5 replies to this topic

[scaffers]

hi all

im having a discussion with a friend on a decision to close a section where he works.

he or i are not making the decision to close this section, just to make this clear.

the story so far

my friend works for a company where 1 section has lost £15k in a year. the board are deciding to close that section, the board has already approached all the staff and informed them of the losses and that it cant carry on. questions were asked on how to make things work, put some profit back and keep going etc. that was 6 week ago, now the losses are huge, gone up 80% in the last month. the staff know its only a matter of time before it closes.

the decision to close this section is being made soon, all the staff will be made redundant {not my friend, he may need to instigate the closure}, the thing is between now and the closure my friend knows the losses will go high again, they cant pin point where the stock has gone, if its been stolen, given away or sold as normal but the money not declared. Also as this section always ordered its own stock its going to be a free for all if someone says "we are closing in 2 weeks" my question is can they prep up all the money owed to the staff in wages, overtime and redundency in a cheque, call a meeting, pay them off and close it the same day and be legal in doing so.


thanks



scaff

[MaxAndPaddy]

Depends on the number of redundancies as this dictates the minimum period of consultation. It certainly increases the risk of losing at an Industrial Tribunal, although depending on the stock value, you may cynically take the view its cheaper to payout for unfair dismissal than to let stock walk out of the door.

Staff lock outs are not as common these days but not unheard of.

[scaffers]

3 redundencies

[MaxAndPaddy]

No minimum period but if you don't run everything by the book then you can still find yourself in tribunal, certainly worth considering paying more than the statutory minimum if following this approach

[scaffers]

ok

ill pass it on

thanks




scaff

[Old Bob]

Perhaps not entirely relevant to the original question but if only three people are involved and the stock losses are so big - and on the increase - then it suggests a total failure of management supervision. Someone has to be responsible and redundancy seems a pretty fair reward for incompetence (or worse).

Bob