Potential redundancy with a twist.

MikeHiow

MikeHiow

MikeHiow

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So, I work from home - my position is 'Senior Web Developer' and my employer is in Central London.

I was called in to the office today for a meeting, the outcome of which was an ultimatum; relocate to somewhere that is commutable every day or face redundancy. They have however made an offer of £1000 to contribute towards relocating - not that it'd go far.

I have two weeks to make my decision, after which, if I chose not to relocate then I will be given one months notice of my contract being terminated.

Relocation is not an option for many reasons, so please do not go here.

Where do I stand here, and what are my rights? I will have been employed with the company for two years in April. I have been given the option of working out my notice or not - if I do not, can I demand pay? If so, what happens if I do work it?

I never would have thought it would be that easy to terminate what I had considered a permanent contract, which is why I assumed many people received redundancy pay-outs in order for them to leave 'willingly'.

What about Holiday? My Holiday period runs from 1st Jan -> 1st Jan. If I leave can I demand the remaining balance of my holiday pay for the year?

Any advice would be useful - I do not wish to stir up masses of trouble, I just need to know where I stand and make sure I am not being made a fool of - I've never left a job in anything other than my own accord.

For what it's worth, my employer has invited me to suggest other solutions to the problem. I did consider offering to work 3*12 hour days in the office, which only leaves a 1.5 hour deficit on my working week, and simply staying in London for three days a week.
 
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Read your employment contract - if its not a mass redundancy I doubt youll get any additional support than whats on that. Any holidays owing should be paid out to you as part of the settlement and it sounds like they are offering you garden leave (dont have to work your notice period, but you cant get another job in that period as they can effectively call you to come into work during it)...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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I'm not sure a computer forum is necessarily the right place to get advice of this nature? Surely your company will have a HR structure in place and will be able to advise you on both your rights and your companies rights.
 
My employer is a small company, who until I came a long contracted out just about everything. There is no HR department, just two directors and one other employee.
 
couldn't you find somewhere cheap to rent in london and use that for the mon to friday then you wouldn't have to commute and go home on the week ends ?
 
Do they still require a Web Developer?

If so, then it's not redundancy. Redundancy occurs when the position in which you are employed no longer exists.

The fact that they say you can keep the job if you move closer within commutable distance would indicate that it is not, in fact, a truthful redundancy.
 
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Moses said:
Can't you just work in London during the week and spend weekends at home? I know you said not to go there, but meh..
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I could, but this would be like taking a massive pay cut (a second place won't be cheap - especially in London), and would be involve me being away from my family far more than I'd really be comfortable with.

I do not see this as a viable solution, really.

[TW]Fox;18305332 said:
I beleive you don't get the full entitlement to redundancy pay until 2 years has passed :(
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Yup, it seems you are correct :/

DJMK4 said:
Its more "We would like all our staff to be more central"
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Basically. As our work loads increase, and the need to delegate tasks and liaise with other team members increases, the more difficult working remotely becomes. I know and understand the problem well, so there is no confusion as to why they are doing it.
 
Some things I can answer right away:

1) Unless your employment contract states it, you are entitled to no redundancy pay.

2) You are entitled to the balance of your accrued holiday being paid. This is your annual holiday entitlement including public holidays (so usually +8 days to what you consider your holiday if you don't normally work bank holidays) prorated for the year to date, minus any holiday taking including public holidays.

3) The situation with regards to notice is up to your employer. If you work it you will be paid. If you don't, they may pay you, they may not - their choice.
 
They cannot make you redundant just because of your location. The role exists and is still needed to be filled.
 
Morba said:
They cannot make you redundant just because of your location. The role exists and is still needed to be filled.
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They can, actually. The concept of being forced to somehow employ everybody if you move a business is surely, obviously absurd? :p

Here's an option that may help you:

1) Take two weeks to decide
2) See if you can get an extension as you are 'working through family/relocation issues'
3) Agree
4) Delay move as long as possible
5) Move, and work trial period (that I think is 4 weeks - would need to check)
6) After 4 weeks, say you don't want to move
7) Work notice period
8) Go past April 2011, collect redundancy pay?
 
You know exactly how companies get around this though. They will simply re-advertise a different job title with slightly tweaked job description.
 
Also depends if the contract states if it was in effective a position that was office based, they could have allowed him to work from home but technically he was contracted explicitly for an office based position...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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