Hello and thank you for your question, which I will be happy to assist you with. Please let me know how long have you worked there for?

ok thanks and how significant are the differences between the two jobs?

ok let me get my advice ready please

As your job no longer exists this is really a redundancy situation. When a redundancy situation arises, an employer has a duty to search for and offer the affected employees suitable alternative employment (“SAE”) in order to avoid having to make them redundant. This could be a job within the same company or any associated companies.

If an employee accepts the offer of SAE, then they will be treated as not having been dismissed, their employment will continue in the new position and they would lose their entitlement to a redundancy payment.

If they refuse the offer of SAE, they would only lose their entitlement to redundancy pay if it is deemed that the offer was suitable for them and their refusal was unreasonable. However, if the offer was unsuitable and the refusal was reasonable, they would keep their entitlement to redundancy pay and could still opt for redundancy.

The factors that would make an offer unsuitable or a refusal reasonable are as follows:

• Job content and status – e.g. drop in status or level, substantial differences in duties, including loss of or addition to job content;
• Pay and other benefits – e.g. significant drop in earnings, including basic pay, bonuses, overtime, sick pay, holiday entitlement, etc.;
• Working hours – e.g. change in shift pattern, removal of overtime, extension/reduction of working hours;
• Change of workplace – e.g. if a place of work changes and the employee’s personal circumstances make it unreasonable for them to travel to their new place of work. This is on the assumption that there is no mobility clause in their contract;
• Job prospects – e.g. going from permanent to temporary work, changing to being self-employed or being employed on a fixed-term contract.

If the employer offers alternative employment the employee has the right to a 4-week trial period in that job, which can be extended by mutual consent. If during or after the trial period they decide against taking the job then they should tell their employer. This will not affect their employment rights, including their right to statutory redundancy pay.

So as you can see there are a number of factors that would make an alternative offer unsuitable, in which case it can be rejected and a claim made for redundancy pay instead. It is of course up to the individual employee to consider whether they wish to accept the offer or reject it but the above are the basic principles taken into account in such situations.

So there is an argument that the job you have been offered does not amount to SAE and as such you can consider rejecting it and asking for redundancy instead.