On 8th April 2008 our employer sent 3 out of 4 of us in a regional office a letter setting out that we are at risk of redundancy and our office will be closing and that under a union agreement although <20 of us are being made redundant they are following the collective bargaining proceedure and we have a 30 day consultation period.

We have not seen one senior manager or immediate line manager who is based in our office between 7th & 29th Apr 2008.

We had our first meeting on 29th with our branch rep and me as nominated by my colleagues. We asked when our consultation period started and the reply was 72 hours after the letters were sent, but they dont know when we recieved them, which were all on different dates. We did have a meeting with our union rep a week before the 29 April to discuss what we were going to cover in the consultation meeting with management. I believe our consultation period started on 29th can you confirm.

Our letters were signed by our line manager but written by the CEO.

They are also trying to force us onto Gardening Leave which again I believe they cant do as it is not in my contract. They also wish to remove our mobile phones etc which also form part of our contract. They have left us alone for a month nearly already so why invoke this on us now. They have also agreed that these letters were to say that this was a consultation period which may lead to being given notice under redundancy terms.
Can they invoke Gardening Leave even though we have not been given notice of redundancy we are just ‘consulting’ in their terms.

If by invoking this action can it be deemed that they have by default given us notice and terminated our contracts?

It was the CEO who told a union rep to tell us to go on gardening leave and I said no, we dont go until we get it in writing. The CEO then apparently told them that the letter would have to come from our line manager. Again, it is his decision and he has i believe acted out of protocol and therefore as he has acted by saying this out only line of appeal is our chairman. Is this correct?

Also, the reason if it were a redundancy would be closure of the regional office but the Snr Manager who is also based there is not affected. Again under selection criteria would this not be deemed to promote unfair redundancy selection. Also, he is the only non-female!

Sorry it’s long but am desperate for some advice.

Kaz

Karen Taylor