Re: Owners matter too
> IBM has to be 100% confident they have clearly followed every letter of the law otherwise they could end up with some rather expensive employment tribunals costing far more.
I would hope that the soon-to-be-ex-IBM'ers are lawyering up. The notice period seems fine - it used to be 90 days for mass-layoffs, but I seem to recall it was reduced to 45. For the amount, IBM *may* be treading a fine line in reducing the offering , but it may well depend on for long long/often the previous offering has remained unchanged. I was once told that because my employer had not varied the payout in 10 years (with it being used a lot in that time), it would be difficult for them to offer anything different as it may become an implied contractual term.
Additionally, there is the complexity of working out if there have been cases of someone being refused the earlier redundancy terms when they were offered for volountary, and then subsequently getting shafted in this round. And if you can find cases like this, you can argue for everyone getting the old, enhanced package.
IANAL, but individually it will cost you <£400 (means tested) to bring a claim to the employment tribunal - but there will be a possibility of being responsible for some legal fees if your claim is judged to be very weak....
Pretty poor show on IBM's account, either way.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
