Quote Originally Posted by South-east boy View Post
I had a bit of a shock last Monday when this director came to the showroom and told myself & another staff member that they were closing the showroom with immediate effect and our jobs were at risk of redundancy. He said that they would see if they was anything that they could do to avoid the risk of redundancy and if we could think of any possible solutions. He said from today until the end of the month we would be on 'garden leave'. On Thursday I received a letter saying we had to go up to London this coming Tuesday to discuss the situation and process etc.

Now I have worked for this company which has several branches for 18 1/2 years, but during all that time it has been owned by different companies but the company name has always stayed the same as it's a brand name and well known as being one of the best.

3 1/2 years ago the current owners of the company ran into money problems and it went into administration before a new company bought us and I carried on doing the same job at the same showroom with the same products and brand name. Now I can't remember if we had to sign a new contract or not-if I did, I don't have a copy of it at home, but it could be at work, but as we didn't have much time to sort things out before handing our keys in and leaving, I didn't have time to sort my stuff at work/draws out. For the next year or two after we were bought by the new company, the payslips had the brand name on with the employer name being the new company owners name, then changed to just having the new companies name on.

Now what I'm worried about is that if I am being made redundant, can the new owner company get away with just paying out only 3 years statutory redundancy and 3 weeks notice, instead of 18 years statutory redundancy and 12 weeks notice (which you are due after working for over 12 years)?

On the company website, it has an article with some long-serving employees who had completed 25 years service with the company (brand name) receiving certificates etc from the CEO of the parent company (the new owner company).

Thanks for any help!
I was made redundant a couple of years ago. I looked into things quite a lot as you might imagine. Though I have forgotten a bit of it now.

As a starting point try calling ACAS as they are quite helpful and relatively easy to get hold of. And look at their website.

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1461

I would say, no they cant disregard your earlier years as long as you can prove that you have been in their employ for that length of time. They may try but the bottom line is that at a tribunal it would be shown that they were being fraudulent. They cant slide out of their obligations by changing their name.

18 years continuous service is exactly that.

My previous employer changed their name many times over 30 years. They didn't dare try that one.

I was at one point going to use a solicitor with my case, but I was paid off quite handsomely which was enough to keep me quiet.