Don't let them get you down

With more and more workers being hit by the economic slowdown, Jamie Tabberer gives you our five step guide to redundancy.

With the recession gaining momentum, redundancy is a potential threat for many of us. It is important to prepare yourself for this lingering possibility by knowing how to ensure you are given a fair deal if you loose your job

Step one – know the basics

If your boss wants to lay you off, he or she must follow certain procedures:
If you are a chosen for redundancy, this decision must have been made fairly and objectively.

You should be warned about the redundancy, and given the correct amount of notice.

If your boss plans to make 20 or more employees redundant within a 90-day period, your trade union or an elected representative should be consulted before anyone is given notice. If this does not occur, you can take your boss to an employment tribunal, which can lead to an award of up to 90 days’ pay in compensation.

Your employers should take reasonable steps to redeploy you and consider all other options before settling on redundancy.

Step two – make sure that the reasons that support your employers’ decision are sound

The decision process for redundancy should be based on fair and objective grounds. Fair reasons might include:

Another member is made redundant, but is given your job, making you redundant.
Your disciplinary records cast you in a bad light.
The cutting of costs means staff numbers must be reduced.
The business or company is closing down, moving location or being reorganised.
Your job ceases to exist. This could mean that a new service or technology is able to do what you do for your job, or the purpose or function of your job is no longer required.
However, redundancy cannot be selected on the grounds of age, gender, race, marital status, disability, religion, pregnancy, maternity, paternity or family leave, sexual orientation, your involvement in a trade union or exercising your statutory rights.

If you believe you have been made redundant on any of these grounds, you may have
been unfairly dismissed and should consider taking action. However, redundancy on the grounds of age can be a more complicated issue.

Your boss may cut the jobs of the people who have been with the company the least amount of time, and this might mean automatically letting go of younger members of staff. If this is the case, request for your boss to give you better or more detailed reasons for your redundancy.

Step three – make sure you have been given the correct notice period

If you have been working at one place between one month and two years, you must be given at least one week’s notice before your job ends.

You must then be given one week’s notice for each year you have been employed, if between two and 12 years.

If you have been employed for 12 years or more, you must be given at least 12 weeks’ notice. Some places set out longer notice periods than this, so be sure to check to see if this is the case.

You should also receive payment for your time spent working through your notice. This is sometimes known as payment in lieu of notice.

Step four – verify that your redundancy payment is correct

If you have worked for your employer for two years or more then you should automatically receive financial compensation. This is in addition to your notice pay, not instead of it. This usually comes in the form of a lump sum. If you do not receive payment you should write to your boss and ask why this is.

This figure is subject to factors including your age, your weekly pay, the amount of years you have worked for your employer, if you chose to work through the notice period you’ve been given, if you were dismissed for misconduct or if you decide not to take up the offer of a different job at the same company without good reason.

You can normally, but not always, receive redundancy payments of up to £30,000 free of tax, whereas any amount over this is taxed at your highest rate. The possibility of tax on amounts under £30,000 will be spelled out in your contract. If your contract specifies any redundancy pay or benefits, these may be taxable – and all of this might be affected if you have more than one job.

Read your employment contract carefully. Some employees, like those who work for the armed forces or the government, are not entitled to redundancy pay. Also, if you’ve had a fixed term contract since before 1 October 2002 then it may state your disentitlement.

Visit the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website and use the online calculator to work out what your sum should be. See the boxed text for this and other useful sources of information.

You are also entitled to a written statement from your employer that shows how your sum has been worked out.

It is also worth asking what other benefits your employers might be prepared to give you. With nothing to loose, it may surprise you what you stand to gain.

It is not uncommon for employers to offer careers advice, help in finding a new job, and pay for further training as part of the redundancy package. Some may even offer additional bonuses or a “golden goodbye” as a gesture of goodwill – especially if you’re a long-term employee, and know a lot of interesting information. The chances of matching the infamous Sir Fred Goodwin’s annual pension of £700,000 a year are slim but not impossible!

Step five – follow the correct procedures if filing an unfair dismissal claim

If you suspect you many have been unfairly dismissed, or if you have any other issue, complaint or legal worry, try appealing under your company’s dismissal or grievance procedure, or by writing to your boss or a trade union official.

You must allow 28 days for someone to get back to you before taking your case to an employment tribunal, although this length of time may be changed in April 2009.

If contact with your employer doesn’t get you anywhere, or if it goes unanswered, you can appeal to present your claim before a court through the Employment Tribunal, but only if this is within three months of leaving your job.

Before taking action, it is advisable that you seek help and advice either by visiting your local Citizens Advice Bureau, or be contacting the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, which offers free, confidential and impartial advice on all employment issues.

If your taking your boss to an employment tribunal proves successful, you could receive compensation and may even be offered your job back.

To begin this process, fill out an ET1 application form, which can be found at: The Employment Tribunal website or your local Citizens Advice Bureau. You can also get help filling out these forms from here.

More advice
The Employment Tribunal: employmenttribunals.gov.uk.
Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform: berr.gov.uk.
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service: acas.org.uk or call the helpline from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday on 08457 47 47 47.
You may also get help, advice and support from your union, if you are a member.