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April Smith Made Redundant

Forums New posts
OldBlueLady said:
I hope there is someone on this board who has employment law background who may be able to advise here as I cannot, for the life of me, work out how they have managed to make the ONLY female full time member of staff redundant
Click to expand...

I don't know April well but listened to the podcast that she was on recently and it seems she has a huge passion for the game and SUFC as well as doing about 100 different jobs. That being said, and this is nothing to do with her, but the above from OBL doesn't sit well with me at all. It comes across at least, that OBL is suggesting because she's a female she should have more rights than other club employee's? Surely no matter what sex he/she is should matter here?

Judging by the comments on this thread it seems April deserved to keep her job because she was extremely good at it NOT because she's a female.
 
mattytheshrimper said:
I don't know April well but listened to the podcast that she was on recently and it seems she has a huge passion for the game and SUFC as well as doing about 100 different jobs. That being said, and this is nothing to do with her, but the above from OBL doesn't sit well with me at all. It comes across at least, that OBL is suggesting because she's a female she should have more rights than other club employee's? Surely no matter what sex he/she is should matter here?

Judging by the comments on this thread it seems April deserved to keep her job because she was extremely good at it NOT because she's a female.
Click to expand...

Now that comment has confused myself.
I have read and re read the above.
But cant see any relation to her having the working post by being female thus having more rights.
but I could be wrong.
 
Ramsdenblue said:
Now that comment has confused myself.
I have read and re read the above.
But cant see any relation to her having the working post by being female thus having more rights.
but I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
You've miss-understood my post then. I was saying OBL' post suggests she should have more right to 'keep' her job because she's a female rather than 'getting' the job because she's a female.
 
mattytheshrimper said:
You've miss-understood my post then. I was saying OBL' post suggests she should have more right to 'keep' her job because she's a female rather than 'getting' the job because she's a female.
Click to expand...
Can see how you've read that, but I took it to be at the very least from like a safe guarding point of view, its good the liasion team have access to male and female staff. From the sound of it, we now have no female staff.

So April or not, its a very bad decision to have the liaison team with no females in it.

Sure @obl will clarify herself though!
 
OldBlueLady said:
I have known about this for slightly longer than most, having been told last week at the JB event but was asked to keep it to myself which, I obviously did out of respect for both April and her parents.

I hope there is someone on this board who has employment law background who may be able to advise here as I cannot, for the life of me, work out how they have managed to make the ONLY female full time member of staff redundant, nor how Spiby can have talked about her matchday role being redundant in one paragraph, then talk about someone else doing it in another. I understand that some of the academy coaching staff will also be taken on under the SUCF umbrella.

April has been a beacon for women's football in the area and is the face of matchday experiences for hundreds of children over the course of the season. I have worked with her on all the Junior Blues activities over the last four or five years and I know how hard she works and how conscientiously she does too.

Like Scott, I know that she has had various much better paid opportunities in the past which she has turned down out of loyalty. It seems that counts for nothing with this man.

There is something that stinks about this and I am convinced that this is just him finding an excuse to get rid of her.
Click to expand...
OBL- the family may have taken their own legal advice already, and it might be all tied up in a settlement agreement, but if they did want someone to look at it for them ask them to message me privately on here, or I can pass you my email - I’d be happy to help.
 
Thank you everyone - she is still emotional over the whole thing but accepting it for what it is.

I won’t go into details as it is her place to discuss anything but I can say that it has nothing to do with conduct, capability, confidentially or work performance.
She was informed it was a “business decision” and she was the only one among the staff made redundant
Also just to enforce what @OBL has highlighted she is (or was) the only female coach within the trust

I know she has carried on working as she does not want to let people down that have already booked things and she is wanting to see her groups etc that she has been involved with over the years to say cheerio.

As I said tomorrow will be quite a upsetting day for her as the club has been her second home for the past 10 years
 
Tinks said:
Thank you everyone - she is still emotional over the whole thing but accepting it for what it is.

I won’t go into details as it is her place to discuss anything but I can say that it has nothing to do with conduct, capability, confidentially or work performance.
She was informed it was a “business decision” and she was the only one among the staff made redundant
Also just to enforce what @OBL has highlighted she is (or was) the only female coach within the trust

I know she has carried on working as she does not want to let people down that have already booked things and she is wanting to see her groups etc that she has been involved with over the years to say cheerio.

As I said tomorrow will be quite a upsetting day for her as the club has been her second home for the past 10 years
Click to expand...
A ‘business decision’ is much too vague, requires the provision of a far more specific and detailed explanation behind this action.
 
palexander said:
Can see how you've read that, but I took it to be at the very least from like a safe guarding point of view, its good the liasion team have access to male and female staff. From the sound of it, we now have no female staff.

So April or not, its a very bad decision to have the liaison team with no females in it.

Sure @obl will clarify herself though!
Click to expand...
Not surprised that it was misconstrued by the poster who I have on ignore. My point was simply that if you're dealing with children of both sexes, for safeguarding reasons - exactly as you say - you really should have a female member of staff, that was confirmed by another poster.
 
number11 said:
OBL- the family may have taken their own legal advice already, and it might be all tied up in a settlement agreement, but if they did want someone to look at it for them ask them to message me privately on here, or I can pass you my email - I’d be happy to help.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Over to you @Tinks
 
Redundancy is usually made to shirkers, seems to me that she is a striver. I don't know April, but given that this thread is currently at 5 pages then she is clearly somebody who is much loved and respected.

I hope this is an aberration, not a sign of things to come under the club's new ownership.
 
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