the company I work for is being taken over on Monday by new US based owners. I am VP Finance in the UK and my role will be redundant. The reponsibilities I current;y have are being given to others from day 1. I have a 3 month notice period either side. They are telling me that they want me to work my notice before redundancy - I'm saying the extent of the changes means my contract is repudiated and therefore I don't have to work my notice and they need to compensate me for my notice period. Am I correct? Many thanks
Optional Information: Province/Country relating to question: UK Already Tried: This is my first attempt to get advice
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I joined as an employee (having previously been a consultant) in June 2010. I've been in this role since April 2011
Thank you.You do need to check your contract but normally you would be in breach of your contract (and subsequent payout) if you leave during your notice period.If you are required to have 3 months notice and they are giving you this notice, you need to work it in order to be fully paid.If you leave early then you would be in breach of that contract.I note you say you consider the contract has been repudiated - but this is not the case.Employees are made redundant all the time and they either have to work their notice or are given gardening leave.Ask your employer about this as if you find alternative work you may be released early.But based on what you have said, you do have to work the whole period to get paid for that period. Otherwise your employer could with hold money.I am sorry if this is not necessarily the answer you were looking for but based on your notice period, this is the legal position. Please remember to click *** SMILEY FACE *** or above so that I am credited for my time. Thank you. Important: If you feel the need to rate as one of the lower two scores, it counts as negative feedback so please reply to me via the REPLY with any further questions you may have. I will be happy to assist you further.
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I'm just following up with you to see how everything is going. Did my answer help?UK-Justice
Hello, It did help. I am now in a situation where they want to negotiate a handcuff payment to ensure that I am around post redundancy announcements and in a motvated state.There are more than 20 redundancies being announced tomorrow (July 3rd) which I understand leads to a longer consultation period. In any event the acquiring company are holding meetings on 3rd July with all staff with a view to issuing redundancy notices at the end of July.I am in a negotiation with them regarding what the handcuff might be worth, however one thing that I'm conscious of is that as my role effectively vanishes tomorrow (the new company will take over my department, my input to commercial decision making, my approval limits, my relationship with our bankers etc) the role I currently perform will vanish before the end of the consultancy period.So I'm asking them what they actually want me to do during the next 4 months. I am working at Director level and I am now worried that even if we don't get to a negotiated agreement on the handcuff payment that they will ask me to perform work that is not at that level. For instance there will be a lot of data conversion tasks required; this is in my skill set but something that I'd never do at my current level.I am also worried that if we do get an agreement the handcuff payment iwould be based on seeing out the 3 months - what's to stop them deciding after 10 weeks to put me on gardening leave and claim I don't get the payment?I should have mentioned that the acquiring company are US based and as such have a very different approach to employee relations.If you have any comments I'd be grateful to hear them, I'm not sure I've actually raised a follow up question!
If you get gardening leave you will be paid for that time.You could also claim constructive dismissal if the contract has broken down, Please remember to click *** SMILEY FACE *** or above so that I am credited for my time. The question does not close and you can ask follow ups. Important: If you feel the need to rate as one of the lower two scores, it counts as negative feedback so please reply to me via the REPLY with any further questions you may have. I will be happy to assist