Being made redundent-Unfair?

[AngryPartsBloke]

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone can advise? Member of my family has been notified by post that they are a risk of being made redundent. Now after reading various advice pages on the subject (gov and citiziens advice) and feel perhaps it's verging on being unfair.

They have never had any action taken against them or any warnings for performance or behaviour, they assume their work has been to the staisfaction of the company but they have never had a performance review, they have just won a huge order for the company, they are the only person in line to be made redundent at their site (However they are the only person with their job title)

I don't have anymore detials yet but on the face of it, does it appear to be unfair? The fact that they don't get paid a huge amount more than the other staff but bring in lot more and have a greater knowledge of products/skills etc. but have been selected seems strange to me.

[battered]

Redundancy means "your job no longer exists" not "you did something wrong".

You can be the best widget maker in the world, if the company is stopping widget making, you will be redundant and you are out. You are now in a "consultancy period" during which you can discuss with your employer why your job (not you_)is being made redundant.

[andy-xr]

doesnt sound unfair, the role not the person if it's redundancy
Now, if you can see a case for unfair dismissal, then that's different. But based on what you've said, nothing there either

[balls-out]

Also worth remembering that life isn't fair and certainly the law isn't always. The key point is are they being treated within the law.

[AngryPartsBloke]

This is pretty much what i though but i thought i'd ask around for them! The only experiance i've had was with a company that shutdown a site i worked at.

[OutOfSync]

Redundancy involves a lot of tedious and moderately-complicated admin for the company involved and the more people they are making redundant, the more legal hoops there are to jump through/miss. As a result, where a company does not have an efficient HR department and/or sound legal advice, they will often make a procedural (or worse) error, which may open them up to a claim.

Assuming that your family member is one of those selected from the pool for redundancy and they feel hard done by (for example, it was not a genuine redundancy situation; the selection process was flawed/biased; they were not consulted etc) then they should seek proper legal advice.

As good as PH is for free legal advice, this will depend on a particular set of circumstances, not all of which you will know, so it is very unlikely that you will get the right answer.

In your relly's shoes I would wait and see if s/he is dismissed. Then, if s/he is dismissed and feels hard done by, print off all the relevant letters etc that they have received, write a detailed timeline of events/meetings/etc and visit a lawyer for their initial view. Many will do this for free.

[Drumroll]

As has been said the company have decided to make the role redundant. Been through it several times company restructure "X" role no longer exists.