Our business has recently taken responsibility for another site- it is part of the same group so TUPE does not apply. There is a small admin team- two of whom are married. This situation has been in place for over a year and has never been questioned before, nor is there a policy for couples working together. Recently these 2 had a holiday together, leaving the team severely depleted, and the site manager was not happy about it.
The stance he has taken is that the situation is not tenable and one of them has to go. In fact, he has said as much to them, and they are understandably upset.
Whilst I can see his point about both staff off at the same time, I cannot see how this is a fair reason to push for one of them to leave. Both have performed well., and neither has a black mark on their record.
We are facing a potential redundancy situation in the near future, but in a selection process neither would come out at the bottom of the list, , but the manager has indicated that one of them should volunteer.
This may seem on the face of it to be black and white, and that the manager is being unfair, but I do need to help find a resolution to this that suits everyone. Any thoughts?