This one is about a friend of a friend...
60 year old man has been working for a local charity for donkeys years as an employee.
Six months ago he asked to go part time and they accepted but insisted that he sign a new contract - everything else it the same.
When 6 months were up, they made him redundant but refused redundancy payments because he only had the job 6 months and also claim that he can be sacked without compensation save 1 weeks notice because he has worked for them under this contract for under 2 years.
This sounds totally unfair. I think he should talk to ACAS? Any other thoughts?
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No help to offer but my daughter has worked for two national childrens charities over the years and both had extremely dubious working practices and diabolical human relations. One in particular forced her out of a job, I don't recall the exact circumstances but I recall it was not at all her fault, but she was told if she didn't sign an NDA they would give her bad references. The process was really unpleasant, as was the work atmosphere.
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>>she didn't sign an NDA they would give her bad references.
That's got to be illegal?
There was an article in the press a couple of years back where an IT worker for a charity was made redundant.
He was then forced by the DWP to get work experience by - guess where - and he refused losing his benefit. He likened it to slave labour - effectively being forced to do his old job for "free".
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>>The process was really unpleasant, as was the work atmosphere.
I am so glad that your daughter has moved on and I hope she's happy where she is now.
I have learnt that life is too short to put up with that sort of carp. Financial circs can make moving difficult for some.
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Sounds right. A charity would have to justify why it would provide a payment to an employee that is more than they are legally or contractually entitled too.
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New contract terms apply, specially when it was issued at his request in effect.
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What does the new contract say about continuous service etc? If you move from one role to another or as here a change of hours I don't think in ordinary terms that's a break. Different if, as a number of my CA colleagues did in 2019, you take redundancy when a job role goes and then return when the employer gets another contract with a different organisation.
How big is the organisation and is the redundancy genuine in the sense they're downsizing and/or certain roles are no longer needed.
ACAS definitely. I guess he's not in a union.
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It's a local charity. No union.
Just looked at the Charity Commission's website, income last year was £362k but expenditure was £479k. It has total funds of £780k and £194k in the bank, but this is down from £900k / £300k last year, so is perhaps the reason for the hard nosed choices made.
It has 14 staff that cost £336k (before ni /pensions).
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My understanding is that as he’s being made redundant he is entitled to free legal advice. Fundamentally though this doesn’t pass the sniff test.
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>> My understanding is that as he’s being made redundant he is entitled to free legal
>> advice. Fundamentally though this doesn’t pass the sniff test.
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Who knows, I am relaying this 3rd hand as I was interested.
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>> Who knows, I am relaying this 3rd hand as I was interested.
You could read Fursty's post two ways...
(1) your chap's account doesn't pass the test
(2) the actions alleged against the charity don't pass the test.
Not sure that legal advice, presumably either funded by the employer or the public purse, is a right.
ACAS have loads of info. If you need advice CA or other charities have stuff to offer.
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Employment Law - Charity Playing Unfairly - smokie
