Redundancy question.

[AngryPartsBloke]

Hi all,

I have a question around redundancy that I have not been able to find online.

Person A is being made redundant from thier role, but company b has an important project that they would like them to work on until they leave. Person A & Company B agree a leave date and enter into a settlement agreement for enhanced redundancy as is standard for Company B. Settlement agreement includes a provision to extend the end date, but only by mutual agreement.

Person A takes time off for Job seeking activity, an interview with company c, and informs line manager that they have a second interview also requiring a day out. A few days later, person A's line manager informs them they are going to be made an offer to stay on for a bit longer and to expect something to come through.

Person A awaits an offer, but instead they get a document to sign stating a new end date that is referenced as having been 'mutually agreed' despite not having had any conversation and no agreement being sought or given. No conversation has been had about how this extra time will impact rededuncy figure. Crucially, the new end date is just short of another full year of employment.


What's the legal position on this? It could be a communication issue, but it also looks like an attempt to unilaterally change person A's end date to avoid paying redundancy.

[Crafty_]

Surely until the new letter is signed there is an agreement/contract that can be upheld, so if person A wants to jump to company C they can do so in line with that original agreement ?

I'd view the letter as an alteration of that agreement/contract and as such, if person A is considering it they should enquire to see if any other terms have changed. I'd want everything in writing stating what the terms are (e.g. new exit date but payments etc all remain the same).

[jimmydash]

I wouldn’t sign the new agreement as the original agreement is still in force that is the contract. It seems like you’re doing company B a favour at the possible expense of your new long-term employer, company C. I think you need to be a bit more selfish.

[Flooble]

I've been through this, albeit many decades ago. We were asked to stay on until a certain date to get a project finished (sound familiar?) and if we did they would pay us a "bonus", aka enhanced redundancy.

People has started lining up jobs as the deadline loomed and then, surprise, the project slipped. There were similar noises to those you are receiving about extending departure dates.

I was one of the earlier ones in the queue to leave and so already had my appointment for a lawyer to review the compromise agreement arranged, which I attended. I'm not sure at this distance exactly what he said or wrote but I do remember that those of us with new jobs arranged were allowed to leave on the original schedule and didn't have to forgo our payouts.

If you have yet to have the legal review thing on the compromise agreement, it would definitely be worth having that done. Also worth checking if you have any legal cover elsewhere (e.g. home insurance). I managed to get some advice from my professional society.