Redundancy Date

I was given written notice on 18 January that my job would become redundant as of today, 29 January. At that time I was invited to apply for either or both of two new jobs in the company. I applied for one and was interviewed for that job on Tuesday (so was a colleague whose job is also redundant as of today). On Wednesday the CEO said that they could not decide between the two of us, but pending further information being supplied about us from our line managers, a decision would be made on 10th February. The CEO did not say that the redundancy date of my current position had changed, nor did he ask me if I was OK with the date being extended. He has been away from the office ever since and we have no internal HR department to contact about this.
My question is really are they now obliged to pay me my redundancy settlement, because they have not offered me a job before my present position has become redundant?
Thanks for any feedback on this.

Are you no longer interested in the new job, and would now prefer to take redundancy?

The new job - was it entirely optional whether you should apply, and was it clear that if you didn't want to, you'd still be entitled to redundancy?

The reason I ask is because if an employee whose position is redundant refuses an offer of another suitable position from their employer, they risk forfeiting their right to redundancy. It is your employer's obligation to find suitable alternative employment for individuals being made redundant, but equally, unless individuals are specifically told that alternatives are an option only, they have the obligation to accept suitable alternatives offered them.

If your employer confirmed that you were definitely redundant anyway, but said 'there is this position you could apply for if you are interested' - in other words it was entirely up to you - then you could write and withdraw your application and state that you wish to take redundancy.

But in a situation where you have been told a decision will be made very shortly and actually given a date (therefore can't claim ignorance), if your employer offers you this job, you wouldn't be within your rights to refuse it and claim redundancy. it would only be 10 days or so between your original termination date and the date of the new employment, I imagine they would pay you for the time in between anyway, and would certainly ensure you had continuous service.

The technicality that the original date of termination has passed is just that really - as you are aware that you are in the process of applying for an alternative post, and have been given a date for a decision, it's not reasonable for you to assume your employment is ended and claim redundancy on that basis. If you had no idea when or if a decision would be made, or 10 Feb passes without anything happening, that's different, but it's such a short gap and there's definite information available. Yes technically you should have specifically had a letter saying that a decision will be made in a week or two, therefore your redundancy is on hold temporarily until that has happened, but it's not a major oversight given you did have the information about the delay anecdotally.

On the other hand, if you've changed your mind, as it sounds, and no longer wish to take another job if it's offered, you can certainly write to that effect, and as there are two candidates up for the job and it seems to be a difficult decision, I'm sure they'd be willing to go ahead with your redundancy. So it is not likely to be a problem in any case.

Many thanks for your answer, Eleanor. It was very helpful to know where I stood at that time. Things have now moved on.

On February 10th, both I and the colleague who applied for the new job were told that neither of us had been successful and that the work outlined in the job description we had been given was going to be outsourced to an external company. Therefore, our positions were both made redundant on February 12th.

I am appealing against the decision for the reason above and other reasons which I haven't gone into here. My questions now are:
i) I am entitled to have a colleague accompany me at the appeal meeting. Does this only mean a colleague who is still working at the company or can it be a colleague who has also recently been made redundant from that company?
ii) Who is entitled to accompany the employer at my appeal meeting?
(to date, re: the redundancy, the CEO has been the one writing the letters and conducting meetings, sometimes with the MD in attendance and "chipping in" also).
Are they allowed to have whoever they want to attend (including e.g. their outsourced HR adviser, any manager/s, director/s etc?)

Once again, thanks.
Jane

In answer to your specific questions

1. In terms of who you can bring it would normally be a current colleague. If it's a colleague who left a while ago, then I wouldn't expect them to allow it. If it's your colleague who has been made redundant at the same time as you, as you have both been technically dismissed (even though you at least are appealing), he/she isn't technically your colleague any more. I don't think it would be especially reasonable of your employer not to allow it for that reason though. If you are both appealing especially there is at least a theoretical chance that you may both be reinstated and your employment backdated to be continuous.

They may ask you to identify someone still working at the company, but if there isn't anyone you feel you could ask, or who is willing to accompany you, I think you can push to have your colleague also being made redundant with you.

2. It's their meeting and they can basically have whoever they want really. External HR advisors and/or other managers/directors all sound reasonable to me.