Badly managed redundancy

[C.A.R.]

Before I start I think that - legally - we don't have a leg to stand on with this matter...

Fiancée worked at a dental practice for just over 12 months and her contract was terminated today after a sweep of redundancies. Dental practice is small and she worked part-time, average of 8 hours a week. Throughout the employment she was nothing but willing to work out of hours appointments, was reliable and able to cover for her peers at short notice.

1 month ago the 1st redundancy letter landed on the doorstep - bummer - there are 8 nurses / assistants on the list and a further meeting is scheduled. Normal hours are maintained until then.

Meeting comes around together with a 2nd letter - basically she has been short listed (now one of 3) for the redundancy - this was 2 weeks ago. Fair dos, these things happen and she had already started looking for another job.

Second meeting is scheduled and a redundancy 'package' is promised as they don't want to have to let anyone go. The offer is the equivalent of 8 weeks work - approx £400.

Unfortunately whilst the letter prior to this meeting stated she could attend with a colleague or trade union representative she went alone and the package was never put onto paper - the only record being the meeting between my fiancée, the practice manager and the practice owner.

Mind put at ease a little that this money will cover her if she shouldn't find a job in the next 6-8 weeks as she won't be 'short'.

Perhaps it was naive, but it was certainly far too trusting.

Normal hours continue to be worked.

Fast forward to today and she was pulled into a meeting - foregone conclusion really - but low and behold they (by their own admission) have to 'retract their previous offer' as they 'can't afford it after looking at the books'. The new offer - 1 weeks pay.

Obviously disheartened and rightfully angry she quizzed them over it but they wouldn't budge.

I appreciate the law realises that anything less than 24 months employment doesn't entitle you to a penny, but I'm also furious that they have treated her this way.

All along I insisted that she continue to work every last hour to try to avoid them having reason to let her go or put their offer at risk of not being recalled.

As I said at the start, I don't think there's anything we can do about it. The offer of 1 weeks pay is already more than she is 'entitled' to, but it still boils my piss that they stood in front of her today and even said that they regrettably have to retract their offer.

This is a dental practice which takes in thousands of pounds a day, so their excuse is pathetic. More likely they have looked into it and decided "wait, we don't have to give her a penny!" And they're probably delighted about it too.

So what, if anything, would you do?

[C.A.R.]

I appreciate all of that, the redundancies came as a result of downsizing - one dentist upped and left and as a result there were too many nurses and not enough hours to go around.

I think I'm more just p*ssed at the lack of principal. She did what she could for them in the last days being employed there and they respond with by retracing their offer and going back on their word.

She was made to feel like she was doing them a favour by volunteering herself for the redundancy at the first meeting (as she was interested in another job at the time).

She has a key to the practice but I have advised her not to return it until she has been paid her wages due to date (payroll is on the 18th).

[C.A.R.]

Thanks for all the responses.

Something else occurred today completely out of the blue - another one of the nurses has started writing abusive messages on my fiancee's facebook wall about her previous employment.

Previously there was bickering and a general sense of dislike amongst all of them at the practice, but it was all kept hush-hush so my fiancee could just get on and do her duties and get paid.

Now that it has taken this turn, following a redundancy which wasn't correctly carried-out, do you think the employers would be interested to see a copy of the spiteful messages left by one of their current employees?

For what it's worth, my fiancee still isn't due to be paid until the 18th - but she still holds a key to the property which I've advised her to hold onto until everything is settled.