Redundancy Period

[batman1956]

2 of my family members are soon to lose their jobs due to the outsourcing at NPower, The redundancies were announced in November and a 60 day consultation period was announced. The consultation ends next week and then both of these people expected to work their respective notice periods and then be paid any monies due.

 

It now seems that no actual date for finishing their jobs will be forthcoming and so they are unable to commit to a new employer without losing substantial amounts of money via redundancy.

 

What should really happen in these situations?

 

Should NPower have given finishing dates so that they could sort out their futures without having to lose out on many thousands of pounds? Or is what NPower are doing proper practice?

[Sidewinder]

There has to be an effective date of termination otherwise there is no obligation to work!

 

You say that after the consultation period ends, there will be a need to work their relevant notice periods, so the effective date of termination would surely be at the end of the notice from a start point of where the notice of redundancy is issued - each employee must be given a notice confirming a) that their position will become redundant and b) the final date on which they are required to work.

 

Before that notice is issued the employee is still bound under contract and cannot be deemed to be working notice!

[batman1956]

So in effect the consultation period can be extended indefinitely leaving them in limbo. That sounds like an awful scenario.

[SweetLorraine]

The organisation is following an accepted routine. The consultation period is exactly that - a time to access restructuring, number of employees to go, whether that be by voluntary or compulsory redundancy, and who will go.

 

Until that those sort of things are sorted out employees cannot be still given final dates etc;

 

They are still being paid, and if the consultation was extended they would continue to be paid until their last day of service...... though job losses are regrettable, this aspect of it is hardly hell on earth!

 

The real problems start once you are out of work - that is what they should be focussing on.

[batman1956]

Thank you for the information. It just seems so wrong that my family members have certain redundancy hanging over them yet they are unable to sort out further employment until they get a definate end date. By this time the number of people hunting very few jobs is increased.

[Sidewinder]

Consultation is designed to decide not only which posts may end up being redundant, but also whether there are any realistic alternatives to redundancy - either by restructuring certain roles, job sharing, redeployment within the organisation etc. I daresay that once all meaningful consultation has concluded, notice will be given, but I know how hard it is to be waiting, and frustrating when there are likely to be so many people chasing available jobs in the area.

 

Unfortunately there is no defined maximum period for consultation, so it could be for an extended period - the only requirement is for at least 30 days consultation for 20-99 redundancies and 45 days for over 99 redundancies.

[batman1956]

It takes the p••• really. The people who are losing their jobs (1,460)in total could be forced to make a difficult choice between redundancy settlement and a new job. It would surely be a better solution if once a company had announced redundancies then they were committed to make the payments unless the redundancy notices were withdrawn.