In any redundancy situation, you are obliged to consult your employees. In the case of large-scale redundancies (20+), you may also be required to collectively consult with employee representatives and to notify the government.
Our team of employment solicitors can assist you and your business with redundancy legal advice and collective consultation, some of the areas we are able to assist with include:
- Redundancy consultation
- Selection
- Statutory payments
- Alternatives to redundancy
Redundancy situations will generally occur for one of three reasons:
- Complete cessation of your business
- The closure of a site
- Reduction in the number of employees needed to do a particular job
Where redundancy is not the real reason for dismissal, or there has been no genuine consultation, or the employee feels they have been unfairly selected for redundancy, you may find yourself facing employment tribunal claims for unfair dismissal or discrimination, so redundancy proceedings should be approached with caution – they are not a catch-all for other forms of employment termination.
We will provide you with redundancy legal advice on all aspects of redundancy, including the consultation process, redundancy selection and the calculation of the correct statutory redundancy payments.
We recognise that redundancies are usually a last resort and will assist you in exploring alternatives such as short-time working, temporary lay-offs, staff re-organisations or pay reductions
FAQs
What is the minimum consultation period for redundancy?
There are no set rules to follow if there are fewer than 20 redundancies planned, but it’s good practice to fully consult employees and their representatives.
If there are 20 or more redundancies, employers must follow ‘collective consultation’ rules. There's no time limit for how long the period of consultation should be, but the minimum is:
- 20 - 99 redundancies - Consultation must start at least 30 days before any dismissals take effect
- 100 or more redundancies - Consultation must start at least 45 days before any dismissals take effect
Please contact one of the team for redundancy legal advice.
