Can You Request Redundancy?

tempnam

The company I work for is in a fair bit of trouble, and it's looking like it might go to the wall in a few months time.

My question is: if I apply for other positions and get another offer, can I ask to be made redundant as opposed to just leaving?

I have a feeling it's bound to happen sooner or later so I'd like to sort out something now if I can... I'd also hate to leave only to find out I missed out on a few grand that I could really use!

Thanks.

tatli_lokma

If you leave to take up another offer then you have not been made redundant. You can of course volunteer that if redundancies are necessary you will be happy to accept a reasonable offer, but until redundancy has been served you should not accept another position as doing so will negate your redundancy entitlement. If a company is in trouble, you can understand why they are not going to pay you redundancy when you have chosen to leave because you have another position already in place. That is not redundancy, that is leaving for another job of your own accord and it would be pretty cheeky to even ask.

If you think this is where things are headed, make the offer, see what response you get and if you are offered redundancy and it is formally served, then start looking elsewhere and if you get it there will be no conflict with you taking the position and also getting your redundancy.

When I was made redundant two years ago, my solicitor made it very very clear to me that if I did apply for roles in the initial stages of redundancy (i.e when I was 'put at risk' but not yet officially notified that I was definitely being offered redundancy) then accepting a role prior to the official notice would negate my redundancy. In addition, even jobs I applied for prior to the official notice but didn't get offered until after could cause problems if my employer found out as it would be seen as me leaving voluntarily rather than being made redundant. For that reason I was advised not to apply for roles until official notice was served. A colleague who was, like you, planning for the inevitable and secured a job while she was only 'at risk' forfeited her redundancy entitlement and had to hand in her notice instead.

The way to look at it is - you either secure a new job, don't get redundancy and be glad that you walked from one job into another without a period of unemployment. Or you accept redundancy and only then look for another job and use your redundancy to hopefully help you manage while you look for alternative employment. You can't really expect to have it both ways though.

tempnam

The employer probably wouldn't pay anything, it would be statutory redundancy.

So you're saying that if people are told they are at risk of redundancy they shouldn't go and look for other work? That's probably one of the first things most people would do!

There's nothing wrong with being prepared and having other options though.

I understand what you're saying about accepting a job offer before officially being made redundant - but if you get an offer, request redundancy, and are made redundant; then you can accept the offer....

tatli_lokma

You need to be very careful how you play this because it could all backfire - being at risk of redundancy and being actually made redundant are two different things.

And statutory redundancy does in fact cost your employer - until 2012 employers received 60% of redundancy payments rebated back, since 2012 it was reduced to 15% if the redundancy took place during 2012. This has now been totally abolished. So if for example you have 2 years worth of service from 2011-2012 and were entitled to the maximum of €600 per week allowance, you would get €3000 redundancy, of which your employer would cover €2550 as they would only get €450 (15%). If you are made redundant in 2013 your employer will get nothing rebated to them. If you haven't worked for at least 2 years you wouldn't get any payment anyway.

Eoin

And as you make a position (as opposed to a person) redundant, then it means that it's a bit trickier for them to re-hire if they want to. They need to change the job title, job description etc - might not be a big deal - it depends from company to company.

Corkbah

tempnam wrote: »

The employer probably wouldn't pay anything, it would be statutory redundancy.

So you're saying that if people are told they are at risk of redundancy they shouldn't go and look for other work? That's probably one of the first things most people would do!

There's nothing wrong with being prepared and having other options though.

I understand what you're saying about accepting a job offer before officially being made redundant - but if you get an offer, request redundancy, and are made redundant; then you can accept the offer....

please read the above message that was made RE: a solicitors advice about seeking work BEFORE any offer of redundancy is made by the company.