Redundancy Appeal

[tali1]

My friend is at the appeal stage of redundancy.His employer has to make cuts . All those selected are over 40 yrs old (there are younger staff).One employee with a poor sickness record threatened them with legal action before the consultation started and has escaped redundancy.Can my friend claim on grounds of age discrimination and a tainted process due to favoritism ? - if he does have a claim on those 2 grounds then the employer will know the other redundancy staff will have same claims and the process fall apart.Of course the employee threatening legal action can be seen as shop floor gossip -so i don't know how much relevance it will have in the appeal.Also most of the staff over 40 are on higher wages- so it could be argued that age was just a coincidence?
Also is the appeal decision an arbitrary one ? ( "sorry ,at the end of the day you got to go because of funding cuts")

[Old_Geezer]

Jobs become redundant not people. I'd have thought one would need to prove bias when selecting who to keep and who to get rid of, but if, as you say, "All those selected are over 40 yrs old", then that could be significant. I say this as pure opinion, I have no expertise it the subject area. Best of luck with further responses.

[tamborine]

....."at the end of the day you got to go because of funding cuts".....

No funds = no pay. Tribunal might ask, would the objectors accept lower pay to keep their jobs.?

[MargoTester]

I think OG is correct the job is redundant not the person. If the job is made redundant then they cannot employ anybody else to do it, not sure it there is a time limit on this. It may be helpful to seek advice from CAB.

[MargoTester]

Web site - redundancy your rights - Gov.uk

[EDDIE51]

1st choice should be 'any volunteers ' only after that should they look for compulsory redundancies. In most situations there are a lot of volunteers

[tali1]

Eddie - the volunteers cost nowt - so I doubt they would be selected?
Tambourine - no offer of lower pay was made

[ummmm]

Volunteer to take redundancy.

[tali1]

Sorry Eddie I see what you mean by volunteers.Yes there were - but it still leaves my friend and others at risk.

[BlueScorpion]

I think Eddie meant that firstly the company should ask if anybody would like to take voluntary redundancy

[EDDIE51]

In a redundancy situation it usual to ask for volunteers first. They get the same package as the 'forced' redundancies . The company can refuse to accept the volunteers but if there are any they have to be considered before compulsory redundancies are made. Of course the best people normally are the ones to volunteer as they know they will go straight into a new job with a fat pay off.

[Old_Geezer]

It is not unknown for volunteers to be offered better deals to encourage enough to go rather than be pushed.

[ummmm]

What happens if a company cannot afford redundancy payouts?

[tali1]

There was only 1 voluntary redundancy that was refused.That was a full time post and would have potentially saved the jobs of 2 part timers such as my friend who is at risk.BlueScorpion I already highlighted prior to your post

[Old_Geezer]

Then they are incompetent ummmm, they go bankrupt, everyone loses their job with no compensation. Save for the top management who haven't salted any golden whatevers away in the Swiss banks, at all.

[EDDIE51]

There is a government fund that will pay the basic redundancy if the company goes bankrupt.

[Old_Geezer]

That's good to know, even if it is a detour from tali's original question.

[thugulike]

The company must identify the pool of workers to be considered for redundancy. They must also have a selection criteria. This is a matrix which scores, for example, skills, qualifications, disciplinary record, absence etc. Those selected for redundancy would be those with the highest (or lowest) points depending on how the scores were graded. Age must not be considered, nor should absence be considered for someone with a disability. The scores should be available for scrutiny. I have been in tribunal and noticed that the scores had been added up incorrectly and the claimant should never have been made redundant. Nobody had noticed. Please get in touch with ACAS or CAB

[tali1]

thugulike "scores available for scrunity" - what about comparison with other employees as I believe scores of others cannot be discussed?

[thugulike]

Your own score is available for scrutiny and should be carefully checked