Redundancy Question

[mariechez]

My husband along with a number of other employees is being made redundant. Their 12 week notice period is coming to end (mid Nov) and 2 of them have been told today that they are being offered their jobs back. If they don't accept them they have been told they can leave but with no stat redundancy pay. Is this right after so many weeks notice?

TIA

[lizzie145]

yes as they can give notice but if something changes and they are required or needed this can be withdawn
However if an employee does not agree to the change, perhaps they have another job lined up they can refuse and challenge the employer

[mariechez]

Thank you.

[Guest]

The company are possibly correct. If he has been given his redundancy letter, theycannot reverse the actual redundancy process without your husband’s agreement. However, if he unreasonably refuses to accept his job back or any suitable alternative, then they don’t have to make statutory redundancy pay. So he would be made redundant, but without pay off.

What I would ask though, is if your husband has lined up another job already? If he has then he could probably argue that it is not unreasonable to turn down their offer as he has another job lined up, and in this case, as he is being reasonable, he is entitled to stat redundancy pay.
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[mariechez]

Originally Posted by Claudette

The company are possibly correct. If he has been given his redundancy letter, theycannot reverse the actual redundancy process without your husband’s agreement. However, if he unreasonably refuses to accept his job back or any suitable alternative, then they don’t have to make statutory redundancy pay. So he would be made redundant, but without pay off.

What I would ask though, is if your husband has lined up another job already? If he has then he could probably argue that it is not unreasonable to turn down their offer as he has another job lined up, and in this case, as he is being reasonable, he is entitled to stat redundancy pay.
.

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Thank you

[TigerMom]

The company are correct. I was being made redundant and was due to leave at 4pm on a Friday afternoon. At 2:30pm I was told a new role had been found for me. I had no choice but to take it. I took legal advice but the company were within their rights.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by TigerMom

The company are correct. I was being made redundant and was due to leave at 4pm on a Friday afternoon. At 2:30pm I was told a new role had been found for me. I had no choice but to take it. I took legal advice but the company were within their rights.

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Just a technicality, but you didn't have to take it, the company cannot stop the redundancy process without your agreement, the redundancy letter they gave you is legally binding. What they can stop is the redundancy payment, but if you wanted to, you could still have left and the formal reason would be redundancy.

[gp200ts1]

My advice is he should have been in a Union. They would have given the correct advice and fought his corner legally.

[scoobydooby]

Originally Posted by gp200ts1

My advice is he should have been in a Union. They would have given the correct advice and fought his corner legally.

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A Union can’t change the law or the offer of a reasonable alternative within the period in question. In this case, people seem to have been offered their actual jobs back so difficult to argue they were not a reasonable alternative. Unions are rightly there to protect your rights. But not to change the law. In this case the company have acted legally.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by scoobydooby

A Union can’t change the law or the offer of a reasonable alternative within the period in question. In this case, people seem to have been offered their actual jobs back so difficult to argue they were not a reasonable alternative. Unions are rightly there to protect your rights. But not to change the law. In this case the company have acted legally.

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I would add to this that the majority of people in private companies are not in a union and do not have a recognised union in the workplace. And it is not only via a union that one can establish employment law. That was also not advice.

OP has not answered my question about whether their partner has found another job, because they cannot "unreasonably" turn down an alternative and still get redundancy pay even during the notice period. There is a nuance between them "unreasonably" turning something down versus being offered a "reasonable alternative". They do not necessarily need to take a reasonable alternative once the notice period is triggered and redundancy notification has been provided, they do during consultation. Once they are in the redundancy notice period they cannot turn an alternative down for unreasonable grounds, e.g. because they fancy a pay out and long holiday - well they can turn it down, but they can't turn it down and still get redundancy pay.

If OP's husband had another job, it would be perfectly reasonable to turn down the alternative, it is not the job that needs to be reasonable at this stage, it is the OP that cannot be unreasonable in declining it. Even then the company cannot unilaterally reverse the redundancy process, they can only stop the redundancy pay.

I believe the company have most probably acted legally but whether OP's husband has lined up another job is a fairly critical but unanswered question.