Redundancy

If you have recently been made redundant, or have been informed that your employer is considering redundancies, it is important to be aware that if your employer has not complied with the law you may have a claim for unfair dismissal. The deadline for bringing a claim at the Tribunal is extremely tight so you should contact us as soon as possible.
Although redundancy is a fair reason for dismissal, in order to fairly make you redundant your employer needs to comply with the following:

1. There needs to be a genuine redundancy, for example a closure of a business, or the company requiring less employees to do your particular role; and
2. The employer must have followed a fair procedure, i.e. they must have undertaken a fair consultation procedure with you.

If your position was not genuinely redundant (for example, if you were simply replaced by someone else) and/or your employer did not undertake a fair consultation procedure in accordance with employment law, then it is likely that you will have a claim for unfair dismissal (please see our section on unfair dismissal).

In addition, if your employer is intending to make 20 or more redundancies within a period of 90 days or less, they must undertake a specified consultation procedure, known as ‘Collective Consultation’. If your employer has not complied with this procedure you could be entitled to compensation.  Please contact our Employment Department and we can review the procedure adopted by your employer and advise you whether you are entitled to compensation.