Help Please

I was called into a redundancy meeting yesterday under the falses pretenses of having to discuss a different issue. I was then advised I was being made redundant and agreed to leave immediately. The only people in the room were my line manager and our MD. should someone from HR been in the room, or should I have been offered the chance to have a colleague of my choice in the room as a witness. I have not recived a letter advising me of the redundancy as the MD said that there was no point giving this to me if I left immediately. They have agreed to pay me 3 months salary tax free, would I be entitled to any other benefits such as bonus (pro-rata) salary of 30 day consultation period, outstanding holiday pay, car user allowance during notice period etc I am obviously a bit shell shocked by the whole thing as this only happened yesterday. Your advice woul be greatly appreciated.

Please clarify - what do you mean that you agreed to leave immediately. Are you saying that this was something that you agreed to do? How long have you worked there and who says you were entitled to a 30 day consultation period?

I have been with the company for just over 2 years. It was the MD that says I would have a 30 day consultation period. I asked the question of the options on leaving and one of them was that I could go straight away. My office is 450 miles from home, (home is my contracted place of work) and quite honestly I think I was in a bit of shock. There was nothing that wasnt amicable, but I really just felt the need to get away from the office and get home.

I can understand that but I am afraid you haven't really done yourself any favours by asking for, and going, immediately. On that basis it would appear that you have effectgively entered into and come to an agreement with them, which complicates the whole area of what else you may or may not have been entitled to because you wanted to leave immediately and they let you (which was certainly in their interests).

The thing is - are you willing to take the risk of what you already have - because they could simply make you work your notice and pay you two weeks redundancy pay, which unless your contract has gretaer entitlement, is all you are entitled to. So this may be an unfair dismissal, you may be able to get more etc etc - but there is no real entitlement here - it is what you are willing to fight for and at what risk.

Ok, many thanks for that, I think given that 3 months tax free is quite a substantial sum, it would be silly to rock the boat and accept that the sum is worth having, especially if I can find alternative employment in the near future.

Many thanks for the advice