Redundancy advice

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I have posted this to one member before I realised I could post a new thresd so aologies if that causes confusion

I had a meeting yesterday to discuss my profit share for my first 12 months employment finally after 15 months (10% of total company profit before shareholders dividends) which soon turned into a meeting where I was warned that I may be made redundant.

I was head hunted for the role (they were a client of mine) and took a £10k paycut / loss of car to hopefully gain a £15k profit share (based on 2 previous years) but hopefully a lot more. Although turnover has doubled the company has shown a small loss. However, a lot of money was taken forward for next year. In fact I was to gain 10% of the company but they changed it to 10% profit at the last minute! The company was a small Audio Visual company but I brought fire and security installations on board and we gained UKAS approval (for insurers and Police response) which I fast tracked due to my experience. 15 months ago there were 4 workers including 2 directors now there are 10. Turnover has doubled from £400k to £950k. The engineers and technical director are not capable of filling my shoes (they literally have 15 months experience provided by me) and it is possible the SSAIB would not accept the company with this small amount of experience so I may be able to prove my worth.

The fire and security section has made a loss (which was expected in the first year and largely to do with inexperience and the fact that engineers work a 6 hours day!!) Due to this lack of experience I've been the lead engineer, salesman, PM, designer, admin, basically I do everything except accounts and the initial manual engineering. Other employees have had warnings, struggled with the work (hence the loss to be frank) yet it is me, the only person up for redundancy at this stage. They've stated that the fire and security section of the business took up 1.5 men for the year out of 3 engineers. Does this mean they should consider one of these engineers as redundant also if they are considering downsizing this part of the business.

The two directors recently had 5 days security training and think they can manage without me but realistically they will really struggle, I have 20 years experience and the legislation is a mine field. In fact I don't see how they can do it without replacing me which I hoped could be an angle for a solicitor. They want the kudos of the accreditaion and already have orders for next year exceeding this years.

I also want to know where I might stand in terms of informing the governing body that they are not suitable to continue in terms of libel, I would have to remove myself from the role of "Security Manager" and 5 years experience is seen as a prerequisite they don't have without replacing me.

I can understand being made redundant if they're closing the fire and security section down but if I can prove they do not have the competence to keep this running can I fight my case or suggest someone more suitable for redundancy? I can't be clear enough about how lacking in experience they currently are but will I find myself in this position again in another years time when they do have the experience!

Sorry this was a long message, I'm not really sure how much you can gleen from my email.

Can you offer any advice? should I have representative?

I feel I've been used by this company and now they've got every thing they want (I worked 7am to 6pm daily to get this up and running) they simply don't want to pay me the larger sum they enticed me with, especially next year where all the profit has been pushed to and the larger orders are in place. Please let me know what you think.

In short, Can I fight this redundancy if they intend to retain fire and security under unfair selection (ie based purely on my wage).

What advice can you give me to take into the initial meeting.

Thank you, Onkens

I have no idea where the libel comes in - potentially being at risk isn't libel. But forget it. Unless you have £10k just for the High Court deposit, never mind an infinte amount lting around for your legal bills, you can't afford it.

The law does not require an employer to be competant - how they run their business and what decisions they make about that, good or bad, are entirely their business and the law will not interfere. If they have decided that they wish to make savings by making posts redundant, then that is their perogative, and all they are required to do is to to comply with redundancy processes, which are pretty minimal. The points that you raise in relation to whether this is good business sense are arguments to be made during consultation, but the employer is perfectly at liberty to disagree with those points and make you redundant anyway. In reltion to why you took the job, I am afraid that this has even less weight. It may be a point to try to negotiate a better redundancy package, but otherwise it has no relevance.

Sorry - saving your wage isn't unfair selection.

Your only hope of saving your job is to convince them that they actually need you.

Thanks SarEl,

I think after a sleepless night it was good to get it all off my chest, thanks for listening and the advice.

The libel issue was more about me potentially being libellous for effectively whistle blowing to the governing body that they no longer have the managerial and technical experience in place.

Is it ok for a company to make me redundant once I've got everything running and replace me with someone with a similar level of expertise but on a lower wage or can they really do whatever they want if written up the right way?

Thanks again, Onkens

Basically, yes - if they do things the right way they can do pretty much what they want including replacing you with someone cheaper. You can only "whistleblow" - make a protected disclosure - if it is a protected disclosure. And that means that they must be doing something unlawful. It is again, their business how they fulfill the requirements of manegerial and technical expertise provided they do not break the law. Anything else you might do outside those limits are potentially actionable. Much as revenge may appear sweet, it seldom is and could rebound on you.