want to take on board according to their actual (not your made up) situation,

For what?

It would be very advisable to join a union for the next job but how do you think any of those organisations can help now?

Speak to ACAS just to make sure you have been treated properly

She doesn't have the right to a fair dismissal under 2 years

Be sorry to hear that 💐

I really hope you soon find another job and will be better one.

Stories like this one make me think why do your best at work if they can let you go so easily.

The issue comes from those oh so clever "Malicious compliance" stories that get posted over Reddit. "I developed a new system and then they sacked me so I removed their access to it...." or whatever. Thats why they now do the "march out", to stop smart arses doing that.

What a miserable existence it would be not doing your best. Why even bother getting up in the morning for that matter.

Human nature strives for achievement and meaning in life, in one form or another.

Reminds me of the cleaner working in the offices of NASA. "And what job do you do?" he was asked by JFK "I help put the man on the moon"..

Hmm. I'm not an expert - except at being made redundant. It's usual to receive a warning that your job is becoming redundant. I think it's usually three or six months. You then continue to do available work or go on garden leave. When you leave you get redundancy pay - for me it's been a month's salary for every year worked or similar PLUS any outstanding notice plus any outstanding leave. The latter two are taxable, the first one not. It's strikes me they are essentially sacking you without due process. I'd be speaking to a no win no fee Employment Lawyer and getting them to write you a letter ...

You may be an expert in being made redundant, but this isnt redundancy.

Its basically (to the company) "free" redundancy. No legal requirement to consult, to advise, to inform or to pay off. Thats why many people stay in unsatisfactory situations, because they know how vulnerable they are until they hit the 2 year mark. There is currently a campaign to change this, but right now, the OP has no come back. ACAS will tell her this.

What the OP's employers have done is perfectly legal. Morally its stinks bigger than a dead dog on a pile of horse manure, but it is still legal. The only protection she might have is if she was being "let go" because of any protected characteristic which a) doesnt sound like its the case and b) is notoriously hard, verging on impossible, to prove.

Ask me how I know.....

ETA glad that you got a month per year of service, that is very generous. The statutory minimum is a weeks salary per years service to a maximum of 12 years (so twelve weeks pay. Variations due to age do happen, but thats the basic minimum).

A no win no fee lawyer wouldn't be interested as there is no case and therefore no fee to be had.

OP said, in her first post "I have been put on gardening leave"

If you re-read my previous post, I said her employer could insist - not that they had actually insisted.
This option is still open to them (the employer), as long as they give the proper notice to the OP.

As the OP is on gardening leave, the employer doesn't have to pay out holiday in 7 days because she remains an employee while on gardening leave (if, as the OP says, she is on gardening leave as per her post).

I haven't "made up the scenario", I've just pointed out that the OP has no grounds to demand a pay out of her holiday within 7 days while ogardening leave. Nor does she currently have a "claim for unlawful deduction of wages" as per your earlier comment.

I’m so sorry OP. That is such a shock. Considering how “normal” this is these days I don’t know why anyone would bother going above and beyond in their jobs any more, as most companies really don’t give a shit about their employees.

The name of the firm would be helpful, so we can avoid. 😊

Probably best not to do that OP
There has been some shockingly bad and frankly wrong advice on here and I ureg OP or anyone else in a similar position to ONLY listen to properly accredited professionals in real life about Employment and other legal issues. There are a lot of opinions on here and some of them may actually be from people who know what they are talking about, I recognise at least 1 name that I am pretty sure is a professional BUT there is no way of knowing for sure

I got the terminology wrong and I was given payment in lieu of notice rather than gardening leave. They are going to pay me for all of my holiday that I am owed.

Have you managed to secure a decent reference from them?

Forget about any retribution; due to your short service you don't have the legal entitlements that come with longer service. They've paid your salary in lieu of notice plus holiday pay; that gives you a bit of time if you're careful to find alternative employment.
Consider this; would you really want to continue working for such an employer? I doubt it. Live and learn, do your due diligence on future employers, check out their rating on Glass Door and avoid like the plague any that sound like your current employer.
Get your CV in good shape and contact relevant recruitment agencies; let them find you the opportunities and put you forward for jobs rather than you having to do all the job seeking.
Look carefully during your job seeking for signs of good organisational culture, Company Values, the way you are treated during the recruitment process, the way managers behave towards you during interviews, the follow up process with HR, is it informative, helpful, friendly or minimal and cold?
If you get a job offer, don't snatch at it through panic; if it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. Be fussy; this is your career, protect it and nurture it and success will follow.
Good luck, things will improve and you'll move on trust me. Been there, done that! 😍

I expect this has been said already - but if more than 20 people are being made redundant there are rules and timescales about consultation etc. Is it a big restructure, do you know?

yes and its been debunked several times.

Under 2 years service its counted as a perfectly legal termination of contract. Its the most appallingly shitty thing to do, but its legal. Its not the same as redundancy.

I was the only one impacted.

I have made a LinkedIn to help with job hunting (I've never had one before). Is it ok to add everyone I worked with (around 20 people)? It feels weirdly embarrassing and desperate.

Yes, definitely add ex-colleagues! They can always ignore the request - in fact, you'll probably find quite a few people who rarely check their notifications, so don't worry if they don't accept.

Expect random requests from 3rd degree connections and recruiters any time now :) (I usually ignore those but each to their own.)

There is comeback, it's called constructive dismissal, and unfair dismissal both regardless of the two year rule , so please consult Acas for further guidance and support, companies get away with so much and get employees to shut up by offering holiday pay which they have to anyway so they are not doing you any favours.

Unfortunately neither of those are relevant under 2 years service. Only discrimination and breach of contract can be claimed.

Similar happened to me early this year. You can PM me if you want to chat. I was going on a holiday the day after my "surprise HR meeting " and I had a horrible time at my holiday. 😏