Redundancy Woes

One of the most common and ultimately devastating aspects of a recession and subsequent slow recovery period is unemployment.  Losing your job can be really difficult more so if you have debts and mortgages to deal with.

 Even though the recession is finally over, the threat of people losing their jobs still looms. First and foremost, you must know your rights. Here are some points that you should keep in mind regarding redundancy.

• If you have a written contract, you should read through it carefully to see if it includes compensation.
• If there are between 20 and 99 employees who risk losing their jobs, you and/or your employee representatives should be given at least 30 days’ notice; if there are 100 or more jobs at risk, the notice period should be 90 days.
• Before dismissal, your employers should try to find you an alternative position within the organisation.
• Regardless of the period you have been with an organisation, you are entitled to some notice pay. Then again, if you have been with an organisation for two years or longer, you are entitled for redundancy pay. You are also entitled to a written statement specifying how the amount was calculated.
• As already mentioned, employers need to follow a proper procedure before issuing a dismissal notice to employees. For example, they may choose based on scores, which are usually calculated based on performance, qualifications, appraisals, attendance records etc. As an employee, you should know how the score is calculated.

I do hope you have found the above points useful and if you do feel worried about your financial commitments in these uncertain times, my advice is not to put it off or ignore it – confront it.  Debt help and debt advice is freely available to you from ClearStart Debt Solutions.

Nigel