WHS compromise agreement

[squeaky]

Anyone know about this - management say we have to get a lawyer to explain and sign it and they recommend their lawyers!!
Any info gratefully received cos my union branch didn't know about it either and time is ticking away to get it done

[dvbuk55]

Anyone know about this - management say we have to get a lawyer to explain and sign it and they recommend their lawyers!!
Any info gratefully received cos my union branch didn't know about it either and time is ticking away to get it done

Contact the CWU Legal section for advice.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

WHS - not WHSmiths is it something to do with the franchises - I know the Union is taking the Post Office to court over breach of conrtract or something to do with people not transferring with the same rights. Probably way off track

[bigjames]

Anyone know about this - management say we have to get a lawyer to explain and sign it and they recommend their lawyers!!
Any info gratefully received cos my union branch didn't know about it either and time is ticking away to get it done

Had this when my office went over to the 'Dark Side', all of my team who had signed up for redundancy had to make an appointment with the solicitor, to have the deal explained to them. I think that the main gist of it is that by signing for the redundancy package you are also signing to say that you won't claim your rights under TUPE if you later take a job with WHSmiths. I don't fully understand TUPE, but it hinges on the employees rights to keep the same pay, terms and conditions if they do the same job in the same place for a different employer. The Post Office, rightly or wrongly, contest that TUPE doesn't apply if the franchised office is on different premises, but the CWU disagrees. An employee from a previous franchised offices a couple of years ago took the Post Office to a tribunal and the chairman of the tribunal said that the case should be treated as TUPE, especially as the office remained on the same premises. The case was settled out of court, so no precedent was set, but it would appear that the business are trying to 'head-off' any trouble by getting staff to sign away their TUPE rights as a condition of accepting the redundancy deal. As I have already said, I am no expert, but I have been told that the rights you have under TUPE only last for a year, at which point WHSmiths could decide to stop paying someone their old wage and put them on marked time and/or change their terms and conditions, so if people have any thoughts about working for the franchise - signing the deal might be the best option. Not what everyone wants admittedly, but an option none the less. The appointment with the solicitor takes the form of a telephone interview, which can take up to an hour. they go through each clause and point on the agreement to ensure understanding before you sign and send it off. Hope this is of use.

[POSTMAN]

TUPE: http://www.out-law.com/page-448

[squeaky]

thanks Bigjames - looks like we will sign - cos we want the money!! But it's taken their recommended solicitors over a week to reply and POL only give us 21 days to do it in now
Do they phone you at work to explain it? cos there is a lot of us and not lots of time! and did they stick to the £350?

[bigjames]

thanks Bigjames - looks like we will sign - cos we want the money!! But it's taken their recommended solicitors over a week to reply and POL only give us 21 days to do it in now
Do they phone you at work to explain it? cos there is a lot of us and not lots of time! and did they stick to the £350?

At my old office they extended the deadline, partly because I had people on annual leave admittedly, but they did push back the date. Not sure about the money, but I can't remember any of my team complaining, so it is reasonable to assume there were no problems! All of the team at my office had their phone appointments at work, not ideal for me, but they were all done in work time. Some were quite quick, and others took a whole hour.