Advice on Consultation. Redundancy from Wolseley without any consultation period.

Hi,
I am employed by Wolseley UK and am on secondment (Area Manager) to another Group company, having recently been told that I am 'AT RISK' of redundancy!
On 4th November I was invited to an Area Meeting, expecting to discuss the performance of the Region along with other Area Managers.
On arrival, the meeting room was prepared for the meeting to start (9.00am) but with a couple of late arrivals.
The Regional Director was hovering about outside and in an adjoining office whilst we waited for a late arrival whom was stuck in traffic.
At @9.30am, the Regional Director asked one of the Area Managers out of the meeting room.
The same Area Manager returned @30minutes later holding a brown envelope and greeted us by saying "goodbye, nice working with you all".
A little after this, the Regional Director returned and after a minute or so, he asked me to follow him.
I entered the adjoining office with him and he started by stating the financial position of the company with a restructuring/cost cutting exercise to take place.
I asked him to stop and referred to another colleague sitting to one side in the room, to which he replied "sorry, he is taking the minutes".
He explained that I had been selected by a points system and was one of three with the lowest scores and would be selected for redundancy!
This would in effect be 3 out of 9 Area Managers.
Some paperwork was given to me eg Announcement letter, Scoring criteria (blank) and a FAQ about redundancies.
He stated that he did not want me to return to work, as my heart would not be in it and that it would be embarrassing for me!
The minutes were prepared and signed, whilst he asked me if I wanted to return to the meeting room to gather my things or should he?
He arranged for my email access and phone to be diverted, which cancelled ALL communication methods.
The next time that I have heard from him, was a letter received on 21st November asking me to contact him as ALL communication should be 'maintained'!?
Unfortunately, due to illness today. I cannoy meet with him although it was not a planned time as he would call me when he was near!
I have also heard recently, that Sales people and Auditors have to re-apply for their roles, with no offer made to me!!
My questions:
Has the consultation period been correctly followed?
Has the selection process been fair? (Other Area Managers still in place, with the 3rd redeployed as Branch Manager on 1st November!)
Should I be on a 30 day or 90 day consultation? (Wolseley UK announcement)
Could you confirm the meaning of 'ESTABLISHMENT'?
I have been in contact with HR and they advised me to write in with my grievances, although CAB have advised me not to. Can you confirm the correct procedures and will it extend my consultation period?
Also, will my recent illness affect the consultation process or will it still be completed on 3rd December?
I hope the above is not too exhaustive and look forward to your advice and comments.
Kind Regards,
Disgruntled Wolseley UK employee.......

Dear disgruntled Wolseley employee

I am sorry to hear about your situation.

As I understand it they invited you to attend an area meeting but failed to invite you to a redundancy consultation meeting, is this what you are saying?

You will need to review your Company's handbook or redundancy policy to see if they are following their own procedures. If not, they have to follow the statutory redundancy procedure. You can review all about redundancy and consultation on the BERR website

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/index.html

When selecting from a pool you have to inform people what the criteria are and also show you how you were selected. You have the right to a copy of this selection (not a blank one) and also the right to appeal against the scores and assessment comments. This should be discussed during the consultation period.

Why did you accept the file notes, you should have asked for a copy to take away and read..if you have a copy, are you still happy with their content in that they reflect a true and accurate record of the meeting?

Have you been given the opportunity for further consultation as it is not clear from what you say, although you mention 3 December?

If there are only 3 people being made redundant there is no requirement to give 30 days notice, only what is reasonable to ensure fair, full and meaningful consultation before the redundancy is confirmed.

However, from their actions it seems that they have predetermined the outcome without consultation?

My advice is to ask for consultation in line with the right procedure and bring up all your concerns about your selection in the meetings.

If you are too ill to consult, then you should let them know when you believe will be available to consult and both he and you should make yourselves available when it is convenient, this should be within 5 working days from the notification of the meeting. The consultation process cannot be ended until all consultation has been exhausted and it seems to me that you have plenty to raise.

With regards to your email and phone, this is pretty standard during such a procedure.

The best thing is to review all your documentation and ensure it follows the procedure and the requirements set out on the BERR website or you can ring Acas or visit their website.

It is very hard to give specific advice without seeing contractual documents and policies and notifications to you.

Hope this has helped.

Hi Nelly,
I hope Carols advice will help you take them to task over this. I too was a seconded member of staff working as an auditor within the group company. We were scored but the job was changed to a compliance auditor. I asked to see sa copy of my scores and was told that as the job had changed there was no point and that they would be destroyed. I am aware that situations change but iniutially we were told there was to be just one redundancy in the department. Then we were told there would be four but the compliance auditors would be working natiuonwide. This was finally changed to working in the head office. This meant that three of the auditors could not apply as travel to the head office from Scotland, Kent and Derbyshire daily was out of the question. No offers for any employment were made for other areas of the company to them as far as I am aware.
This whole situation has been handled absolutely abysmally by the group company. I dont believe they have followed procedures correctly, but, they are working on a "they cant afford to take us to court" type whim and feel they will get away with it. Sadly I feel they will get away with it.
Good luck in your search for employment.
Cheers
Dumped

Hi.
I was also employed by Wolseley, until 31st December 2008, employed as a driver for one of the Build CEnter branches. On 18th Nov I was told to return to the depot a.s.a.p. When I returned and drove into the yard with my vehicle the gates were shut behind me and locked and a note placed on the front stating the business ceased trading at 9.30am that morning.

Me and the other guys I worked with were then left to wander around the yard, store and offices waiting to be told what was happening. We were each called in one by one and told that we were being sent home as we were 'AT RISK' of redundancy. We were told that we would be asked to return to the yard 2 weeks later to dicuss what was going on. None of us heard anything until late December when we each received a letter stating that we needed to attend a meeting to discuss things. There had been NO communication from 18th Nov until end December any in form from anyone.

We all attended and obviously were told that we were being made redundant. There was another person sitting in on the meeting, I didnt know who either of the people conducting the meeting were. However, the second person did not take any minutes of our discussion. I was just told that as of 31st December 2008 I was redundant and my employment with Wolseley would cease. I was also told the there was 2300 members of staff being made redundant by the company.

When I received my letter of confirmation, I was not happy with its content. My partner has been made redundant 3 times and she mentioned that she felt that Wolseley were not following the required procedures for the redundacny process. We took advice from ACAS and she is also lucky enough to work for a company that provide their employees with a legal representation service. She telephoned this service and spoke to a Solicitor who informed her that Wolsley were behaving illegally. As more than 100 employess are being made redundant throughout the company they legally have to give a 90 day consultancy/notice period which is paid. For us this would mean that our employment would be paid until 18th Feb 2009 and not 31st december 2008. Meaning we are missing about 6 weeks of payment. The solicitor also stated that failure to follow this procedure would leave the company open to employment tribunal as it would mean that we have a case for Unfair Dismissal.

I was advised to write a letter to the company expressing my concerns. I did this, but all I received was a letter which was designed to confuse. They stated that the company is complex and made up of establishments!!! Stating that as less than 20 people work at my branch they dont have to give a 90 day consultation/notice period.

I have taken further advice and they have said that the company cannot split us all into 'so-called' establishments. Our payslips clearly state that we are Wolseley UK (AS A WHOLE) So it does seem that they are dealing with this illegally. I requested a copy of the company redundancy procedure and this clearly states that they must give a 90 day consultancy period if more the 100 employes are affected, it mentions nothing about being split into establishments!!

It seems to me that no matter what level you are at within the company they are treating all of us same and obviously have the attitude of we wont do anything because we cannot afford it. I'm wondering how they would like media coverage about this??

They didnt have any thought for us employees when they made the announcement via BBC News24 without letting the employees know the situation beforehand.

Hope this helps you. I know all of us at our depot have been through the same procedure.