Excluded from pay rise as on redundancy notice

I’ve accepted a redundancy package and I’m due to leave the company in a few months as part of this. No one else in the firm is being made redundant. Whilst I was away on holiday, all other staff received notification of a 1.5% pay increase. Is there anything I can do about this as it seems a little unfair given I have worked at the company over 12 years and I seem to be the only one being made redundant.



Unless you have a contractual right to a pay rise at a certain time each year (and even in this case, I would check the contract wording as it may say that pay-rises will not be awarded if it arises during the employee’s notice period), then my view would be that it is the employer’s discretion to award a pay rise or not.

However, you may wish to raise a grievance in this regard if you are the only one who has not been awarded a pay rise.  You could raise your grievance on the basis that you are still employed, will remain so for a few months and feel that you have been excluded from the pay rise solely because, through no fault or choice on your part, you are now working your notice.  You should ask for an explanation and/or justification for this.  If a Company has complete discretion in relation to awarding pay rises then it may be justifiable, but there is little to lose by asking the question.  Indeed, a small pay rise may impact on the redundancy pay you will receive when your employment terminates.

Furthermore, given that you appear to be the only one being made redundant and do not seem to be clear regarding the reasons for redundancy, you may also wish to appeal the decision on the basis that you have been made redundant at a time that the Company is awarding pay rises to other colleagues; in short, you may wish to question if there is a genuine redundancy situation. For a dismissal to be fair, there has to be a potentially fair reason for it and the employer has to adopt a fair process. Again, you have little to lose by appealing the decision to make her redundant if you do not understand why you alone have been selected for it at a time when all of your colleagues are receiving a pay rise.

*Lucy Flynn assisted in answering this question.

Post a comment
