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Hi, first time poster here, not sure if i'm in the right section of the forum but I'd be interested to see what peoples thoughts are on this subject.
I work for a large-ish company, that employs 200+ people in an office absolutely full to the brim of desks and people. In March, when the pandemic really started to hit, I was eventually asked to work from home (a good few weeks after the government had advised people to work from home, as the company tried to do everything it could to not send us home and this was stressful for everyone for a short period).
I worked from home until the end of April, where I was then asked to consent to furlough leave/job retention scheme, as they said business had significantly declined, there wasn't the work for me to do at home or in the office and I presume no money coming in to be able to pay staff wages, so was put on the government scheme to secure my job.
There had been very little communication from the company, except for extending my furlough leave from end of June to October. But 2 weeks ago we all received communication that the company did not expect business levels to return to the previous normal until, at least, this time next year and subsequently, would be making redundancies, an estimated 30+.
We were then, at that point informed, that the business would be forming an Employee Consultative Committee (ECC) of representatives of the staff, to be used during the redundancy process as a means of communication between the company and its staff, asking and answering everyones questions and just being the middle man in general. They divided the company into 6 groups and we went through what was almost a democratic election process, whereby we nominated people in our category who we wanted to represent us, and then had to vote on who we would like from the nominations. This process has now finished and the ECC will soon be having meetings and letting us know more about whats happening.
Today I found out from colleagues who aren't furloughed and are still working in the office that a new employee had been employed to work in my specific department of the company. While there are are still 3 (myself included) in that specific department that are still on furlough, waiting to find out if and when we will be able to return to work.
This employee is also an ex employee who left the business last year and is believed to have left his job he went to and my company had offered him his job back, allowing him to work fully paid back at the office, ahead of the rest of us who are still furloughed/receiving less pay/facing redundancy.
There has been no communication to say they would be employing a new member of staff (which I understand legally they don't need to), but this has left me and others feeling very unsettled and asking ourselves all sorts of questions about our jobs.
Is a business allowed to do this? In some ways it could be seen as a good sign as legally they shouldn't be able to make someone redundant at the same time as employing somebody new with the same job title. But this company has made many people wrongfully 'disappear' over the years and got away with it, as well as making people redundant and advertising their exact same job title, salary, job description within an hour of them leaving the building, leading to future meetings with Trade Unions reps and legal battles of unfair dismissal. So I do believe my company will try and get away with anything it feels it can do, wrong or right.
I have sent an email to the HR department today asking for clarity over the position of my employment, as I feel it is wrong that they can employ somebody new on a full time - fully paid contract, while members of staff are still in limbo wanting to know when they can return, if they aren't made redundant. I feel that given the current circumstances and uncertainty all employees currently face, it would appear to be professionally and morally unjustified to offer a job to a previous employee who left a year ago on a silver platter. The new employee in mention is also nicknamed as being one of the directors 'favourites', and the process of re-employing did not involve my boss, or any of my colleagues, and was fully carried out under the wire and came as a shock to everyone when he turned up for work on Monday..... I just don't believe favouritism alone can justify the actions made. But I'm no expert and would like to find some answers for where I stand legally with my job.
Would love to hear some thoughts on this please?
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I work for a large-ish company, that employs 200+ people in an office absolutely full to the brim of desks and people. In March, when the pandemic really started to hit, I was eventually asked to work from home (a good few weeks after the government had advised people to work from home, as the company tried to do everything it could to not send us home and this was stressful for everyone for a short period).
I worked from home until the end of April, where I was then asked to consent to furlough leave/job retention scheme, as they said business had significantly declined, there wasn't the work for me to do at home or in the office and I presume no money coming in to be able to pay staff wages, so was put on the government scheme to secure my job.
There had been very little communication from the company, except for extending my furlough leave from end of June to October. But 2 weeks ago we all received communication that the company did not expect business levels to return to the previous normal until, at least, this time next year and subsequently, would be making redundancies, an estimated 30+.
We were then, at that point informed, that the business would be forming an Employee Consultative Committee (ECC) of representatives of the staff, to be used during the redundancy process as a means of communication between the company and its staff, asking and answering everyones questions and just being the middle man in general. They divided the company into 6 groups and we went through what was almost a democratic election process, whereby we nominated people in our category who we wanted to represent us, and then had to vote on who we would like from the nominations. This process has now finished and the ECC will soon be having meetings and letting us know more about whats happening.
Today I found out from colleagues who aren't furloughed and are still working in the office that a new employee had been employed to work in my specific department of the company. While there are are still 3 (myself included) in that specific department that are still on furlough, waiting to find out if and when we will be able to return to work.
This employee is also an ex employee who left the business last year and is believed to have left his job he went to and my company had offered him his job back, allowing him to work fully paid back at the office, ahead of the rest of us who are still furloughed/receiving less pay/facing redundancy.
There has been no communication to say they would be employing a new member of staff (which I understand legally they don't need to), but this has left me and others feeling very unsettled and asking ourselves all sorts of questions about our jobs.
Is a business allowed to do this? In some ways it could be seen as a good sign as legally they shouldn't be able to make someone redundant at the same time as employing somebody new with the same job title. But this company has made many people wrongfully 'disappear' over the years and got away with it, as well as making people redundant and advertising their exact same job title, salary, job description within an hour of them leaving the building, leading to future meetings with Trade Unions reps and legal battles of unfair dismissal. So I do believe my company will try and get away with anything it feels it can do, wrong or right.
I have sent an email to the HR department today asking for clarity over the position of my employment, as I feel it is wrong that they can employ somebody new on a full time - fully paid contract, while members of staff are still in limbo wanting to know when they can return, if they aren't made redundant. I feel that given the current circumstances and uncertainty all employees currently face, it would appear to be professionally and morally unjustified to offer a job to a previous employee who left a year ago on a silver platter. The new employee in mention is also nicknamed as being one of the directors 'favourites', and the process of re-employing did not involve my boss, or any of my colleagues, and was fully carried out under the wire and came as a shock to everyone when he turned up for work on Monday..... I just don't believe favouritism alone can justify the actions made. But I'm no expert and would like to find some answers for where I stand legally with my job.
Would love to hear some thoughts on this please?
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