Anglo staff furious as bosses 'renege' on redundancy pay
Thursday December 10 2009
ANGLO Irish Bank employees planning to quit with a five-figure redundancy deal have been told they will get nothing if they leave now, it has been claimed.
A worker at the nationalised bank told the Herald that staff were stunned to be brought into a meeting this week and told they would not be getting their promised redundancy money if they left early.
He said the decision was greeted with anger among rank and file staff, still bitter over reports that former chairman Sean Fitzpatrick is estimated to be sitting on a pension pot of €25m since he resigned.
The bank -- which paid executives golden handshakes of up to €3.57m on departure -- refused to comment on the claims. The bank had set a January 15 deadline for applications for the employees' redundancy package, but agreed some staff could leave early.
But according to the staff member, the bank has now told those wishing to leave before February they would be simply resigning and would be entitled to nothing.
This, he said, has left those with other work lined up being forced to choose between their new jobs and the package.
Cutting
Anglo Irish Bank would neither confirm nor deny the claim, while a representative of the Anglo Employees Committee also declined to comment.
A redundancy programme aimed at cutting 230 jobs started in early November and is due to continue until February.
The bank is planning to cut 230 jobs in the first phase of its programme.
Some 110 people will go from the bank's Irish operations, while 95 will go in the UK and about 25 in the US and Europe.
Under the terms of the redundancy, staff in Ireland were offered four weeks' pay per year of services, plus the statutory entitlement, up to a maximum of 52 weeks' pay. It is voluntary, but the bank has indicated it will examine other options, including compulsory lay-offs if take-up is too low.
The employee said up to 50 people were told on Monday they would not get the redundancy package.
"We were originally told anyone who wanted early could go, but now some areas of operation have been told: 'you are not going, and if you do, you are just quitting, you are walking out with nothing'.
aphelan@herald.ie
- Andrew Phelan
