Sick of not having rights without strings

TheminxIRL

Long story short, have a grievance with work since last August which two separate solicitors have agreed I can do them for bullying on various counts plus causing me to lose over 4000 euro in Family Income support and lost holidays by screwing me around.

Fast forward to Jan and its announced myself and more than 40 others have been picked for redundancy due to restructure of the company (no surprise)

Company are offering stat redundancy plus 2.5 weeks which after double figures service means a nice sum to tide me over until I get a new job.

So then they announce there will be a waiver to be signed which is common but if I proceed with my legal action against them then I will not get 4.5 weeks they will only give me two stat weeks.

I am livid, they have admitted in a mail to me that they were in the wrong, the solicitors have said they did not deal with my grievance in the correct manner and swept my issues under the carpet, more than likely because they knew redundancy was on the cards for me and only went through the motions to humour me at the time.

I feel like all my rights have been taken away from me, yes I can risk losing over 25K and go to court but with no guarantee I will win and end up worse off or throw caution to the wind and go ahead and once and for all wipe the smile of their face as they are the biggest bunch of cowboys who get away with murder due to no union etc.

Im finding it hard to swallow, its like I have no rights at all and apparently the law is on their side that they can legally ask me to sign this waiver or take away the money.

Has anyone else been in the prediciment and how did you get over the "walking all over me feeling" and do people think I should just take the money and run?

Thanks for reading

booboo88

So which would you rather, security or get your own back?????

AckwelFoley

booboo88 wrote: »

So which would you rather, security or get your own back?????

picking revenge over security would be foolhardy

LegacyUser

TheminxIRL wrote: »

So then they announce there will be a waiver to be signed

I feel like all my rights have been taken away from me,

its like I have no rights at all and apparently the law is on their side that they can legally ask me to sign this waiver or take away the money.

Have you actually made your current solicitor aware of this? I'd be open to correction, but I'm pretty sure they can't do it. Have you actually made sure this is something the company can do, or are you just taking their word for it?

TheminxIRL

Its no so much revenge but principle, they have admitted they owe me over 6000 euro in total, that could be the difference in having money to live on if I dont get a job and keep a roof over my kids heads.

Im a single parent and every penny is worth gold to me.

Course Id rather security but dont you see the point im trying to make its a horrible feeling that they have just allowed me get my hopes up for months that they will come good only for them basically to tell me tough s*it?

HugoDrax

TheminxIRL wrote: »

Its no so much revenge but principle, they have admitted they owe me over 6000 euro in total, that could be the difference in having money to live on if I dont get a job and keep a roof over my kids heads.

Im a single parent and every penny is worth gold to me.

Course Id rather security but dont you see the point im trying to make its a horrible feeling that they have just allowed me get my hopes up for months that they will come good only for them basically to tell me tough s*it?

You can't win every battle.
Cut your losses take the money and be shut with them for good.
You don't need this hassle in your life.
If you won they wouldn't learn their lesson because they don't have principles.
You wouldn't convince anybody and only give yourself more worry and grief and be worse off at the end.

Think of it this way - you have your dignity and principles no matter what and they are scum no matter what.

They lose and you win. See?

cafecolour

So they have admitted they owe you 6000?

How much is the extra 2.5 weeks? Can you negotiate with them and get some amount in between?

Have you talked to a solicitor about this?

Sleepy

Talk to your solicitor about this but remember, "have you ever been involved in a legal dispute with a previous employer" is a fairly standard question on job application forms...

Probably best to just get it done with.

Deepwell

As Sleepy suggested - discuss this with your solicitor. I'm not sure that they can legally differentiate your severance terms with other staff if you have a valid claim against them. However it may result in you receiving the minimum severance and then having to claim for the outstanding payments and severance later at a tribuneral. The downside for you is having to wait until it comes to ahearing with the risk you may not win (there is always a risk...). The downside for the company is the expense of preparing a defense and the risk that a punitive award could also be made that would outweigh the original sums involved. Asking you to sign the waiver is worth a punt from their perspective but I would imagine they are also expecting you to push back through your solicitor.

Beruthiel

25k and the chance to put it all behind you and move on with your life OR spend years stressing over the on going court case with large expenses at the end of it.

I know which one I would choose.

jimmycrackcorm

Is everyone else getting 4.5 weeks?
You can't be treated differently so it depends on whether or not you can make more money by taking a case or going with the total redundancy.

fungun

lose the battle to win the war id say.

id say you will end up with more money and peace of mind if you just take the redundancy.

sodaev

the company is banking on you to sign the waiver in order to accept the redundancy offer and thereby forego any chance at redress you may have in relation to the other payment.

typical dirty tricks that rely on the type of advice you'll be given. i.e. not worth the hassle, for your own peace of mind etc.

sign nothing without having run it by your solicitor first. Assume you were planning on going thru the emplyment appeals tribunal. I'd stick with it personally. Sign nothing and don't agree to anything without having first consulted with your solicitor.

Companies get away with these bully boy tactics because 90% of the time people think it's not worth the hassle.

TheminxIRL

Thanks for the replies folks.

Yes they have admitted they owe me the money, I have an email from them following the grievance I raised and they state I should not have been at a loss of the money.

My solicitor currently has the waiver to read so Im just curious as to what he says.

We are all getting the same rate of redundancy across the board.

To be honest at this stage Im mentally prepared to just let it go, I know im blessed to be receiving a large sum of money which will tide me over for some time when others arent so lucky.

dilallio

Can you clarify something?

Have the company stated that they will not make you redundant if you refuse to sign the waiver, or that they will still make you redundant but only give you statuatory redundancy?

The reason I'm asking this is that it would be very unfair for them to offer different redundancy terms to you, compared to other people in the company.
But if they were bad-minded, they could split the redundancy into 2 phases with the first phase getting the extra 2.5 weeks, and the 2nd group (who didn't sign the waiver) getting just the statuatory payment.

Have you anything in writing or email from them that they agree that they owe you the money? Unfortunately, a verbal agreement from a manager isn't worth much, as they can deny they ever said it. If this is the case, you would be better off taking the money.

Remember also when dealing with your solicitor, that he/she tells you the likely outcome if you persue the case, how long it takes, how much it could cost you if you lose, and what previous experience they have in dealing with similar cases - i.e. if it went to court or was settled. A close friend who bought a similar case was advised by her solicitor all along that it was a straighforward case and she would win, but he then told her 3 days before the court case that there were 'issues' with her case and she should try and settle. After legal fees, she wasn't much better off.

Just my opinion, but you are probably better off taking the money now, with the knowledge that you can move on with your life, not having to deal with further legal issues where the outcome & cost is up in the air.

Best of luck with your decision!