- August 4, 2023
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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Title: The Dilemma of Impending Job Loss: Seeking Guidance and Solution
Introduction:
In this distressing situation, where the prospect of losing not only a job but also jeopardizing a partner’s employment hangs overhead, the Human Resources department has been less than forthcoming with clear information. Unsure whether to quit, wait for possible redundancy, or fight for justice, navigating through this ordeal has become a formidable challenge. However, there may be a ray of hope amidst the chaosÔÇöthe AI Legalese Decoder, a technology designed to decipher complex legal jargon, could potentially assist in understanding your rights and exploring options.
The Chronology of Events:
In early June, my company abruptly terminated the work-from-home arrangement that had been in place. They allowed a two-month transition period, promising to look into individual cases. However, this promise remained unfulfilled, with only vague expectations of returning to the office communicated via mass emails for a September deadline. Interestingly, the studio updates made in May assured that hybrid work would be the future normÔÇöan assurance that now seems empty.
The Housing Conundrum:
Adding to the predicament, my partner and I signed a fresh tenancy agreement in June for a flat situated in the town we have resided in since my employment began three years ago. Unfortunately, my contract specifies that my workplace is the office, as I never anticipated the need for a remote work arrangement. Furthermore, commuting is unrealistic due to exorbitant expenses, with a two-hour train journey costing nearly £1,000 per month for both myself and my partner.
Resignation and Legal Ramifications:
Considering a voluntary resignation, I am concerned about the consequences if I am still required to work but unable to physically be present in the office. Is there a possibility of garden leave or legal actions taken against me? Currently, there are approximately 40 individuals facing the same plight, with some having already chosen to leave the company.
Health Impacts and Legal Counsel:
Undoubtedly, this turmoil has taken a toll on my mental health. I have been diagnosed with a general anxiety disorder, further exacerbated by the present circumstances, resulting in debilitating migraines. Seeking legal advice, I consulted a lawyer, who spoke of potential grounds for unfair dismissal. However, their uncertainty and an hourly rate of £250 left me questioning their confidence, prompting me to seek additional opinions.
Navigating an Uncertain Future:
The prospect of unemployment, coupled with the uncertainty regarding the notice period, is unsettling. The company’s size leads me to believe that they have accounted for all possible outcomes before making this announcement, making it increasingly challenging to expect a favorable resolution that doesn’t leave me at a significant disadvantage. Consequently, securing a new job may also prove challenging during this notice period.
AI Legalese Decoder: Seeking Hope in Complexity:
The AI Legalese Decoder offers potential assistance in unraveling the intricacies of legal terminology. With its ability to dissect complex language and decipher legal documents, this technology could prove invaluable in understanding your rights and examining potential recourse. Utilizing this tool could empower you to make more informed decisions and explore possible avenues for a fair outcome.
Conclusion:
Navigating the uncertainties surrounding impending job loss can be overwhelming, affecting both personal and professional aspects of life. While the HR department’s lack of clarity adds to the frustration, AI Legalese Decoder presents a promising solution in understanding the legal landscape, allowing for a better grasp of one’s rights and available options. With hope, guidance, and a proactive approach, you can navigate this challenging situation with greater confidence.
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Heading: AI Legalese Decoder: Unlocking the Complexity of Legal Language
Introduction:
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Conclusion:
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HR is not on your side here, they need to minimise liabilities to your employer. Sometimes this will align with your interests but do not count on it!
The cheapest thing for them is if you either suck it up and come to the office or just quit. They don’t want to make redundancies and have to pay people but they really don’t want to make a bad dismissal and then end up in employment tribunal.
– in any emails refer to the specific meetings (date, time, who made the promise) where hybrid was promised
– read up on their internal HR processes
– request homeworking as a reasonable adjustment due to your anxiety
– do not quit, you lose potential redundancy pay and it costs you nothing to stay on.
– if they offer a settlement to quit speak to a lawyer again before agreeing. You’d probably be taking less but you get it upfront and certainty
-if you happen to mention “I need to run this past my solicitor” it will help them understand they shouldn’t be playing you
– you can look for another job whilst still working and also whilst on notice period
What you are aiming for is either:
– you stay. They make a case-by-case decision for you or it’s a reasonable adjustment. There being a health reason here to make a reasonable adjustment will help them – they can argue you aren’t getting special treatment and it’s not unfair on others.
– you leave with a payment, either redundancy or a settlement. The more it looks like you will exhaust internal process and potentially legal process the longer and more costly an exercise it will seem to push you out so more worthwhile to pay you off.
ETA: if you really want to stay then whilst dragging out with HR you should be super keen with manager. If there is a boss-manager-HR three way discussion on getting rid of you what you want is manager to tell the boss they want to keep you and HR to say it’d be a pain in the ass to get rid of you.
Have you considered that your company may be using this to cull jobs instead of going down the redundancy route?
Either way, it may be time to look for a new job even if you want to stay.
You have already mentioned that people have left/are leaving. Unfortunately, the company is only likely to change its mind when they are struggling to replace these staff or they realise how much recruitment will cost them
Even then, theyÔÇÖll probably press ahead to save face. Realistically, your options are likely to be move nearer or find a new job.
I think people take notice periods too seriously. I would personally look for another job within the next few months and put your notice in now saying you’ll be leaving on the date they expect you to be in the office.
Unfortunately, your contract says the office is your place of work and thus is becoming more common with people who moved during covid when they started wfh.
Nal- but you could put in official flexible working requests I believe the bill has been passed that forces companies to respond within a two month period & it has been changed to them needing to prove why it wouldnÔÇÖt work instead of you needing to prove it would. You can find official template to use online.
Don’t just bail unless you have another job.
Do the formalities with HR to keep the job as long as possible and make firing super awkward. Explain the tenancy, offer to do hybrid and move closer when able to. Show you’ve taken all reasonable steps to meet their demands. They’ll be a bit more hesitant to just sack you if you’re being reasonable. And the longer you stall the more leave hopefully making them twitchy about losing more.
Ask manager if, should hr enforce office work, would they simply not enforce it. I’ve heard of this in other companies now being a thing. If you’ve no building ref system yous can blag it.
In the interim start applying for jobs. Milk the salary as long as possible. Hell, if possible start up the new place during notice period, milk the cash and leave / get fired. Cos fuck em, they’d clearly shaft you without a 2nd thought
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My company did the same and I work in HR so I pulled Flexible Working request. They not only denied it they settled me out because HR is a policy holder and must set an example. Well I found another job that is fully remote and enjoy my settlement.
You can always put FW request if you have caring responsibilities or have MH issues or if youÔÇÖre neurodiverse. The company will have to make reasonable adjustments such as WFH
Hi OP, sorry you’re going through a difficult time.
How long have you worked there? EDIT: Crap, I just re-read and it says 3 years. Well, this is good because you have good employment rights over 2+ years.
I would suggest writing a formal grievance to your employer stating your feelings about the matter. I would suggest writing something along the lines of “I have WFH since xx date to xx period, therefore despite my contract stating otherwise I believe this has now become an ***implied term*** of my contract” and back it up with issues such as cost issues around your travel (you could give evidence) and would find it hard to navigate around these changes.
Furthermore, the anxiety of sudden change of work or additional anxiety (Does your workplace know you have GAD? This would really back up your case) could be detrimental to your well-being and thus affecting your quality of work.
Follow a grievance process and stand up for what you believe is right for you. They may not do anything different, but ***AT LEAST*** there would be evidence of a paper trail of you discussing such matters and that you were willing to discuss it.
If you have proof of discussion of hybrid, present it as evidence.
If you feel like you need some time off work due to mental health, which is perfectly valid, this could also be mentioned in your grievance in relation to the changes. Your workplace has a duty of care for their employees, so they should make reasonable adjustments.
You don’t need a lawyer at this stage, just work through the internal company procedures and make sure it’s correct via company handbook/contract or bare minimum ACAS code of practice.
Another EDIT: Please note that once you’ve submitted a grievance, your employer has to act in a **reasonable time frame**. You need to keep track of dates etc in case you want to take this further for example, if you ended up claiming constructive dismissal because you couldn’t come to an agreement with your employer through the process, you have **3 months minus one day** from the grievance being brought up (last complaint). NAL, but correct me if I’m wrong.
My quick thoughts are… your contract is to work from the office, sorry, you probably don’t have a right to WFH. You planned your life around something which isn’t legally protected.
I haven’t checked the details of unfair dismissal to know whether this would be protected or not.
If you would prefer to leave this job than leave your flat and move to where the job is, then I wonder what happens if you just say to them “I can continue to work remotely but will not work from the office”. Then they would have to terminate you (what’s the notice period on that?). Though they would be firing you for breach of contract, hopefully at least going forward you can explain this was why they didn’t like it to future potential employers seeking references. Notice periods can also be negotiated — if you give your notice but then refuse to come to the office, the company might be happy to let you finish sooner.
From a HR perspective if you’re contract states it is in the office then, you may have to work in the office.
Youre best bet is to speak to your manager and come to an arrangement, IE, work remotely for 3 days of the week and the remainder 2 days, work in the office.
HR and your manager, if they were decent they should be accommodating to you and your needs, as well as you should be accommodating to your works needs.
A compromise should be made. If not, might be best looking for a new job.
You need a paper trail.
File a grievance in accordance with the process your employer has, outlining that you have signed a lease etc having taken your employer at their word that hybrid working was the future for the business, and give the names and approximate dates of all of these discussions that you’ve had.
Your next steps will then be determined by whether the company concedes that they did say one thing but have now decided another, or whether they choose to lie and deny that these discussions ever took place. If they go down the latter route it’s tribunal time and to prepare for this eventuality you should get as many statements as possible from co-workers attesting to the fact that actually, this person in a position of authority **did** say that the company was going to adopt hybrid work on or around this date.
NAL – ItÔÇÖs happening a lot from what IÔÇÖm seeing but. ThereÔÇÖs a few variables at play here. How far from the office are you? I assume it was WFH because of Covid? Did you start the role WFH? Did you move further away because of the WFH? I ask because theyÔÇÖll help or hinder you making your case for flexible working.
You could put in a ÔÇ£Flexible Working RequestÔÇØ your employer has to have really good reasons for not allowing it these days or theyÔÇÖre exposed quite heavily. Essentially they have to prove detriment to the business. IÔÇÖve seen a lot of these go through in the last couple of years.
Speak with ACAS theyÔÇÖll be able to advise you best and are free
IANAL but I did want to say that I noticed that your statement was that you might lose your partner. Upon a re-perusal, I think you mean your partner might also lose their job, but in case I was right, and since you have an anxiety disorder, may I suggest having a conversation with your partner, to simply reassure each other that you will make it through this setback.
I am probably breaking the rules, but I know that a good partner will be there for you, and I hope that you are there for your partner. Your jobs are to support each other. And may I suggest getting slightly divergent workplaces in the future, so this doesn’t happen again? 🙂
This is an issue, but in the long run, you will be fine!! Ok? Hugs!
Mods, I apologize, but I thought OP needed a bit of a pep talk.
Just want to address something I didn’t see mentioned. You said you just signed a new tenancy agreement like that’s the reason not to move and wanted to make you aware that you can usually get out of them pretty easily by finding a replacement, especially in this market. Just incase that’s something you wanted to consider
I’m in a similar position, my employer hasn’t started pressing me yet but it’s a 6 hour round trip with trains and buses and isn’t feasible.
If you haven’t already, put in a flexible working request and see how that goes (I applied in January and still haven’t heard anything back after multiple chases but ymmv).
Good luck, and as others have mentioned, they can’t make you come in for 3 months, they’ll either accept the WFH situation during your notice period or force you out, they won’t be taking legal action against you as the likelihood is that they want people to leave anyway; bastards.
IME you can usually negotiate a notice period down, once you have one foot out the door there is really no point forcing people to stay for the full 3 months.
I would start looking for a new job..
Have you always worked from home since 3years ago when you started? Just wondering if you applied for the job several hours away initially thinking you may have to commute or if when you applied/started, it was working from home/hybrid arrangement from the beginning?
Do you have home insurance? If so, you may have legal cover as part of that and some legal cover does offer policy holders legal advice for non house related issues so that might be worth looking into. Also unions/particular paid bank accounts may have a legal advice service.
Had this in our work.
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They aggressively told us they wanted everyone in 3 days a week with 4 weeks notice. Everyone in the business submitted a flexible working request with own personal reasons & committed to max 2 days in the office. This was supposed to be reviewed with HR & management on a case by case basis however due to the amount of requests it was never done other than a chat with 2 line managers to go over our forms.
Eventually management assigned each team a dedicated work from office day & this seems to keep everyone happy.
Your company may have a similar flexible working arrangement that can be discussed & it be worth looking into.
I’m only going to comment on the notice period part. Firstly 3 months is a very long notice period.
Secondly and most importantly, fuck the notice period. You are not legally obliged to fulfil this and what is your current employer going to do if you just stop turning up? They can’t force you to work. Therefore all they can do is terminate your employment… Who cares? You’re gone anyway.
If you start looking for a new job, get hired, and they want you to start next week. Personally in that situation I’d be starting a new job next week.
There is no loyalty in the jobs world, just do what works best for you.
There’s nothing stopping you from getting a new job whilst working for the dickheads or in a notice period. Make them make you redundant, depending on length of service they’ll have to pay you off, and you can spend the entire notice period sourcing a new role. If I were you however, I’d be dedicating all my time remaining with this company to finding a new one.
>In my contract it says my workplace is at the office since I never thought about getting an actual remote contract
This is the biggest thing. Working from home is not a legal entitlement in the UK *unless* you’re contract states that you are a home worker. By the letter of the law, the company aren’t doing anything illegal.
>we are unable to commute since it would take over 2 hours by trains and cost us (my partner works in the same company) nearly 1k to commute monthly.
If you tried to challenge it legally, I think the company would be well within their rights to make the argument that it’s not a case of you being unable to commute, but instead that you are unwilling to commute and that they did not make you move to a place that is so far away from your contracted place of work.
As for redundancy, I don’t think you’ll be in scope of redundancy as it does not appear that your employer is reducing their staff numbers, nor are they closing down your contracted place of work.
If you want to remain in the job, I think you have a couple of options:
1) Make a Flexible Working request.
2) Put forward a proposal to change your contract to a home worker contract.
You have already received some great advice about your rights to request flexible working and reasonable adjustments due to the GAD. However, given you have already been working from home for three years, this should now be considered accepted and common practice (custom & practice) and so an implied part of your terms and conditions. Under these circumstances, the Company must consult with you, and any other impacted employees, about this material change to your terms and conditions. If at the end of the consultation, you do not not come to agreement with the Company, then they can make your role redundant. But this would need to be for an economic, technical or operational reason which they would have to demonstrate otherwise this would be unfair dismissal.
Put a flexible working request in to become a contractual homeworker- they need to consider it fairly and give a robust business reason why you are required in office – depending on how that goes you could potentially make a claim at ET for failing to properly consider a flexible working request (given that you have proven you can do your role at home) I think payout can be up to 8 weeks wages
The employer could dismiss you for failing to turn up at the office as instructed. There is no way you will get gardening leave for this.
You could make a request for reasonable adjustments including remote working. Results will vary by employer.
That won’t help your partner though.
NAL
Is there a reason you are handing in your notice?
If I understand your post correctly you were hired while WFH was in effect and have done so for 3 years which means more than 1 year since it was not required to work in the office.
Your role has been modified and you have agreed, they are now trying to modify your role back without discussing it with you. I would be questioning whether this constitutes redundancy, while the original contract states place of work is the office this has been changed with your consent and they have paid for you in the new role, the contract was not updated but you have evidence of more than 36 months in this new paradigm of which more than 12 cannot be attributed to health and safety. I would also be talking to your company’s Occy health specialist and seeing if they would consider WFH a reasonable adjustment to generalised anxiety.
I would not be handing in my notice, I would be notifying the company that under the agreement made since your original contract you are a remote worker and you do not agree to their new terms to be an office based worker but that you will continue in your role from home as agreed. If they wish to negotiate this or terminate you that is their business and you can then make use of the above two positions to argue it was either reduncency or unfair dismissal.
1-Tell work about your diagnosis.
They canÔÇÖt be expected to make reasonable adjustments if they donÔÇÖt know about it.
2- do not quit, wait until they are ready to let you go they should make you redundant or unfair dismissal.
3- join a union
I have had a very similar situation with my work recently where I basically said if I am forced to work in the office then it will not be economical for me to commute so I will have to look elsewhere.
Just be polite about it, and any reasonable manager will find a way to make an exception as opposed to seeing you leave which is exactly what happened to me.
If they do try to force you just look for an alternative employment whilst still working from home, they almost definitely won’t fire you within your notice period if you are still completing your work to an acceptable level.
NAL
You mention GAD – have you made a formal flexible working request taking that into account?
Once you put in your notice I doubt they will force you to come in as the effort relative to the reward is not there. It’s expensive for HR and a manager to go around in circles with you. The sooner you get in front of this the better as the fewer weeks you have left when it comes to September is obviously worth less of a fight. Depending on whether they care or general resourcing they might agree to an early exit or termination but again you need to get into those conversations asap as they will get more difficult the closer you get to deadline.
Unfortunately the killer is your contractual location so I doubt you would get far with anything legal even with a potential disability. The response to a disability would be adjustments through an OH presumably and it’s unlikely the OH would say WFH 5 days a week (you might get a couple days if you could spin that with a doctor/psychiatrist report).
I would say keep pushing for an exception. Go to the office to talk with HR and your manager.
At this point and if you don’t have a plan B and need this job, spend the extra ┬ú for commuting and start looking for another job. That’s what I would do.
Isn’t there some legilsation just gont through the house of lords to make wfh a legal right?
Compete a statuary flexible working agreement ASAP. Outline exactly how our will impact you and the challenges you face, including with your anxiety. They can decline it, but it will help if your case. If they do decline it, or in a formal grievance and outline or had not been handled in the most constructive manner. This will help should you need to agree a settlement package.
If you have gone insurance with legal cover, cask them. They can guide you and may take on a case of constructive dismissal with a view to agreeing a settlement package.
Good luck.
Is there any way you can negotiate going in once or twice a week instead of every day? How much have you spoken to them about this? You said they are willing to take it on a case by case basis, have you plead your case?
You mentioned that the company said they were willing to look into individual cases. Have you put in a formal request for flexible working? Here’s the government advice page, give it a good read, there’s also a template/form you can fill in and send to your employer:
https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working
Other people have also mentioned the “reasonable adjustments” request for your anxiety. There’s more information on that here:
https://www.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments-for-disabled-workers
Even if it is in your contract that you worked in the office you could argue that it became custom and practice that you didn’t work in the office and that it became an implied term of your employment contract that you worked from home .
https://www.davidsonmorris.com/custom-and-practice/
As such by causing a return to the office your employer is breaching that custom and practice meaning you would not be required to work your notice as the employer has defacto breached the employment contract.
IANAL but I spoke with my HR about a similar thing. Her response was: A contract says office based, but precedence is that the job is done from home and that carries weight.
I assume the job can be done from home as you have been up until now. If so, I would suggest handing in your notice and working your full notice from home. Just let them know that is what you’ll be doing, but not until you’ve handed in your notice.