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Employment Contract Termination today
I was made redundant today. Permanent full time Employee. Letter of termination received. Immediate Termination. I have a standard contract with a termination clause that states that either party can terminate with 30 days notice in writing.
My production position isn’t redundant. The owner employed two new people to do my job in the last 6 months. The owners partner to manage the site and production and a production person who i trained, honourably and to the best of my ability. The business has grown year on year and expanded into every state in Australia in three years. The new production employee is currently casual, however if i leave, that person will be made permanent for a lower salary than mine.
Last Wed 28th Jun I received an offer to become a casual employee only. I declined the offer in writing on Sat 1st July.
My question. Is this still a contract that requires both parties to agree to break the contract or is the termination clause the easy out where no consent or acceptance is necessary after 30 days? Therefore can i hold my position and not accept the new terms, given the false claims of downturn and redundancy not being true.
There is no redundacy clause in my contract. They have made this up as an unattractive inducement to get me to leave quietly. I am happy to leave with much better terms.
All letters attached. The tense of the words is a little off, as if the termination is still in the future.
Can i play it as if this offer requires my acceptance, decline in writing and also state that i’ll be sick tomorrow so not considered awol and breaking my contract? I haven’t been in this position before. Or turn the termination letter into a contract and add my favourable terms and conditions? 3 days to reply?
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8 Replies
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The responses you mention are all possible. You have to choose the one that resonates more strongly for you. As another option you could go and get free legal advice at a community law centre (or what ever it is called in your area) to feel out whether a lawyer would be willing to take this on and fight on your behalf for a better deal. Take all of your documents with you along with evidence of anything you are claiming about the company. You could also scout around for a ‘no win no fee’ lawyer, under breach of contract, those kind of lawyers won’t take on the case unless they know they can win.
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Thankyou Morag for your quick reply.
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Put their details on the far left of the document
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Just use all the evidence they are giving you that will incriminate them. Record all phone conversations with them and any other encounters with them. Ask them questions on the phone that will give you the results you are looking for. Never make claims and always get them to agree with you by asking the right questions (no man can be a witness in his own matter, you need them as a second witness). If they refuse to answer, ask three times and by their assent you have reached an agreement with them (to your advantage) after the third time you ask. eg I see by your silence we have reached an agreement, you have breached the terms of our contract (or whatever question you are asking)
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An Update. I rang Fair Work Commission last week. The employer is in breach. No advance notice, Position not redundant and now in breach of final payment. They are supposed to pay me within one week, not paid anything yet. I have 21 days to lodge a formal complaint with Fair work. I have an appointment with a community lawyer on 21st July. Cutting it a bit fine. I will be able to negioate a higher payout through the fair work process. This is capped thru fair work, 26wks. The public part
I didn’t notice this last week, But my original contract has my name in All Caps at the top of the letter offer which both parties signed. Coincidence? See scan.
I am going to commence a PAP with the employer for better particulars. I need to ask appropriate set up questions applicable to this situation. Not sure of these yet. Any ideas? I’m used to the ques’s for police, gov’t etc but not sure for a small private company for this situation. This is so i get my T&C’s and my invoice front and centre for a proper settlement.
The manager rang me last week and apologised for the termination process they used. Which was sending me the termination letter by email when i took the day off sick. Couldn’t wait until the next day to deliver it in person. Everything was preplanned on their part even down to the end of the financial year. I wasn’t expecting the call and didn’t have my second phone with me to record the call. Missed opportunity. Diary recorded. I didn’t know this until i rang Fair work, but you get to take at least one day per week as sick live to look for new work during the advance notice period for true redundancy.
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Here’s some ideas
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Most contracts have all caps names as they are contracting with your strawman, a dead entity (the business you a e dealing with) cannot contract with a living man, only another dead entity. You are acting as surety for the strawman by agreeing to the contract. It’s normal business practise and we need the strawman entity to do business with the paper world of fiction.
