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Hi All
Me and roughly 65 other colleagues are in an 'at risk' pool of redundancies, we are on a fixed term contract as it is work that is paid from external funding. The current contract is due to end on the 31st March 2021 and may of us have been employed via this route for a number of years, myself its 7. The company gave an 'at risk' notice in December of 2020 and then proceeded with individual consultations in Jan/feb 2021. Since then they have confirmed a new round of funding but are looking to change the terms so we are waiting on news about what our options may be, this change in terms will impact about 15 of us more than the others as a 3yr project we had completed 2yrs of has been terminated early. We would normally all re-sign a contract in April to continue work, in 2020 they amended the contract to indicate that no notice was required by them and the contract would terminate on the 31st March 2021. They didn't specifically highlight the change as having any potential impact on us. So my questions are, after doing lots of reading on different sites:
1. Are they required to still provides us with the statutory notice for redundancy?
2. Are we still able to use the 'suitable alternative role' if they place us in new and slightly different roles?
3. being 'at risk' does this still allow us to take redundancy even though the contract with the external funder has been signed?
4. Can we still claim PILON, if they don't offer alternatives before the 31st March end date?
5. what is the legal different between being 'at risk' and actually receiving a 'notice of' redundancy?
The clauses in the contract are:
Clause 3
3. Commencement of Employment Your employment commenced on 1st April 2020 and, subject to the terms and conditions of this agreement, shall be for a fixed term of 12 months expiring automatically on 31st March 2021 (“Expiry Date”) without the need for notice, unless terminated earlier in accordance with the termination provisions in this agreement.
Clause 17
17. Notice to Terminate Employment Once you have successfully completed your probationary period, your employment may be terminated at any time by you or the [company] giving the other the following periods of notice in writing: 1) Employees at Grade A are entitled to receive and required to give 12 weeks’ notice of termination of employment 2) All other employees are entitled to receive and required to give 4 weeks’ notice of termination of employment. When you have five or more years of continuous employment, the notice you are entitled to receive will be one week for each completed year of service, up to a maximum (after 12 years’ service) of 12 weeks’ notice. 3) In the event that the [external funder] withdraws the funding prior to the Expiry Date, all employees would be entitled to receive 4 weeks’ notice of termination of employment, unless you are entitled to a longer statutory notice period. We may, at our discretion, terminate your employment without notice and based on your basic salary instead make a payment in lieu of notice. The [company] reserves the right to terminate your employment without notice, or payment in lieu of notice, in the event of any act of gross misconduct, serious breach of your obligations as an employee, serious breach of the terms of this contract or if you cease to be entitled to work in the United Kingdom. During any period of notice, the [company] may require that you hold yourself available to carry out such duties (if any) as it may require but the [company] may suspend you from all or any of your duties and activities, and impose such restrictions on the carrying out of your duties and activities, as it shall think fit. For the avoidance of doubt, at all times during such period you shall continue to be bound by the same obligations to the [company] as were owed prior to the commencement of the notice period. The ending of your employment will not affect any rights the [company] has against you arising from any breach of this agreement which occurred before or after the employment ended.
Me and roughly 65 other colleagues are in an 'at risk' pool of redundancies, we are on a fixed term contract as it is work that is paid from external funding. The current contract is due to end on the 31st March 2021 and may of us have been employed via this route for a number of years, myself its 7. The company gave an 'at risk' notice in December of 2020 and then proceeded with individual consultations in Jan/feb 2021. Since then they have confirmed a new round of funding but are looking to change the terms so we are waiting on news about what our options may be, this change in terms will impact about 15 of us more than the others as a 3yr project we had completed 2yrs of has been terminated early. We would normally all re-sign a contract in April to continue work, in 2020 they amended the contract to indicate that no notice was required by them and the contract would terminate on the 31st March 2021. They didn't specifically highlight the change as having any potential impact on us. So my questions are, after doing lots of reading on different sites:
1. Are they required to still provides us with the statutory notice for redundancy?
2. Are we still able to use the 'suitable alternative role' if they place us in new and slightly different roles?
3. being 'at risk' does this still allow us to take redundancy even though the contract with the external funder has been signed?
4. Can we still claim PILON, if they don't offer alternatives before the 31st March end date?
5. what is the legal different between being 'at risk' and actually receiving a 'notice of' redundancy?
The clauses in the contract are:
Clause 3
3. Commencement of Employment Your employment commenced on 1st April 2020 and, subject to the terms and conditions of this agreement, shall be for a fixed term of 12 months expiring automatically on 31st March 2021 (“Expiry Date”) without the need for notice, unless terminated earlier in accordance with the termination provisions in this agreement.
Clause 17
17. Notice to Terminate Employment Once you have successfully completed your probationary period, your employment may be terminated at any time by you or the [company] giving the other the following periods of notice in writing: 1) Employees at Grade A are entitled to receive and required to give 12 weeks’ notice of termination of employment 2) All other employees are entitled to receive and required to give 4 weeks’ notice of termination of employment. When you have five or more years of continuous employment, the notice you are entitled to receive will be one week for each completed year of service, up to a maximum (after 12 years’ service) of 12 weeks’ notice. 3) In the event that the [external funder] withdraws the funding prior to the Expiry Date, all employees would be entitled to receive 4 weeks’ notice of termination of employment, unless you are entitled to a longer statutory notice period. We may, at our discretion, terminate your employment without notice and based on your basic salary instead make a payment in lieu of notice. The [company] reserves the right to terminate your employment without notice, or payment in lieu of notice, in the event of any act of gross misconduct, serious breach of your obligations as an employee, serious breach of the terms of this contract or if you cease to be entitled to work in the United Kingdom. During any period of notice, the [company] may require that you hold yourself available to carry out such duties (if any) as it may require but the [company] may suspend you from all or any of your duties and activities, and impose such restrictions on the carrying out of your duties and activities, as it shall think fit. For the avoidance of doubt, at all times during such period you shall continue to be bound by the same obligations to the [company] as were owed prior to the commencement of the notice period. The ending of your employment will not affect any rights the [company] has against you arising from any breach of this agreement which occurred before or after the employment ended.
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