Full time move to part time - implications ?

Crimson125

Hi All,

My GF has been working for 5 years full time with the same place.

They are telling her they are reducing her position to 3 days part time on a reduced salary and is pushing for a new contract to be signed.

We're a bit freaked here considering the financial implications with things being so tight as it is.

We're trying to figure out what the implications of accepting this is on her potential redundancy.

On that point, is she even entitled to redundancy in this situation ?

Thanks for any advice or pointers in an informative direction.

Cheers,

Crimson.

Mimojo

Crimson125 wrote: »

Hi All,

My GF has been working for 5 years full time with the same place.

They are telling her they are reducing her position to 3 days part time on a reduced salary and is pushing for a new contract to be signed.

We're a bit freaked here considering the financial implications with things being so tight as it is.

We're trying to figure out what the implications of accepting this is on her potential redundancy.

On that point, is she even entitled to redundancy in this situation ?

Thanks for any advice or pointers in an informative direction.

Cheers,

Crimson.

Hi,

Im sorry to hear about your predicament.

Same thing happened to me in my previous job, was on a 5 day week and we were reduced to 3 days. I have to say that I didn't have to sign a new contract though - we were reduced as the company was in difficulty and they had no choice but to cut our hours. It was on an understanding that our full hours would be reinstated if they could afford to do so.

The fact that they want her to sign a new contract may mean that the below advice does not apply. I will just outline my situation.

If she has been working there for 5 years she will have enough tax credits to be entitled to claim social welfare for the other days. When it happened to me I got €34 per day but it will be slightly less now as social welfare has been reduced. The week is based on a 6 day week so on a 3 day week you are entitled to claim for 3 days. This is Jobseekers Benefit and it is not means tested. Visit your local social welfare office to get relevant forms etc. I know it may be less that she is used to earning, but every little helps! She needs to get the forms in asap as there is a waiting time with the amount of applications received by social welfare these days. Social welfare send out forms to be filled in on a weekly basis, she just fill in the days she is working and not working and gets it signed off by the employer.

I know one of the questions for the jobseekers benefit is that your company outline the reasons why you have been reduced hours. In my case it was due to them not being about to afford to pay us in full, and they were forced to cut our hours. In your GF's case is this similar? Or do they argue that there is no longer enough work for 5 days and they need to make this position part time?

I dont know about the redundancy, I know she would have to be there over two years, but I really have no experience of this. Has she also been offered redundancy??

Im sure there must be other threads on here that also deal with this issue

Mr. Loverman

Yeah make sure her part-time hours are definitely three full-time days rather than five half-days. She will then be able to get the dole/jobseeker's benefit on the other two days.

orchidsrpretty

If she will be made redundant within a year of her hours being reduced, the payment will be calculated on the wage she was recieving as a full time employee. if her reduced hours continue for over a year it will be based on the reduced pay.

CaseyBabes

I've just heard that my 5 day week is being cut to 2. Apologies if I'm hijacking this thread, but perhaps any info I receive will be pertinent to your situation Crimson. Just wondering if anyone can let me know what I should be armed with when I present myself at the SW office. Hearing of the delays that are currently involved with claims I want to make sure I have what I need first time round. I have a letter from work stating that hours/days have been cut temporarily with a view to increasing them if there is an upturn in business. I have also filled out the "application form for jobseekers allowance or benefit" which I downloaded from the web. Anything else? Also can anyone give me an idea of how much I should expect to get? I'm confused with the whole 5 day/6 day week thing! Best of luck Crimson and anyone else in same situation.

Crimson125

Hi Casey,

My other half went to the SW office today with forms in hand. She filled them out and had the letter with it aswell that she needed. They took them and it appears have asked her to come back for an "appointment" next Friday.

On the 5 day 6 day thing, my understanding (and I may have this wrong) is that everyone has the oppertunity to work 6 days per week. If you were on 5 reduced to 2, that woudl suggest that you could be entitled to 4 days Job Seekers for the first year if your application is successful. I may have that wrong though - maybe it's only 3 days to restore you to the 5 you had. Time will tell how this all works out.....

From what I saw so far it works out a bit over 30 quid a day for the days they subsidise you.

CaseyBabes

Thanks for the reply Crimson, appreciate it. I'm going to the SW office on Weds morning so we'll see how it goes, just an awful lot of "unknowns" at the moment, scary! Hope your wife gets on ok on Fri, thanks again.

CaseyBabes

Hi Crimson, just wondering if your girlfriend has had her claim sorted yet? Its two weeks yesterday since my appointment with the SW office, so I'm not sure if I'm being unreasonably impatient. Would be interested to hear if she has had a similar wait time - I'm in north Dublin by the way.

Crimson125

Hi Casey,

She did indeed. It seems that while she worked 5 days originally, and lost 2, that she was given 2 days allowance. The 6 day thing confused the hell out of us originally, but it appears that her capacity was treated like a 5 day week. It took a second meeting in the Social Welfare office for her to get the thing sorted as initially they only filed the paperwork and required a consultation later. 70 quid a week is better than nothing - goes some way to filling the gap after the salary loss and the tax hikes aswell. Fingers crossed. 2 weeks sounds quite a bit, perhaps you could give them a call and tell them you are under pressure. The worst thing that can happen is they woudl advise you to go to the HSE for emergency money - at best, you would get an update and have some comfort !

Dogwithabone

A little bit of information about redundancy for you taken from the Department of Enterprise Trade and Innovation guide to the Redundancy Payments Scheme:

When a person is put on [FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]reduced working hours [/FONT][/FONT]by their employer e.g. a three day week or a 4 day week, the redundancy entitlement is calculated on the basis of a full week, provided the employee was put on reduced hours [FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]within one year (52 weeks) [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,BoldItalic][FONT=Arial,BoldItalic]before [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]being made redundant. [/FONT][/FONT]If they were made redundant [FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]after the first year [/FONT][/FONT]of reduced working hours and if it is clear that the employee [FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]fully accepted [/FONT][/FONT]the reduced working hours as being his/her normal working week, never requesting a return to a full time week, then the employee is deemed to have accepted the reduced hours as his normal week. In this situation the gross pay for redundancy purposes [FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]is based on the reduced working hours.

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On the other hand, if the employee never accepted the reduced working hours as his “normal” hours and was constantly seeking to be put back on full time working, he could then be deemed not to have accepted his reduced hours as normal. In these circumstances his redundancy entitlement should be calculated at his full-time rate of pay.
Where an employee himself makes a request to be placed on reduced working hours, for his own reasons, and the employer agrees, then the redundancy entitlement is based on the reduced hours.

Dogwithabone

And for those who are put on short-time:

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9. Short-time

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This exists where there is a reduction in the amount of work available, leading to a reduction in weekly earnings to less than half the normal weekly earnings or a reduction in the hours worked to less than half the normal weekly working hours. Again the employer must give notice that the short-time is of a temporary nature, with failure to do so leaving him open to claims for redundancy payment.

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10. Employee’s Right to a Redundancy Lump-Sum Payment by reason of Lay-off or Short-time (Form RP9)

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This can arise where an employee has been [FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]laid off [/FONT][/FONT]or kept on [FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]short-time [/FONT][/FONT]or a [FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]mixture [/FONT][/FONT]of both either for [FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]four consecutive weeks or for a broken series of six weeks [/FONT][/FONT]where all six weeks occur within a [FONT=Arial,Bold][FONT=Arial,Bold]13 week [/FONT][/FONT]period. The employee, if he then wishes to claim redundancy payment must serve a written notice (Form RP9 is available for this purpose) stating that he intends to claim because of lay-off or short-time, or give his employer notice in writing terminating his contract of employment (Form RP9 may be used for this purpose). The employee does not have to serve either of these notices as soon as he has been laid off or kept on short-time for either of the periods mentioned above. He can wait longer, if he chooses, but if the short-time or lay-off stops and if he does decide to claim, he must serve a notice not later than four weeks after the lay-off or short-time ceases. After that, he is debarred from claiming a payment in respect of that particular period of lay-off or short-time.

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An employee who claims and receives redundancy payment due to lay off or short time is deemed to have voluntarily left his or her employment and therefore not entitled to notice under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2001.

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Dogwithabone

If you need a copy of the guide, here's the link:

http://www.deti.ie/publications/employment/2009/guideredscheme.pdf