Redundant and job has been advertised

[jakey11]

Dear all,

I work for a school and have two years continuous service as of September 2013. I was on fixed term maternity cover during this time which is due to end at the end of September.

Our HR department have finally agreed that they are making me redundant (rather than just ending the fixed term contract) and have quoted the redundancy pay figure. However - the reason they ended the fixed term contract was as part of a cost cutting exercise by the new head. He wanted to save money on the salary. Interestingly - he was unaware of the redundancy until we met this morning! He had assumed they were just ending my fixed term contract.....

The role - identical job description to mine - has now been advertised today (with a salary reduction of £6k!) and the interviews are due to take place at the end of sept.

My questions is this:
1. Can they advertise the role - or should they be offering it to me to avoid redundancy?

any other advise is welcome!
regards

[charitynjw]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

Hi jakey11 & welcome to Legal Beagles.

Is this an 'Academy'?

[jakey11]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

Hi - thank you for the welcome!

I work for an independent school in Wales.

regards

[charitynjw]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

The concept behind redundancy is that the particular job role(s), not the employee(s) per se, is no longer required.

How are they justifying this? (apart from attempting to reduce their wages bill, which doesn't pass muster IMO)

[jakey11]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

They say they are trying to save costs and my fixed term contract has come to an end however I told them I had been there for two years and they couldn;t just get rid of me! But shouldn't they be offering me the post under the new terms and conditions rather than making me redundant?

[charitynjw]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

Redundancy, a form of 'fair' dismissal, is, as previously stated, applicable when the role is no longer required, & therefore the person(s) acting in that capacity are no longer required to perform those functions.

It is therefore difficult to square this with advertising the same (or broadly similar) job.

A 'phone call to ACAS might be the way forward - http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2042

[jakey11]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

thanks - I have spoken to a solicitor this morning who has advised me to take it to tribunal. I have written to our HR dept advising them of this and the reasons why - I have given them 7 days to respond.

thanks for your help

[jakey11]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

Please Help- this is the response I have received from the HR dept in response to my letter to them:
At the Meeting dated 2^nd July it was confirmed to you that your fixed term contract would cease at the intended end date. You were given the contractual 3 months notice and also given a right to appeal against this decision.

Upon receipt of your enquiry and further investigation it was identified that you had more than 2 years completed service at the date of termination and therefore it was agreed that you would therefore be entitled to a payment equivalent to statutory redundancy. xxxx also confirmed to you that she would put this in writing before the cessation of your employment and this timescale has not yet expired i.e. you have approximately 3 weeks employment remaining.

According to the notes of your meeting on 2^nd July you were advised at the time that the principle reason for this change is budgetary constraints and you were also informed that a future role would therefore be reduced in scope and remuneration. You were however invited to apply along with other external candidates if the new role was of interest to you.

Having reviewed the matter, I can confirm that all statutory rules have been followed with respect to the termination of your fixed term contract. You were not automatically offered the new role of Marketing Officer as it is a lower position and salary role and therefore not deemed to be a suitable alternative. However, as a temporary employee you have been invited to apply, this is in line with our standard company procedure.

I hope this provides you with the clarity of the process and whilst the outcome may not be as you wished, I hope you also appreciate that the matter has been given due consideration.

[des8]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

Your post 5 indicates you haven't been offered the new post, but your employers say you have been invited to apply. Presumably then you have been given a job description for the new post. How does that compare with the description of your current position? How similar are the two positions?
Just reread post one and see they are identical!.....go with the solicitor's advice.

[jakey11]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

Yes the job is exactly the same as mine on a lower salary - but surely they should have offered it to me and it should be my decision as to whether or not I take it!

[des8]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

Your employer can't 1) reduce salary without your agreement
2) make you redundant and then advertise your position.

As Charity said (post 6) speak to ACAS or (if you've got the tribunal fees) follow solicitors advice (post 7)

[charitynjw]

Re: Redundant and job has been advertised

In which case the post/job has not become redundant.

However, & sorry to state the obvious, employers don't relish the thought of being taken to ET.

Although you could ask for reinstatement at the Tribunal, I believe it is a pretty rare occurrence.

As previously suggested, ACAS do a mediation service; your ET case will automatically go to them anyway, so why not pre-empt it?

But keep an eye on the time limit for an ET claim (3 months less 1 day from the cause of action)