Made redundant on ML and appealing the decision

[redcat453]

I have been made redundant whilst on ML. I have appealed the decision as they didn't offer me the job (that I had to re-apply for) which I'd basically been doing for 9 years!!

I was officially made redundant on the 15th Sept. I haven't received my 6 weeks pay or my redundancy pay....

I'm wondering why I haven't got this yet - do you think it's because I am appealing the decision? (I have got an Employment Lawyer to write a very good letter ) Does anyone know my rights on this??

Also, I am dealing with my appeal in writing so I don't have to go in and see them.... they have replied saying it's fine to do this but haven't got back to me about the points I have raised with them? This is nearly a month ago now! I have chased them up and asked them to reply and they have just ignored me.... I don't know what to do. I could chase them up again but they'll probably just fob me off... I think they think I'm just going to disappear!

I'm worried that a month has nearly passed and I have 3 months to take it to a tribunal.

Has anyone got any advice?

Thanks! x

hi redcat453...here is a link to business link which is a government run body..here is some info that may help..www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.s=sl&r.lc=en&type=RESOURCES&itemId=108090 3562

I sympathise with you as i had to leave my employment in order to have a holiday with my son who is still at school and i feel really angry.
My boss would not let me take school holiday time off twice this year so i was unable to take a holiday ,so on principal i left.Then i took my well earned holiday............. Bit drastic but i had to make my statement.

business link is the best site to go to for proper leagllly binding information

You should receive redundancy pay on or soon after your termination date. You should have had a letter confirming the amount you will be getting and ideally it should have indicated when this will be forthcoming. If they wanted to delay it pending the appeal, they should have informed you.

Have you asked them?

If you have already instructed an employment lawyer what does he/she say about the delay? If they are not responding to your appeal within a reasonable time, it would not be unreasonable for you to go ahead and put in a tribunal claim without a response to the appeal. Do you want to do this?

Thanks for the replies alypaly and flowery. I will have a look at the link now.

I haven't had a letter stating what I am entitled to - it just said in the letter confirming I didn't get the job and am being made redundant that this 'would follow in due course' (this letter was dated 4th Aug) So this is now 2 months ago!

I haven't asked them as we are only communicating in writing and I wanted to make sure I am doing everything correctly first...

The Employment Lawyer is a friend of a friend and she's written the letter for me as a favour... I don't want to keep pestering her as I'm not paying for her services so I don't want her to think I am taking the p**s although I have sent her an email about it and she hasn't replied

why did you have to re apply for your job?

They were making redundancies throughout the company and made everyone re-apply for the positions available. In my department there were 4 of us and only 1 job.

As I understand it they should have automatically offered me that position as I was on maternity leave, and I shouldn't have had to re-apply.

thats awful..i reckon you can get them for unfair dismisal

did you have chance to read the business link i sent you

That's what the lawyer said! I've got good grounds for Unfair dismissal and Sex Discrimination.

Yes I did look at the link - very useful info thanks!

I spoke to ACAS earlier and they said I should write another letter giving them 14 days to respond and if I don't hear anything I should go ahead and fill in an ET1 form to take them to a tribunal.

i totally agree,i think you will win...hopefully it will put the wind up your ex employers aswell

If claiming SD, then first submit to them an SD74 form, prior to ET1. You do not need to wait for the SD74 response before submitting your ET1.

Sounds like you may have a good case for Unfair Dismissal. SD is harder to prove, but basically you need to prove "But for your Maternity Leave, you would not have been made redundant"

Thanks for this abcmum. I have just read on another post that you won UD & SD against your employer - I'd be interested to see your Tribunal Judgement if you don't mind? I have tried to send you a message by clicking on the link 'Contact poster' but it comes up with this message 'Sorry, abcmum has chosen not to receive "Contact another Mumsnetter" email from mumsnet. We can't pass a message on for you.'

I have just changed my settings so you could contact me if you don't mind?

Thanks!!

Flowery - I could do with your help!!

I have written another letter to my boss asking them when I will be receiving the info about my redundancy pay etc and also when they will be responding to my appeal. I have given them 14 days to reply. I sent this a week ago now and haven't had a reply so far.... I am still in touch with a few people at work and they are telling me that it's really quiet and nobody's busy. I'm really worried that the company is going to go into administration and I won't get anything..... and I'm wondering if that's why I haven't heard anything from them - are they just keeping quiet on purpose because they know the company is going down and are just waiting for this to happen so I won't have a leg to stand on?

If the company goes into administration tomorrow will they still have to pay me my redundancy package? (They are still paying my maternity pay until next summer)

If I complete an ET1 form and file for a claim now (whist the company is still going) am I more likely to get a payoff as opposed to filing for a claim after the company has gone down (if it comes to this) How does it work?

I don't want to sound like a massive money grabber, but these people have put me through hell at what should have been a really happy time!

Any advice you have would be great, thanks! x

bump

I think as you've given them 14 days to reply you need to wait until at least then really before submitting your ET1, although I would suggest you have it all done and ready to go straightaway.

In terms of redundancy payments, if your employer goes into administration there is a government fund you can claim redundancy pay from, see here.

I'm afraid I don't know offhand what happens to tribunal claims when the employer goes into administration or similar. I think that's probably a question for your employment lawyer friend, or alternatively ACAS will probably know the answer to that one.

I do think your best bet is proceeding as normal unless and until something happens, so leave it 14 days, put in your claim and take it from there.

Thanks Flowery!

Yes I am going to do that, make sure everything is in place ready for the 14 days to be up.

Thanks for the link too!
I will give ACAS a call and ask them

Thanks again

Well my boss has job back to me and offered me my job back!!! I didn't think they would do this and really don't want to go back. I think it will be hard to trust them after the way they have treated me and I think they have only given me my job back because they realised they made a mistake.

I appealed the decision on 7th Aug, I was officially made redundant on 15th Sept and I have been 'reinstated as of 21st Oct' that's over 2 months since I appealed! Can they do this?

Also they could make me redundant when I went back to work!

I'm really angry about the way I've been treated and think that they have won now!

Help! Any advice would be great,

Thanks

Depending on the circumstances it may be seen by a tribunal as unreasonable of you to refuse reinstatement especially as it's happening fairly soon after the initial redundancy.

However I see from your earlier posts that in your department there were 4 people and only 1 post available. I would be requesting that they confirm that the reinstatement is genuine - i.e. that the one job they reduced headcount to is now yours and the person who got it originally is now either redundant or is your maternity cover.

In other words I would want them to confirm that you are in that actual job, not just floating about in no job until your mat leave is over so they can make you redundant then.