I was made redundant but now feels like I was pushed out.?

Have I been unfairly dismissed? if so i want to take action.

I worked for a small UK mortgage broker and I had been there for 3 1/2 years, I started with them when the company was small and I was employee no 4. I got on well with everybody.

In august of this year my boss told the whole company it was closing (due to credit crunch) and we were all being made redundant at the end of the month. The next day we were told that they would stay open for 1 week in sept to see how it goes and get the current cases through in the pipeline, I was not given the opportunity to stay on but 4 others were (of which 2 had been there longer than me). Then I find out that one girl (the bosses wife friend) is staying on and the boss said "working for free", she had only been there for 9 months. She was taking over my job. Then the next week I find out that they will work for more than 1 week in sept but indefinitely. The girl who is working there "for free" is still there (so obviously not working for free, she is young and has a mortgage etc) and the boss is taking back another girl in a different position. I was told this by a old colleague who popped in to see them recently and the girl admitted it was a lie (her reason now was that she is "multi skilled").

The girl who allegedly "works for free" worked for free when they took her on. She replaced a girl who they made redundant but after 2 months they took her on permantly.

I thought I left the company on good terms but now feel ive been shafted.

I was made redundant with 6 others, but there had been other redundancies throughout the year on a last in first out basis. I was always told by the bosses that I would be here until the end as I was vital.

Its a family run company and the remaining people are either family or family friends. Is this unfair? I am still jobless but hunting.
Additional Details
I am not angry and no brooding about it. I was just looking to know if they have gone out it the right way and if I have any rights?

simple

KJ is correct about the 6 months issue.
if an employer makes you redundant then they cannot give that position to someone else for 6 months and if they do then they are breaking the law and you have a case against them if they don't offer your job back.
you need to contact acas and explain the situation to them as you may have been unfairly dismissed.

Butch UK

what has happened to you is called "constitutive dismissal" if you can prove that some one is doing your job, a person can't be made redundant but the post is,that is a big difference , if as you say some one is and has done your job even for free, and that has to be proved , you can take out a grievance against the company, my advice is to use the offices of the ACAS web site, but you have to prove that some one is doing your job, beware you may want to use this company as a reference.

Lily B Talus

In family run companies this happens all the time, best thing to do is to get over this...I know it's hard as they've given preferential treatment to their family and friends but if you dwell on it your life will be blighted by it.

flattley

I was made redundant ne in 1994 because I did not go to the right sort of school. They gave me Â£8k so I walked away and got over it.
As it turned out they did me a favour.
Don't take it personally just move on and put it down to experience.

I think this is quite complicated and for the best advice it is worth your while contacting ACAS.

Depending on the number of redundancies being made, there are specific procedures which a company must follow and those made redundant must be selected in a fair manner. As long as the company can demonstrate that they selected you for redundancy in a fair process then you wouldn't have a case.

However, I do believe that there are rules about employing people within 6 months of making redundancies and the positions being made known to staff made redundant, but I don't know the full details of the rule - so its worth finding this out as the company has made 2 positions permanent again.

Good luck, and good luck with the job hunt.

Louise R

Going on what you've said here, it sounds as though there was a strong element of unfairness.

I appreciate that, in many cases relating to employment law, the best advice can be to just put it behind you and move on.

As you say that you're not angry and brooding, try and keep that attitude; don't let this eat you up, and look upon any 'success' you have as a bonus.

I agree that calling ACAS tomorrow would be a good idea. 08457 47 47 47

I think that there are two elements to your issue.

1). The selection for redundancy.

The company ought to have followed a fair process of selection, and should have had some sort of 'scoring' system for deciding who goes and who stays. This generally focuses on factual things like absence and disciplinary records, but can also veer into less factual things such as relationships with colleagues and an assessment of your flexibility. ACAS will be able to tell you whether this should have been an 'open' process (ie should you have been able to see how the scores were achieved).

This is complicated somewhat in that the first 'tranch' of redundancies would (I think) have been at the point where they laid you off and kept the others on for the September week. Were you unfairly selected as the first to go (ie not offered that week).

2) The issue about whether you ought to have been reinstated. I'm not sure about this element, although I don't think it's particularly complex (it's just not a situation I've dealt with personally).

I suspect that what's happened is that the people continuing to run the business have decided to work in a 'softer' way, employing people who are close and familiar and perhaps working in different, more flexible ways with each other. It could even be that, on paper, some of those people aren't actually being paid (but, for example, that their partner is being paid a high salary which they share).

I'm not sure how far you'd get with this, but it's worth a try if it won't be too traumatic for you.

I'd contact ACAS tomorrow, and get the ball rolling if that's what they advise. An Employment Tribunal needs to have your 'case' within three months of the 'event' taking place. I'm not sure whether the 'event' here would be your redundancy or the selection of reinstatementees. Again, ACAS will advise.

http://www.employmenttribunals.gov.uk/FormsGuidance/makingAClaim.htm

The key here is about fairness, and it seems on the face of it that you've been treated unfairly.

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