I am asking my employer for voluntary redundancy and if I am turned down will ask for a 3 day week. I have 3 young children. I’m starting to wonder though…if I was offered redundancy I would get a big payout but obviously would be out of employment. When my kids are older I’m afraid I would find it very hard to find work with an MS diagnosis and axredundancy payout wouldn’t last forever. On top of that if I get ill or my husband loses his job down the line, I wouldn’t be working. On the other hand it would be a big payout up front and would I be mad not to take it?
Hi,
I’m not sure whether I have responded to you about this before, or only thought about it, but not actually done so. So apologies if I’m repeating myself.
But redundancy (voluntary or otherwise) is a totally separate thing from ill-health retirement, and your employer is not obliged to offer you redundancy, just because you’re not well. In law, somebody can ONLY be “redundant” if there is reduced need for their work - or the need has disappeared altogether. That means that even if you ask, they can’t make you redundant if they would have to hire a replacement to do the same duties - that’s not what redundancy is about.
So unless there’s a voluntary redundancy scheme already in place - which you’d be entitled to apply for on an equal footing with everyone else - I can’t see them offering it just for you. They’re not allowed to just interchange redundancy and ill-health on a whim. Either your job is still needed, or it’s not. It has nothing to do with your health.
I was made redundant about 18 months ago. It wasn’t voluntary, although I did make a conscious decision not to fight it, as like yours, the payoff was big - and obviously I knew I was ill anyway, and there was a big question mark over how long I’d be able to keep going.
The lump sum, as you say, won’t last forever. I was lucky to have paid off my mortgage years ago, so wasn’t faced with the prospect of losing my home if I didn’t seek - or find - another job.
I think, if I’d still had a mortgage, which meant my home was at risk, I’d have fought a lot harder to stay employed, and not just said: “OK. Whatever.”
You also need to consider that if you go part-time, not just pay, but ALL benefits will be reduced in proportion. That includes pension, if you’re a member of a company scheme, AND redundancy, if it ever came up again in the future.
By expressing an interest in redundancy now, you may find that even if they say no, you’ve moved yourself up the list if they were ever considering it in future. If you’d gone part-time by then, you would almost certainly find your pay-off would only be a pro rata fraction of whatever it would be today. So you could get worst of both worlds - go part time, be made redundant anyway in a year or two, but get far less than you would have done.
There’s not a day goes by I don’t thank my lucky stars I never got round to reducing my hours, despite the fact I’d often thought about it. I wasn’t to know that redundancy was just around the corner anyway, and that if I’d switched to part time, my compensation would have been greatly reduced.
So, I can’t advise you what to do, but all things to think about.
Tina
x
Thanks Tina. They’ve had a couple of rounds of redundancy already which I applied for and was turned down so I’ve just asked if it or the career break scheme are still open and if my application can be reconsidered. I know pension and other benefits would reduce if I go part time but I have three young kids and 5 days a week wouldn’t work, I want to spend more time with them than that. I suppose my real fear is that if I was offered redundancy and took it, I don’t know what my chances are of getting a decent job in a few years when my kids are at school. Will every employer ignore my application if they see MS? Would I even be asked to mention it on a standard job app? I don’t want to make a huge mistake…
If they are - or have recently been - offering voluntary redundancy anyway, you might just get lucky, I suppose, but it would be wrong to assume your health would swing it for you, as they have to consider applications in the light of business need, not whether somebody’s private circumstances would benefit. Being turned down in the past suggests they do see a continued need for your type of duties, which would make it hard for them to construct a case that you were surplus to requirements. On a purely financial level, they’re not going to pay someone to leave, if they then have to fork out again to hire and train a replacement - it makes no economic sense.
I was turned down for our career break scheme as well, on the basis they couldn’t spare me! Which was a bit bizzare, when they decided they could manage without me altogether just a few months later. It was quite a good scheme, where you still got a retainer of 1/10 your pay, and continuity of all other Ts & Cs, including length of service. But anyway, they never did let me.
I can’t see why you would be mentioning MS in any future applications. There may be some limited exceptions (Soldier? Firefighter? Pilot?) where a clean bill of health is essential, but in general, they are not allowed to ask, and you are not obliged to tell. So in general, I would not include health issues in any job application, any more than I’d include an exam I’d failed. Your job application is a form of advert - it’s not about including reasons there might be a problem. The only exception would be if it was the kind of job where they were actively seeking someone with awareness of health or disability issues. If it was something like that, having MS would definitely count as relevant experience, I’d say - much better than getting it from a book.
I don’t think there’s any experience - even MS - that isn’t useful for something, but it all depends on the job spec.
Tina
x
Thanks Tina. If it is a job where a medical is required I’d have to mention it then though, and would never have any idea if it had counted against me as they just wouldn’t call me back. I have no idea if employers out there run a mile from the very mention of MS…cos once you’re on their books they would find it very difficult to dismiss you…
I don’t think it’s usual to have a medical unless they’ve already offered the job. I’ve only ever needed it for one job, and that was working offshore. I don’t think it’s the norm any more, for most non safety-critical posts. If you did have a medical, and they immediately withdrew the offer, it would be very obvious why. Unless it was one of the very small number of jobs where they could honestly say good health is essential for safety reasons, I can’t see how they’d get away with that. T.
P.S. What would be the point, though, of taking voluntary redundancy, if you know you’d have to look for something else? I know the lump sum might look attractive, but if it’s not enough to quit working, why give up a secure job, when it’s so tough to find another at the moment - even without MS? I’m not really actively searching at the moment, but I do have the occasional browse. There are so many things I couldn’t even consider, even if, theoretically, there’s nothing to stop me going for them: journey too far, hours too long, stress too high, too much travel, too much walking/standing, etc. etc. T.