Redundancy

Redundancy Advice For Employees

For many employees, facing redundancy can be a challenging and upsetting experience but knowing your rights and options can help you understand the situation better.  Redundancy can come about for many reasons and it is often an unsettling time for all employees involved.  

What is redundancy?

Redundancy can be voluntary or compulsory and usually happens when the business you work for:

• is closing down
• is moving
• is reducing the number of employees who carry out a particular type of work

If your employer needs to reduce the number of employees and you have been selected for redundancy, it is important to be aware of what you are entitled to and the steps you can take going forward.  Redundancy is a type of dismissal where it is determined that your role is no longer necessary.  This means that if you are being made redundant, your employment in that role will come to an end but this does not necessarily mean the end of your employment with the company in general.  This usually takes place because of changes to the business or as a cost-cutting measure.

Redundancy Process and Selection

When an employer starts the redundancy process, there should be a consultation meeting with staff that may be impacted by the redundancy process.  It may be that not all those who attend the consultation meeting will be those selected for redundancy but the effect of the redundancy process may still affect them.

Before making any employees redundant, your employer should consult with you to explore other options available such as reducing your hours, job shares, alternative jobs available or any other potential solutions.

Employers should base their selection of staff who are at risk of redundancy  on objective criteria such as skills, performance or disciplinary records and should not discriminate against anyone based on a protected characteristic including age, race, gender or disability.  If you have been selected for redundancy it is important that your employer has selected you fairly using the selection criteria.  If you believe you have been unfairly selected, you could appeal against the decision and if unsuccessful, you may have a claim for unfair dismissal depending on the circumstances.

If you are selected for redundancy, you would be entitled to a notice period, depending on the terms in your contract of employment and how long you have been employed by the company.

If you have worked for your employer for at least two years you may be eligible for statutory redundancy pay or your employer may pay an enhanced redundancy payment.  Statutory redundancy pay is based on your age, weekly wage and length of service. You can use this link to calculate how much statutory redundancy pay you may be entitled to.

Alternative Employment

Your employer may offer you suitable alternative employment.  This could be a different role within the business that is considered to be a suitable alternative position for you.  You would need to carefully consider whether the alternative role matches your skills, the type of work, the salary, the grade and the working hours and whether it is a suitable alternative position for you.  If so, you have the right to a trial period in the new role to see whether the position is considered to be suitable for you.  If you remained in the alternative role offered after the trial period, you would not be entitled to redundancy pay and your employment with the company would continue.

How we can help

There are set rules and time-scales around how employers should inform employees of possible redundancies.  You should be fully informed and have the right not to be selected unfairly.

If you feel your employer is not treating you fairly or you’re questioning the way the process is being handled, contact us for a free initial chat. A specialist employment solicitor will be able to give you some guidance and help.