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I need to ask a question about redundancy and TUPE law if possible? I

 
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I need to ask a question about redundancy and TUPE law if possible?

I joined Vodafone in November 2003 as an online content editor, and I worked for them for approximately 5.5 years. In June 2009 I was made redundant by them due to their outsourcing our roles to a third party contractor (SapientNitro). Although I was given 90 days "consultation", as per the employment laws, I was not informed at any time about the TUPE law, which would have allowed me to transfer to SapientNitro with my year’s service in tact. I subsequently joined SapientNitro independently and received a redundancy payout from Vodafone based on 5 year's service at a salary of £26k. Had I been given the opportunity to transfer under the TUPE law I certainly would have done so, but I had no knowledge of this right.

I worked for 3 months as a contractor for SapientNitro (SN) before joining them as a permanent employee in September 2009 and I have worked there ever since. In January 2012 Vodafone announced that they would not be renewing their contract with SN and that they were bringing the roles back in house to their company. This transfer of work was covered by TUPE and, as per their legal obligations as I understand them, SN informed me that I had the right to transfer into Vodafone. I took this option and, during this process, became aware of the great disservice that Vodafone had done me, and the rest of the people in my team at the time, in 2009 by not offering us this option.

Had I been told of TUPE in 2009 I would now be transferring back into Vodafone with 8.5 years of service rather than the 2.5 I have accumulated at SN, and on a much higher salary.

On Friday 20th April I was informed by the SN HR representative that Vodafone did not have a role for me, and would be making me redundant. As I was due to transfer under TUPE on 1st May, I find this to be ridiculously short notice, and cannot believe the delay in telling me was necessary, the decision must have been made some time ago. I received an email from the Vodafone HR representative at approx half one in that afternoon asking me to meet on Monday 23rd but I declined due to the again short notice, and my need to seek advice. I am now meeting them on Thursday.

I was locked out of all systems by around 3pm, which I had to find out embarrassingly from one of my producers who told me he's been told to find someone else to put the work I was doing for him live. I had no access to any information by Saturday night, and my ONLY contact from anyone at Vodafone was an auto-generated email saying my employee status had been terminated. My email address was shut off by Sunday, and I did not have access to any of the previous discussions I had had about my employment up until that point and no way of getting any information I may have needed from my laptop.

I am being offered by Vodafone £860 statutory redundancy, one month's salary, as my contractual notice period, £100 confidentiality payment and another month's salary as redundancy. I find this unacceptable. Had Vodafone met their legal obligations I would now be looking at a payout for 8.5 year's service on a far higher salary which would mean a significantly higher payout. The difference also between being paid out for the 5.5 years in 2009 and being paid out for those years now would also be significant. The statutory redundancy payment is now higher than it was in 2009 (I believe it was £350 per year's service then and is £430 now?) and also I am now earning approx £36k rather than £26k in 2009. I believe that Vodafone should be made to make up for their failings, and the money they have cost me in acting illegally.

What I need to know, before I go to my meeting on Thursday is do I have a case to take them to tribunal, how much you believe that case would be worth?

Submitted: 384 days and 17 hours ago.
Category: UK Employment Law
Value: £28
Status: CLOSED

Accepted Answer

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Expert:  Ben Jones replied 384 days and 17 hours ago.


Ben Jones :

Hello and thank you for your question, which I will be happy to assist you with. Please let me know if you could summarise your question?

JACUSTOMER-atlj47yv- :

I can paste in what I sent intitially, you really need to read it all to understand the background

JACUSTOMER-atlj47yv- :

I joined Vodafone in November 2003 as an online content editor, and I worked for them for approximately 5.5 years. In June 2009 I was made redundant by them due to their outsourcing our roles to a third party contractor (SapientNitro). Although I was given 90 days "consultation", as per the employment laws, I was not informed at any time about the TUPE law, which would have allowed me to transfer to SapientNitro with my year’s service in tact. I subsequently joined SapientNitro independently and received a redundancy payout from Vodafone based on 5 year's service at a salary of £26k. Had I been given the opportunity to transfer under the TUPE law I certainly would have done so, but I had no knowledge of this right.

I worked for 3 months as a contractor for SapientNitro (SN) before joining them as a permanent employee in September 2009 and I have worked there ever since. In January 2012 Vodafone announced that they would not be renewing their contract with SN and that they were bringing the roles back in house to their company. This transfer of work was covered by TUPE and, as per their legal obligations as I understand them, SN informed me that I had the right to transfer into Vodafone. I took this option and, during this process, became aware of the great disservice that Vodafone had done me, and the rest of the people in my team at the time, in 2009 by not offering us this option.

Had I been told of TUPE in 2009 I would now be transferring back into Vodafone with 8.5 years of service rather than the 2.5 I have accumulated at SN, and on a much higher salary.

On Friday 20th April I was informed by the SN HR representative that Vodafone did not have a role for me, and would be making me redundant. As I was due to transfer under TUPE on 1st May, I find this to be ridiculously short notice, and cannot believe the delay in telling me was necessary, the decision must have been made some time ago. I received an email from the Vodafone HR representative at approx half one in that afternoon asking me to meet on Monday 23rd but I declined due to the again short notice, and my need to seek advice. I am now meeting them on Thursday.

I was locked out of all systems by around 3pm, which I had to find out embarrassingly from one of my producers who told me he's been told to find someone else to put the work I was doing for him live. I had no access to any information by Saturday night, and my ONLY contact from anyone at Vodafone was an auto-generated email saying my employee status had been terminated. My email address was shut off by Sunday, and I did not have access to any of the previous discussions I had had about my employment up until that point and no way of getting any information I may have needed from my laptop.

I am being offered by Vodafone £860 statutory redundancy, one month's salary, as my contractual notice period, £100 confidentiality payment and another month's salary as redundancy. I find this unacceptable. Had Vodafone met their legal obligations I would now be looking at a payout for 8.5 year's service on a far higher salary which would mean a significantly higher payout. The difference also between being paid out for the 5.5 years in 2009 and being paid out for those years now would also be significant. The statutory redundancy payment is now higher than it was in 2009 (I believe it was £350 per year's service then and is £430 now?) and also I am now earning approx £36k rather than £26k in 2009. I believe that Vodafone should be made to make up for their failings, and the money they have cost me in acting illegally.

What I need to know, before I go to my meeting on Thursday is do I have a case to take them to tribunal, how much you believe that case would be worth

Ben Jones :

Unfortunately, it would be too late to take them to tribunal over the 2009 failings. If you were unhappy with their decision not to transfer you under TUPE at the time, then you had 3 months to make a complaint to the employment tribunal and seek compensation. You are way too late to be using this as a reason to claim now and a tribunal would no longer consider this in their deliberations.

What you can claim for now is the current redundancy and whether it was fair. I must say that there are some concerns about the procedure that has been followed because you appear to have gone from having a job to being made redundant awfully quick and without any consultation. So whilst the actual reason for redundancy may have been genuine, the subsequent procedure could have been unfair which could make the whole dismissal unfair.

In a redundancy situation, an employer has a duty to consult with the employees at risk, including offering them any suitable alternative employment that is available. Failure to consult could be a reason for unfair dismissal so it is a point you can challenge in the circumstances.

Please let me know if you need any further help with your query. If you do not, I would be grateful if you could please press Accept before exiting, many thanks.

Expert TypeSolicitor
Category: UK Employment Law
Pos. Feedback: 98.2 %
Accepts: 7229
Answered: 4/24/2012

Experience: Expert in UK Employment Law

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