A question about : Being Forced to Relocate Unwillingly
Hi,
My wife is in a difficult position at work. We don't know much about employment law so I hope some of the regulars can offer some advice.
My wife works in Local Government. She has been employed by her organisation for about 7 years. The organisation is being part-privatised and she is being asked to re-locate to a different office in a different city to retain her current role.
This is very inconvenient for her (and indirectly for me). We only have one car between us which works out ok at the moment but her journey will be considerably longer in future. Going by public transport is awkward as she will need to catch a bus and a train and the journey time will increase considerably.
I think the employer will pay her increased travel costs (for the first 2 years at least) but the fact remains that she does not want to spend so much time travelling. (It would be an extra 2 hours per day and would impact negatively on our quality of life.) Buying a second car is one solution but that is going to cost thousands to buy, insure, tax, fuel and maintain. We don't really want to go down this route.
Redundancy hasn't been mentioned as an option. Her employer seems to think it is quite reasonable to relocate her to this new office and she should be happy to accept the increased travelling time. If not, she will be forced to simply quit this employment but won't receive any payment as her position is not being made redundant.
She is not in a union so can't receive any advice from there.
Any thoughts about how to approach this?
Best answers:
- Ultimately the job sounds like it's being TUPE'd.
Therefore there has to be a level of reasonableness about the distance - how far apart are the 2 jobs? - What does her contract say about place of work?
- Thanks for replies.
Her contract says she works in Town A but she could be expected to work in other locations on a "temporary" basis as required by the employer. But, she would be expected to work in Town B permanently.
The locations aren't that far apart. About 15 miles. The problem is that it's a real pain to get to Town B by public transport (1 hr 20 journey) whereas we live on a direct (15 minute) bus route to Town A.
We also share a car. Sometimes she drives but often I drop her off, use the car for my work during the day and collect her afterwards. This wouldn't be possible in Town B because my work never goes in that direction. The office in Town B doesn't have a car park so she'd have to pay whereas the office in Town A does. - hi there I'd suggest she joins the union. She can either join in the workplace if there is a prescence. If there is not she can become a private member of whatever recognised union there is in that particular workplace- UNISON?.
- Her contract is the key. It does depend rather on what 'temporary' basis means, but here is the initial opening to redundancy if that is what she wants. The employer is acknowledging by offering the subsidised travel that this is a variation to her contract (does she have that offer in writing by the way). I presume that this is a TUPE situation. She will have to speak initially to HR about the fact that the increased travel is unacceptable to her and the offer of subsidised travel does not help. She will then need to point to the lack of a mobility clause in her contract and the fact that it says 'temporary' at other locations.
They cannot just state 'oh you're quitting then'....
Reasonable distance does apply however the 'reasonableness' definition usually sits with the employee not the employer, very generally speaking.
Do think carefully about redundancy though if you cannot manage on one salary alone. She may not just walk into another job. It's a tough old world out there.
Take a look here:
https://www.gov.uk/employer-relocation-your-rights - The relocation may not be suitable alternative employment due to the distance and travel time and your wife may then be redundant. Her employer is mitigating the extra travel costs for a while to try to make the relocation more acceptable.
What she needs to weigh up is the cost benefits of taking the longer journey by public transport, the costs of buying and running another car, or the likeliehood of finding another job that provides a similar income without travelling further.
What are her redundancy terms? If they are only statutory then staying in employment may be a better opton until she can find a new job.
Are there other colleagues relocating? If there are could they car share? - Thanks for all the comments - very helpful.
My wife would be expected to do exactly the same job but simply in a different office. No change in salary or any other condition except that if she drove to the new office, she would have to pay for car parking. The organisation is prepared to pay her public travel costs for up to 2 years but after that she would be seriously out of pocket.
We don't have any children or other dependents but we do have an active social life which would be adversely affected by this move. Evening activities such as going to the cinema or sports centre or visiting friends would probably cease as she would be tired from all this extra travelling.
She is going to speak to the Unison rep at her office today and get some unofficial advice. - OP has your wife actually asked if redundancy is an option?
- Just a few more scraps of info:
I have the kind of self-employed job where I sometimes need the car and sometimes don’t. When I work from home or can catch a bus, my wife drives. When I need the car to visit customers in their own homes, I drop my wife off or she takes the bus.
Her current drive to work is about 4 miles. From our house to the new office is about 19 miles. She is not the most confident of drivers and has never driven to the new town before.
We have a bus stop right outside our house. The buses run between Town X and Town Y on an hourly basis. Unfortunately, the organisation wants her to work in Town Z so she would need to change from bus to train in either Town X or Town Y. Giving her a lift part of the way wouldn’t really help because I can’t drive much quicker than the bus.
Some of the more senior staff at her office are being offered redundancy. I understand that this is because their positions will no longer exist after re-structuring. My wife’s position will continue to exist but is being move to a different town.
She has decent qualifications and a fair amount of work experience. Saying that, there’s no certainty that she would immediately be able to find alternative employment. - Wouldn't the simplest thing be to just buy a banger for your wife?
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