Jobs & Education0 min ago
Time off for interviews
I am being made redundant and being paid an immediate pension from the end of August.
I have got no annual leave left.
My contract of empolyment states I am entitled to reasonable paid time off work to attend interviews to obtain a new job as I have had my redundancy notice.
I want to re locate 200 miles away to join my son and daughter and I have applied for several part time jobs.
Suddenly 2 interviews have come up for the 16th and 17th August.
In view of the distance I will need 2 full days off work.
My employers have stated that 2 days off for an interview is unreasonable and my manager has stated that reasonable time for an interview is about 3 hours for each one.
I have offered to take the days off unpaid but my employers will not accept this.
If I just take the days off I know my employers will not have to pay me and to be honest it would not bother me if they terminate me employment now as long as they pay the pension from the 1st of September along with my redundancy money as agreed in my redundancy letter.
Other than the loss of 2 days pay would my employers be entitled to take further action.
Morton
I have got no annual leave left.
My contract of empolyment states I am entitled to reasonable paid time off work to attend interviews to obtain a new job as I have had my redundancy notice.
I want to re locate 200 miles away to join my son and daughter and I have applied for several part time jobs.
Suddenly 2 interviews have come up for the 16th and 17th August.
In view of the distance I will need 2 full days off work.
My employers have stated that 2 days off for an interview is unreasonable and my manager has stated that reasonable time for an interview is about 3 hours for each one.
I have offered to take the days off unpaid but my employers will not accept this.
If I just take the days off I know my employers will not have to pay me and to be honest it would not bother me if they terminate me employment now as long as they pay the pension from the 1st of September along with my redundancy money as agreed in my redundancy letter.
Other than the loss of 2 days pay would my employers be entitled to take further action.
Morton
Answers
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Hi Morton
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I have got to go out now but I will come back to you.
Marcia
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I have got to go out now but I will come back to you.
Marcia
If you have received notice of dismissal by redundancy under the Employments rights act 1996 you are entitled under sections 52 to take reasonable time off work to attend interviews, reasonable is not defined, but two days off in the circumstances you describe is not unreasonable if substantial other time has not been taken off already, section 53 deals with your pay whilst attending interviews. Redundancy is one of the five potentially fair reasons for dismissal and you current employer risks you taking them to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal if they do not permit reasonable time off to attend interviews.
I suggest you remind your employer of this and if you are a member of a trade union inform them.
I suggest you remind your employer of this and if you are a member of a trade union inform them.
Hi Morton
I worked in a Human Resources Department and at the time if the company wanted to make redundancies they looked at over 50's first with long service as they got a good pay off and and an immediate pension.
At the time most of them got other jobs locally within about 2 months if they wanted to go back to work.
We had 1 employee who wanted to join his family a similar distance away to you.
He started looking for jobs and got 5 interviews on different days non of them consecutive and asked us for time off to attend all of them.
The initial reaction of the person in charge was this was not reasonable but we initially let him have the day off for interview number 1.
He got the job but then came back saying he wanted to attend another interview for another job and after some questions we let him go and he got that job.
He then wanted to go to interview number 3 which he told us it was the job he really wanted but we had a meeting as some people thought it was getting a very unreasonable.
We decided we had better let him go and he got that job and he made no further requests for time off.
I was in favour of him having all the time he wanted off because I did not want to stop him getting the job he really wanted.
Other people were having meetings to interpret reasonable and they never came up with a solid definition of reasonable.
Owing to the fact reasonable is not defined I woud consult a trade union or a solicitor especially if there is something like a compromise agreement is involved.
As it sounds as if you are getting an early pension you do not want to give your employer grounds to not pay it.
In the case I was involved in about 40 hours of working time was wasted debating if we should give him that third day off.
Marcia
I worked in a Human Resources Department and at the time if the company wanted to make redundancies they looked at over 50's first with long service as they got a good pay off and and an immediate pension.
At the time most of them got other jobs locally within about 2 months if they wanted to go back to work.
We had 1 employee who wanted to join his family a similar distance away to you.
He started looking for jobs and got 5 interviews on different days non of them consecutive and asked us for time off to attend all of them.
The initial reaction of the person in charge was this was not reasonable but we initially let him have the day off for interview number 1.
He got the job but then came back saying he wanted to attend another interview for another job and after some questions we let him go and he got that job.
He then wanted to go to interview number 3 which he told us it was the job he really wanted but we had a meeting as some people thought it was getting a very unreasonable.
We decided we had better let him go and he got that job and he made no further requests for time off.
I was in favour of him having all the time he wanted off because I did not want to stop him getting the job he really wanted.
Other people were having meetings to interpret reasonable and they never came up with a solid definition of reasonable.
Owing to the fact reasonable is not defined I woud consult a trade union or a solicitor especially if there is something like a compromise agreement is involved.
As it sounds as if you are getting an early pension you do not want to give your employer grounds to not pay it.
In the case I was involved in about 40 hours of working time was wasted debating if we should give him that third day off.
Marcia
Hi Eddie
You asked ''Did they then form a committee to decide what was a 'reasonable' time to define 'reasonable'?''.
Not as far as I am aware but somebody may prove me wrong.
Another incident happened. An employee was over 50 and eligible for an immediate pension.
His contract stated 13 weeks notice of termination of his employment had to be given and he found a job after 4 weeks.
He was eligible for an immediate pension.
Some of the managers did not want to release him till the end of week 13 but his new employers wanted him ASAP.
The computer system he maintained was being shut down during week 13 but he was doing little else.
Most breakdowns could be handled by other employees but he was the only one with the knowledge to do it apart from another person who was retired and not working.
I just said phone the retired employee and he was happy to come back for the close down and would come in to help if anything major happened on the mean time.
I did persuade them to release this employee, stop his salary immediately, and to pay his pension from the end of week 13.
Just for belt and braces I had a friend at his new company at the time. She was a senior manager and I explained the problem re the computer system.
She said if the worst happened and the retired employee was not available they would let him have 5 days unpaid leave to come back to deal with the computer or let him take 5 days annual leave.
The system was closed down by the retired employee.
I think to make it legal he had to be employed on contract but I thought it was better the employee was allowed to go early. If we had kept him till the end he may have been out of work for a year.
Marcia
You asked ''Did they then form a committee to decide what was a 'reasonable' time to define 'reasonable'?''.
Not as far as I am aware but somebody may prove me wrong.
Another incident happened. An employee was over 50 and eligible for an immediate pension.
His contract stated 13 weeks notice of termination of his employment had to be given and he found a job after 4 weeks.
He was eligible for an immediate pension.
Some of the managers did not want to release him till the end of week 13 but his new employers wanted him ASAP.
The computer system he maintained was being shut down during week 13 but he was doing little else.
Most breakdowns could be handled by other employees but he was the only one with the knowledge to do it apart from another person who was retired and not working.
I just said phone the retired employee and he was happy to come back for the close down and would come in to help if anything major happened on the mean time.
I did persuade them to release this employee, stop his salary immediately, and to pay his pension from the end of week 13.
Just for belt and braces I had a friend at his new company at the time. She was a senior manager and I explained the problem re the computer system.
She said if the worst happened and the retired employee was not available they would let him have 5 days unpaid leave to come back to deal with the computer or let him take 5 days annual leave.
The system was closed down by the retired employee.
I think to make it legal he had to be employed on contract but I thought it was better the employee was allowed to go early. If we had kept him till the end he may have been out of work for a year.
Marcia
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