Restructuring & Redundancy

Nowadays ‘redundancy’ tends to be used to describe any dismissal which does not arise from misconduct.

However, legally, redundancy has a specific meaning and happens when an employer decides to reduce the number of its employees, either within the business as a whole, at a particular site or a certain job role.

Redundancy falls into three main categories:

Business closure – where the business ceases trading altogether

Workplace closure – closure of one of several sites, or relocation to a new site

Reduced requirements of the business for employees to do work of a certain kind

There are rules and procedures that employers need to follow, including consultation with employees and a proper selection process. Care needs to be taken as an employer cannot necessarily avoid a claim for unfair dismissal just because an employee was dismissed due to redundancy.

In some situations, selecting an employee for genuine redundancy will be automatically unfair’ for example, choosing an employee for a reason connected to pregnancy, or because the employee has refused to sign a working time opt-out agreement.

If you are considering restructuring or making redundancies, Mander Hadley’s friendly and knowledgeable team of employment law experts can guide you through the process and ensure you adopt the correct procedures.

Contact us now and let us take care of your employment law issues. You are in safe hands at Mander Hadley.